COVER STORY
 RINGO STARR - ROCK ROYALTY
Here's something you probably don't know about the former Beatles drummer...
Besides being the only Beatle whom I personally met and enjoyed talking with, Ringo Starr looks forward to that feeling he sometimes gets while running on a treadmill. In fact, that's where he often feels most creative.
"My studio in England is next to the gym," Starr said.
. "When it's time to record, I find that getting on the treadmill brings on the endorphins, and the songs just start coming. I wrote a lot of songs on the treadmill. It's certainly a better way than sitting up late at night smoking."
 Such treadmill tunes populate his latest solo album, "Liverpool 8," which has generated some of the strongest reviews of his studio work since the early '70s. Much of the music, especially the title song is a sweet look back on his early life in Liverpool, even alluding to his pre-Fab Four role as drummer for Rory Storm & the Hurricanes and the years that followed in the wild and crazy musical cyclone that was known as the Beatles.
It's the only song from the new album he's doing on his 30-city summer tour, which hits the Primm Valley Casino showroom on July 26, with the group of musician friends he calls the All-Starr Band. They change every year. This year, it includes Billy Squier, Colin Hay (Men at Work), Edgar Winter, guitarist Billy Bremner (Rockpile) and Average White Band guitarist and singer Hamish Stuart (who toured with Paul years ago). They have all toured with him previously. New to this tour are keyboardist Gary Wright and uber-drummer Greg Bissonette.
THE BEGINNING OF A WONDERFUL LIFE
 Richard Starkey was born in a small two-story terraced house in the Dingle area of Liverpool, on July 7, 1940, making him the oldest Beatle, a full three months older than John. His father, Richard, was originally a Liverpool dock worker, and later worked in a bakery where he met Ringo's mother Elsie. His parents broke up in 1943, and Elsie later married Harry Graves, who little Richie called his "step ladder".
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I've seen that house where the future Ringo was born. Pretty non-descript and a relatively poor area of Liverpool (which is mostly all poor areas to begin with).
I visited Liverpool several times, and Jan and I paid an homage to all of the four Beatles, their childhood homes, and all the places in the songs, like Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields. Yes, I know, a bit odd. It was a history lesson, okay?
Although remaining cheerful throughout his childhood, it was filled with hospital time, for appendicitis at 6, at which time he went into a coma for almost two months, and other illnesses lung problems, always sick, especially when he was 13, causing him to miss much school. By fifteen he could just barely read and write.
Ultimately what's most impressive about Ringo Starr isn't what he's been, but rather who he is," wrote Rolling Stone rock critic David Wild. "The man's great heart and soul, his wit and wisdom." Ironically, the story of Ringo's evolution from former Beatle to successful solo artist is still best told from the beginning.
Ringo Starr's music, as a solo artist and as a Beatle, is permeated with his personality. His warmth and humor, and his exceptional musicianship have given us songs we all know and love, including "With A Little Help From My Friends," "Don't Pass Me By," "Octopus' Garden," "Photograph," "It Don't Come Easy," "Back Off Boogaloo," "You're Sixteen (You're Beautiful And You're mine)," "Don't Go Where the Road Don't Go," "The No No Song," and "Never Without You."
Since beginning his career with The Beatles in the 1960s, Ringo Starr has been one of the world's brightest musical luminaries. He has enjoyed a successful and dynamic solo career as a singer, songwriter and drummer, an active musical collaborator, and as an actor. Drawing inspiration from classic blues, soul, country, honky-tonk and rock 'n' roll, Ringo continues to play an important role in modern music with his solo recording and touring.
"When I was thirteen, I only wanted to be a drummer," remembers Starr.
 Like the other Beatles, young Richard also eventually became caught up in Liverpool's music scene, and in particular, the Skiffle craze. After starting his own group (the Eddie Clayton Skiffle Group) in 1957, he joined The Raving Texans in 1959, a quartet which played while rocker Rory Storm sang.
They later changed the name to Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. It was around this time, he got the nickname "Ringo", because of all the flashy rings he wore on every finger of both hands, and the last name, he decided upon Starr so that his drum solos could be billed as "Starr Time".
He was a show-off behind the drum kit, but in front, he was rather shy. Not the Ringo we all know and love of today, I must say.
 Even though Ringo was from Liverpool, not far from the other 3 lads, they never met, never crossed paths.
Ringo first met the Beatles in Hamburg in October 1960. It happened to be that Ringo was there performing with Rory Storm and The Hurricanes. Ringo joined the Beatles on August 18, 1962, replacing the very popular local boy, Pete Best.
Pete Best fans were upset, holding vigils outside Pete's house on matthew Street not far from the Cavern, and even causing fights and near riots at the Cavern Club, shouting "Pete Best forever! Ringo never!"
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In 1970, Starr released his first solo record with EMI, entitled Sentimental Journey, which was exactly that - a sentimental record capturing the music he grew up with (he later said "I did it for my Mum"). The following year, Starr released Beaucoups Of Blues, a country and western album that he recorded with Pete Drake in Nashville in just two days. That same year, The Beatles broke up.
