Shout!

  Both Ringo’s sons, Zak and Jason, went on to become rock drummers, both creditably refusing to exploit his celebrity to advance their careers and always working under their real family name of Starkey. Zak in particular turned out to be a brilliant performer, although, ironically, his role model was not his father but the manic Keith Moon of The Who. Far from resenting this, Ringo even arranged for Moon to give Zak lessons. And no one could have been prouder when, long years after Moon’s death from suicidal alcohol and drug abuse in 1978, The Who recruited Jason to be drummer on some of their various comeback tours.

  Perhaps the greatest surprise of all was Ringo’s former wife, Maureen, the former mousy little Liverpool hairdresser who, after the divorce, might have been expected to sink into comfortably maintained obscurity. Instead, Maureen went on to marry Isaac Tigrett, the founder of the Hard Rock Café chain, and then to present Tigrett with a baby daughter, Olivia. Ringo remained on good terms with her and close to all three of their children. The original family not only survived but provided each other with crucial love and support in the double ordeal that was soon to come.

  In 1995, Ringo and Maureen’s fashion designer daughter, Lee, by then twenty-five, was rushed to a London clinic to have fluid removed from her brain. Diagnosed with a brain tumor, she underwent radiation treatment at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, and, after several agonizing weeks for her parents and brothers, was pronounced to be in the clear. Late that same year Maureen herself was found to be suffering from leukemia. Again, the prognosis seemed favorable, especially after an apparently successful bone-marrow transplant from her son Zak. But by Christmas, the illness had shown itself to be incurable. Maureen died in January 1996 with Ringo and her children at her bedside.

  In 2000, Ringo bought a property in Cranleigh, Surrey, mainly to be near Jason and his girlfriend Flora, who had by now presented him with two grandsons, Louis and Sonny. Coincidentally, their near neighbor in North London happened to be Paul McCartney’s daughter Mary, herself the mother of a son, Arthur, by her TV producer partner Alistair Donald. The Beatles grandchildren were often to be found playing together, establishing who knows what early links for bands far into the future.

  That November 5, the villagers of Cranleigh asked the newly arrived celebrity in their midst to be guest of honor at their Guy Fawkes night fireworks display. It must have seemed small stuff to Ringo, after all the red carpets that had been unrolled for him all around the world, but he turned out good-naturedly enough on the village green to give the signal for the display to start, then stood and watched the Catherine wheels, the Roman candles, the little rockets whooshing only halfway to Heaven. As he advances into his sixties, the only cloud on his horizon seems the health of his daughter Lee who, in late 2001, was reported to be having further hospital treatment in Boston for a second brain tumor called an ependymoma.

  He may have been no more than history’s most famous bit-part player, but still, his must be the last word about it all. Look at the Beatles Anthology television documentary, that laughably incomplete and doctored account. Fast-forward through show bizzy Paul and crabby George until you find Ringo, playing his usual cameo role on some sun-soaked L.A. balcony, his close-cropped hair and gray-grizzled beard giving him an almost uncanny resemblance to the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

  Not only is he the funniest, most honest, and self-knowing of the survivors; he is also the only one willing to show real emotion. Tears glisten in the big mournful eyes as he says that for him, above all, the Beatles will always be “just four guys who loved each other.”

  Which perhaps best sums up the whole story.

  PHOTO CREDITS

  First photo section, pages 1–8: John in garden, Mimi Smith, Julia—Hunter Davies. George and family—Freda Norris. Ringo as a boy, Ringo’s parents, Mary McCartney, Michael and Paul—Hunter Davies. Quarry Men—Colin Hanton. Rory Storm and The Hurricanes—Keystone Press. Rooftop cowboys—Keystone Press. Stuart Sutcliffe, Astrid Kirchherr—Sutcliffe family (photographer: Astrid Kirchherr). John and Stuart on the beach—Sutcliffe family. At the Top Ten Club in Hamburg—Jurgen Vollmer. Mathew Street—Pix Features. Cavern Club—Dick Matthews. The band in suits—Albert Marrion. Recording “Love Me Do”—Rex Features (photographer: Dezo Hoffman).

