For the months of June and July, MD Online will pay tribute to the one and only Ringo Starr. This past February, Ringo and his former bandmates, the Beatles, celebrated their 50th anniversary of the group’s arrival in the United States with TV specials, Grammy Lifetime Achievement awards, and more.

With no signs of slowing down anytime soon, Richard Starkey, better known to the world as Ringo Starr, is continuing to do what he loves more than anything else in the world—on stage being a member of his band, the All-Starrs.

Starr will launch this year’s tour with his current All Starr Band from Casino Rama, in Rama, Ontario, on June 6. Since 1989, Ringo has toured with different variations of the band, where, he says, “everybody on stage is a star in their own right.” Ringo and producer David Fishof put the concept together and created it, and Ringo continues the tradition to this day. This July 7, his seventy-fourth birthday, Ringo will be in Los Angeles and invites everyone all over the world to join him at his annual Peace and Love celebration. Advertisement

2014’s line-up contains the same band since 2012, and features Steve Lukather, Richard Page, Gregg Rolie, Todd Rundgren, and Gregg Bissonette. (With Mark Rivera on certain dates, due to scheduled Billy Joel shows.) “I love playing with this band,” Ringo said, “and I can’t wait to get back out and play with them again.”

Here’s where you can catch them on tour:

June 6: Ontario – Ontario Rama Casino
June 7: Canandaigua, NY – Sands Pavilion
June 8: Williamsport, PA – Community Arts Theater
June 10: Albany, NY – Palace Theater
June 11: Westbury, NY – Theater at Westbury
June 12: Vienna, VA – Wolftrap
June 14: Wallingford, CT – Oakdale Theater
June 15: Providence, RI – Performing Arts Center
June 17: New York, NY – Beacon Theater
June 18: New York, NY – Beacon Theater
June 20: Red Bank, NJ – Count Basie Theater
June 21: Atlantic City, NJ – Caesars Circus Maximus
June 22: Durham, NC – Durham PAC
June 24: Buffalo, NY – ArtPark
June 25: Verona NY – Turning Stone Casino
June 27: Detroit, MI – DTE Energy Center
June 28: Chicago, IL – Chicago Theater
June 29: Cleveland, OH – Jacobs Pavillion Nautica
July 1: Toledo, OH – Toledo Zoo Ampitheater
July 3: Tunica, MS – Horseshoe Casino
July 5: Dallas, TX – Windstar World Casino
July 9: Albuquerque, NM – Sandia Pavillion
July 11: San Diego, CA – Humphrey’s
July 12: Santa Barbara, CA – Santa Barbara Bowl
July 13: San Jose, CA – City National Civic of San Jose
July 15: Vancouver, BC – Hard Rock
July 16: Woodenvile, WA – Chateau Ste Michelle
July 19: Los Angeles, CA – Greek Theatre

Most of us know the story, but for the younger generation we revise and remind the impact the group had on the world for more than fifty years.

Let’s go back to Liverpool, England in the early ’60s. Ringo was already popular, playing drums in the biggest local group at that time, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. This was before he joined the Beatles—a band that would not only change his life forever, but would go on to change the world. Advertisement

A man of many talents, he has dabbled in quite a bit of show biz in his seventy plus years on earth. Besides being one of the greatest rock/pop drummers of all-time, he’s played the role of rock star, actor, filmmaker, TV star, studio musician, artist, photographer, and the leader of his own bands. MD Online pays tribute to the man who truly and respectfully deserves the title “living legend.”

We start our Ringo Tribute with videos from the Modern Drummer/Fest For Beatle Fans Symposium held this past February, the same weekend the Beatles arrived in the US, fifty years earlier. For this joyous occasion, Modern Drummer partnered with The Fest For Beatles Fans at their enormous NYC show for the first ever Modern Drummer Symposium. The Grand Hyatt Hotel rocked on both Saturday, February 8, and Sunday, February 9. There were discussions and demos on Ringo’s drumming style, tributes to Ringo, and what it is like working with him, and more. With a star-studded lineup of drummers hand-picked by MD associate editor and moderator Billy Amendola, the Modern Drummer team and world class drummers Steve Holley, Liberty Devitto, Danny Seraphine, Carmine Appice, Aaron Comess, Shawn Pelton, Mark Hudson, (who was Ringo Starr’s producer for over a decade), Dennis Diken, and Rob Shanahan, who is currently Starr’s personal photographer, all honored the legendary drummer.

Every week for the next two months of June and July, MD Online will post a video clip from that tribute weekend as well as a few surprises on everything Ringo.

First up is a tribute to Ringo by Saturday Night Live and session drummer Shawn Pelton. In the following weeks, you will see tributes from Liberty Devitto, Danny Seraphine, Carmine Appice, Aaron Comess, Mark Hudson, Rob Shanahan, Steve Holley, Dennis Diken, Jim Keltner, and more. Be sure to check the Modern Drummer Webpage as well as MD Facebook and MD YouTube. Advertisement

 

For more information on Ringo and the 2014 All-Starr tour, visit www.ringostarr.com.