 (At Left: Best Friends since the sixties, Paul and Ringo get together and talk often. Paul recently purchased a house near Ringo's in Monaco)
Starr's passion for creating music continued to propel him forward, and in 1971 he began his unprecedented run as the first solo Beatle to score seven consecutive Top 10 singles, starting with the release of "It Don't Come Easy," with a B-side of "Early 1970." His second hit single, "Back Off Boogaloo"/"Blindman" followed in 1972, and was written with and inspired by T Rex frontman Marc Bolan. In 1973, Starr released his self-titled smash hit Ringo, which yielded three Top 10 singles, including the #1 hits "Photograph"/"Down and Out," and "You're Sixteen (You're Beautiful And You're Mine)"/"Devil Woman." Ringo also marked the first time since the breakup that all of The Beatles participated in the same project, though not at the same time.
Between the years 1974 and 1978, Starr continued to release more hits, including the Top 10 singles "Only You"/"Call Me" and "The No No Song"/"Snookeroo" and the albums Goodnight Vienna (1974), Blast From Your Past (1975), Rotogravure (1976), Ringo The 4th (1977), and Bad Boy (1978), which was complemented by a television special with Art Carney and Carrie Fisher.
 In 1981, Starr recorded Stop and Smell the Roses, his most critically acclaimed record since Ringo, followed by Old Wave in 1983, for which he teamed up with producer Joe Walsh. A hits collection, Starr Struck: The Best Of Ringo Starr, Vol. 2, was released in 1989.
The 1990s saw Starr release some of the best records of his career, and he also found consistent success as a live act with his revolving All Starr Band. The concept for the All Starr Band was first presented in 1989. "I got a message from a guy named David Fishof asking if I'd be interested in putting a band together. I had been thinking the same thing, and so I went through my phone book, rang up a few friends and asked them if they'd like to have fun in the summer." Those friends included Eagle Joe Walsh, E-Streeters Clarence Clemmons and Nils Lofgren, former Band members Rick Danko and Levon Helm, Dr. John, Billy Preston and Jim Keltner.
The tour met with great success and yielded Starr's first live album, simply titled Ringo and His All Starr Band, released in 1990. "I've said this over and over again, but I love being in a band," says Starr.
During the next 15 years or so, Ringo continued to put together touring All-Starr Bands and have fun touring the world, something he's always enjoyed.
"For me it works as a great formula, it's just really a great way for me to do it," Starr said about the All Starr experience. "If you look at all the bands I've put together, it's an incredible array of musicians, all these different people. Everyone has hit records, hit songs. The show consists of me upfront and then I go back behind the kit and support the others. It's just good music and I'm having a lot of fun and that's what it's all about - great music and fun."
In 2004, Genesis Books announced a limited edition print run of Starr's book, Postcards From The Boys, the proceeds of which went to the Lotus Foundation charity. Starr described the book as "a presentation of postcards John, Paul and George have sent me over the years. What's incredible about them is that some are actual art pieces."
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Starr's Choose Love album was released in 2005.
 On August 28, 2007, Starr's four EMI Music catalog albums, Sentimental Journey (1970), Beaucoups Of Blues (1970), the platinum-certified Ringo (1973) and gold-certified Goodnight Vienna (1974) made their global digital release debuts across all of the world's major digital sales providers. On the same date, Capitol/EMI Music Catalog Marketing released the first-ever career and label-spanning collection of Starr's best solo recordings, PHOTOGRAPH: The Very Best Of Ringo Starr, featuring 20 standout Starr tracks, among them seven Top 10 Pop hits, released between 1970 and 2005 with Capitol, Atlantic, Mercury, Boardwalk, Private Music and Koch. The Collector's Edition adds seven never before released film and video clips on DVD, including original promotional films for "It Don't Come Easy," "Sentimental Journey," "Back Off Boogaloo," among others, and the music video for "Act Naturally" (with Buck Owens).
On January 15, 2008, Starr released Liverpool 8, his first new album with Capitol/EMI since 1974's Goodnight Vienna. Liverpool 8 is available worldwide on CD and digitally, and in the United States, the album is also available as a pre-loaded USB wristband including the entire album, a personal video message from Ringo Starr with behind-the-scenes footage, ringtunes and album art.
 Liverpool 8's 12 original tracks were all co-written by Starr and were recorded in England and in California. "The writing of the records is always the same," Ringo explains. "It's the same group of guys and we all sit together and write about what's happening." That "group of guys" who joined Starr on the album's songwriting and recording are (in alphabetical order): Gary Burr, Steve Dudas, Mark Hudson, Sean Hurley, Zac Rae, and Dave Stewart.
Starr has said that as time goes on there is more and more of his personality in his music, and the songs on Liverpool 8 feel personal. His candor, wit and soul are evident in the lyrics and the heartbeat of every song; I always followed my heart and I never missed a beat. Peace and love are Ringo Starr's primary life beats, and Liverpool 8 propels this universal message in each of its evocative songs, which are imbued with joy, insight, reflection and wisdom from the music icon the world knows and loves simply as 'Ringo.'
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