  Second photo section, pages 9–16: Wearing art student’s clothes—Rex Features (photographer: Dezo Hoffman). Beatlemania—Rex Features. With Ed Sullivan in New York—Rex Features (photographer: Suomen Kuvapalvelu). Royal Variety Show—Rex Features (photographer: Dezo Hoffman). Ringo’s wedding—Camera Press (photographer: Robert Freeman). George’s wedding—Keystone Press. Press conference—Keystone Press. John with Julian at Kenwood—Keystone Press. Allen Klein—United Press International. Linda, Paul, Yoko and John—Camera Press (photographer: Bruce McBroom). John and Yoko—Iain Macmillan. John and Yoko—John Hillelson Agency (photographer: Tannenbaum). Yoko outside Lennon’s house—Mercury Press Agency/Rex Features. Paul and Heather Mills—Rex Features. George with Olivia; Ringo performing—Richard Young/Rex Features.

  Every effort has been made to acknowledge all those whose photographs have been used in this volume, but if there have been any omissions in this respect, we apologize and will be pleased to make the appropriate acknowledgment in any future editions.

  INDEX

  Abbey Road, 436–443

  album sleeve of, xxii, 442–443

  Paul as impetus behind, 432

  Abbey Road studios, xix–xx, 168–169, 178–179, 194, 205, 263, 293, 313, 324, 328–329, 335, 377, 432, 436

  Aberfan disaster, 319

  ABKCO Industries, Inc., 406, 415, 423, 425, 427, 447

  Abrams, Michael, 435, 518–519

  “Across the Universe,” xi, 409, 459

  Aftermath, 305

  Agnew, Spiro T., 332

  “Alchemical Wedding,” 407

  Aldridge, Alan, 371, 395–397

  Ali, Tariq, 374

  “All My Loving,” 224, 251

  “All Shook Up,” 32, 250

  All Things Must Pass, xii, 510, 512

  “All Those Years Ago,” 514

  “All You Need Is Love,” xxvii, 335, 362, 370

  Alpert, Herb, 512

  Altamont Rolling Stones concert, 444

  Anderson, Eric, 341

  Anderson, Jim, 119

  “And Your Bird Can Sing,” 305

  Animals, 291–292, 404

  “Another Day,” 482

  Anti-Semitism, 130

  Apple Boutique, 362, 363, 370–371, 393

  Apple Corps Ltd.

  artistic freedom and, 367

  Beatles, Ltd. renamed as, 364

  boss sought for, 399–400

  concert on roof of, xxv, 411

  expenditures at, 397–398, 401

  financial difficulties of, 399, 406, 412

  formation of, 363–364, 366

  headquarters of, 390–392

  Klein’s reorganization of, 425–427

  security at, 390, 398

  vibes at, 393–395, 430

  Apple Electronics, 364

  Apple Films, 364–366, 397, 408, 425

  Apple Foundation for the Arts, 368, 392, 397, 425

  Apple Music, 363

  Apple Press, 397

  Apple Publicity, 364, 390–393

  Apple Publishing, 408, 425

  Apple Records, 364, 365, 369, 393, 396, 397, 399, 425, 426

  avant-garde experiments on, 395

  inaugural releases of, 371

  Apple Retail, 363, 370–371, 397, 425

  Apple Scruffs, 445, 508

  Archer, Jeffrey, 261

  Arden, Don, 180, 200

  Ardmore and Beechwood, 164, 165, 182–183

  Armstrong, Neil, 433

  Asher, Jane, 335, 354, 374

  breakup with Paul, 383

  career pursued by, 216, 269, 308, 382

  liked by fans, 381

  Paul’s first meeting with, 216

  as P
aul’s girlfriend, 217, 238, 269, 272, 293, 308, 309, 366, 381–383

  Asher, Mrs. Richard, 216, 217, 383

  Asher, Peter, 216, 309, 364, 369, 425, 426

  Asher, Sir Richard, 216, 217

  Ashton, Billy. See Kramer, Billy J.

  “Ask Me Why,” 420

  Aspinall, Neil, xxv, 107, 209, 212, 213, 250, 268, 294, 306, 360, 378, 419, 438, 439, 462, 519

  in Apple Corps, 364, 366, 369, 399, 426

  Beatles first heard by, 106

  as Beatles’ road manager, 145–146, 151, 154, 171, 177, 201–202, 218, 229, 245, 312, 328, 357, 426

  as Best’s friend, 106, 171, 177

  Asprey’s, 270

  Associated Press, 241, 242

  Asylum label, 467

  ATV network, 200, 422–424, 442, 493

  Avedon, Richard, 115

  B52s, 466

  Babbs, Thurmond, 298

  “Baby It’s You,” 194

  Bach, Barbara. See Starr, Barbara Bach

  Backbeat (film), 162

  “Back in the U.S.S.R.,” 388, 390

  “Back Off Boogaloo,” 522

  Badfinger (The Iveys), 369, 393, 439

  “Bad to Me,” 204

  Baez, Joan, 299, 315

  Bagism, 418, 421

  Bag Productions, 429, 437

  Bailey, David, 276, 321

  Baker, Ginger, 298

  “Ballad of John and Yoko, The,” 430–431

  Ballard, Arthur, 41, 50, 57, 58, 83

  Band on the Run, 485

  Bangladesh, concerts for, xii, 511

  Banks, Jeremy, 395

  Barber, Adrian, 163

  Bardot, Brigitte, 373

  Barratt, Brian, 316

  Barrow, Tony, 150, 153, 198, 200, 207, 229, 289, 296

  Barry, John, 485

  Bart, Lionel, 215, 295, 402

  Bassey, Shirley, 513

  BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation), 22, 24, 107, 166, 182, 190, 192, 230, 264, 332, 334–335, 358, 359, 485

  Beach Boys, 225, 292, 299, 325, 365, 388

  Beardsley, Aubrey, 329

  Beat Brothers, Beatles billed as, 117, 118, 147, 253

  Beatlemania, xxvi, 231, 234–235

  analyses of, 223

  as British national obsession, 222, 261–262

  French indifference to, 237–239

  official outbreak of, 208

  phenomenon named, 221

  in U.S., 240, 244, 246–247, 251–257, 267–268

  Beatles

  album sleeves for, xxii, 224, 277, 292, 300, 312, 329–331, 395–396, 442–443

  Apple Corps and. See Apple Corps Ltd.

  as Beat Brothers, 117, 118, 147, 253

  Best with. See Best, Pete

  breakup of, xiii, 439–441, 443, 446–448, 453, 481, 482, 510, 515, 521–522

  British press and, xii, 190–192, 206, 208, 211–214, 221–223, 237, 238, 256, 359, 396, 418

  burning of records, 299–300

  capital investments of, 360–361

  cars owned by, 270, 311

  Christmas message, 234–235

  clothes, 31, 85–86, 100, 110, 157, 252, 306, 311–312

  Decca audition of, 150–153, 155, 165

  deported from West Germany, 102, 103

  drugs used by, 91, 164, 272–274, 333–334, 339

  drummer lacked by, 84

  as employers, 397–398, 412, 426

  Epstein’s death and, 346, 348, 352

  Epstein’s management of. See Epstein, Brian

  European tours, 219, 295–297

  fanmail for, 249–250, 269

  films of, 261, 264–267, 269, 273, 277, 312, 356–361, 364, 369–370, 408, 445, 448–449

  finances of, 202, 217–218, 218, 234, 270–271, 360–361, 398–399, 412, 429–430, 511–512, 516, 521, 524

  first LP, 193–194

  first Number One hit, 190, 191, 193

  first single, 178–179, 181–184

  first TV appearance, 190

  first U.S. Top Hundred, 239, 241

  girls as fans of, 106, 107, 111, 207, 211, 215–216, 219, 220, 223, 253–255, 257, 268, 353–355, 382–383, 385, 389, 390

  grandchildren of, 525

  hairstyles of, 99–100, 123, 156, 231, 242, 246, 251, 252, 276, 306

  Hamburg clubs played by, 83, 88–103, 113–118, 158, 162–164, 186–188

  as Johnny and the Moondogs. See Johnny and the Moondogs

  live performances abandoned by, 407

  longevity of, xix–xxi

  Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and, 341–343, 346, 352, 365–367, 517

  Martin and. See Martin, George

  MBE awarded to, xxvi, 275, 279–280, 516

  meeting with Presley, 288

  merchandising of, xv, 231–234, 242–243, 253–255, 284–285, 321, 338, 347

  move to London (1963), 215–217

  naming of, 71, 81, 120

  Paris tour (1964), 236–239

  performance style, 190

  photographs of, 98–99, 114, 115, 116–117, 119, 121, 204, 224, 257–258

  Polydor recording by, 117–118, 122

  press conferences of, 252–253, 279–280, 282, 301, 343, 367–368

  publicists for, 200, 229, 230, 282

  publishing rights negotiated for, 165, 183, 185–186, 241

  as Quarry Men. See Quarry Men

  repertoire of, 111, 169

  reunions, xvii, 440, 476, 490, 521

  Rolling Stones and, 201, 263–264, 278–279, 336, 405

  Royal Command Variety Performance and, 214, 219–221

  royalties, 419, 430, 441, 442, 462, 502

  sexuality of, 213

  as Silver Beatles. See Silver Beatles

  as smokers, 213

  Sutcliffe’s death and, 160–162

  TV appearances of, xv, 190, 250–252, 257, 299, 356, 371–372

  U.S. press and, 240–242, 246–248, 251–253, 301, 331, 359

  U.S. record market sought for, 224–228

  U.S. tours of, 244–258, 267, 282, 284, 287–289, 301–303, 319

  winter tour (1963), 229–230

  winter tour (1965), 294

  wit and intelligence of, 213, 214, 242, 247, 252–253

  working class epitomized by, 195

  world tour (1966), 295–297

  See also Harrison, George; Lennon, John Winston; McCartney, Paul; Starr, Ringo; Sutcliffe, Stuart; individual albums, films and songs

  Beatles, Ltd., 361, 364

  See also Apple Corps, Ltd.

  Beatles, The. See White Album

  Beatles Anthology, 502, 516, 525

  Beatles & Co., 361

  Beatles’ Fan Club, 200

  Beatles for Sale, 290

  Beatles Monthly, 213, 444

  Beatles Oldies—but Goldies, 313

  Beatles Story, The (exhibition), xxi–xxii

  Beatles—Yesterday and Today, 300

  Beatmakers, 122

  Beat Monthly, 204

  Beatty, Warren, 385

  Beaucoup of Blues, 522

  “Beautiful Boy,” 466–467

  “Be Bop a LuLa,” 35, 67, 461

  Bedford, Brian, 134–135

  Bedford, Carol, 389, 508–509

  Bed-ins, 418, 422, 428, 429

  Beeching, Lord, 400

  Bee Gees, 322, 352

  “Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite,” 326

  Bennett, Alan, 298

  Bennett, Kim, 165, 182–183

  Bennett, Pete, 405, 427, 486

  Bernstein, Sid, xiii, 226, 237–238, 244, 256, 257, 289

  Berry, Chuck, 43, 62, 74, 77, 89, 108, 111, 152, 187, 224, 290, 388, 409, 475

  “Besame Mucho,” 169, 181, 188

  Best, Johnny, 55

  Best, Mona, 85

  Beatles promoted by, 105, 107–108, 148

  Casbah run by, 55–56, 84, 105

  Pete’s ouster from Beatles and, 171, 177

  Best, Pete, xv, 56–57, 78

  aloofness from Beatles
, 95, 98, 169

  appearance of, 55, 95

  Beatles joined by, 85

  Beatles sack, 170–172, 176–177

  deported from West Germany, 103

  drugs avoided by, 91

  as drummer, 95, 107, 170, 172

  fans of, 176, 177

  on Hamburg trips, 89, 91, 94, 95, 98–100, 102

  joins Lee Curtis and the All Stars, 177–178

  Best, Roag, 177

  Best, Rory, 55, 106, 177

  Beyond the Fringe, 167

  Biafra, war in, 418, 443

  Big Three, The, 109, 120, 152, 164, 178, 200, 286

  Billboard magazine, xxvi, 226, 267

  Bill Haley and the Comets, 21

  bin Laden, Osama, xi, xxiv

  Birgfeld, Detlev, 116

  Black, Cilla (Priscilla White), 229

  as coat-check girl, 110

  Epstein’s management of, 207, 280, 281, 285, 321, 337, 339

  as singer, 120

  “Blackbird,” 385, 388, 505

  Blackbird Singing (McCartney), 504

  Blackboard Jungle, The (film), 21

  Black Dyke Mills Band, 371, 492

  Black Jacks, 85

  Black Panthers, 453, 456

  Black Power, 454

  Black Room, 391–392, 397

  Blair, Tony, xxii

  Blake, Peter, 277, 329, 331

  Blake, William, 336

  Blind Faith, 434

  Bloom, John, 360

  Blue Genes, 108–110

  Blue Hawaii, 224

  “Blue Jay Way,” 359

  “Blue Suède Shoes,” 22, 26, 94

  Blur, xxii

  Bolan, Marc, 522

  Bon Jovi, x

  Born to Boogie (film), 522

  Bowie, David, 461, 486, 504

  Boyd, Jennie, 363, 365, 377

  Boyd, Patti. See Harrison, Patti Boyd

  “Boys,” 194

  Brambell, Wilfred, 265

  Bramwell, Tony, 46, 204, 214, 267, 312, 320, 351, 358

  Brando, Marlon, 70, 71, 329

  Brasenose College, 261

  Brautigan, Richard, 397

  Bresner, Buddy, 258

  Brian Poole and the Tremeloes, 152

  British Broadcasting Corporation. See BBC

  British Embassy, Washington, D.C., Beatles’ visit to, 255–256

  Britten, Buddy, 163