RINGO’S PHOTO ALBUM
Book collects his Beatles shots
Ringo Starr had to miss out on John Lennon’s birthday celebrations this year.
Lennon would have been 75, like Starr, on Oct. 9 — the day Starr’s band played a show in Vancouver.
“I spoke to Yoko because every ninth of October — I’ve only been twice — they go to Iceland to celebrate John’s birthday. We got an invite this year but, as you know, I’ll be in Vancouver,” the former Beatle said leading up to last Friday’s gig in B.C.
Starr and the latest iteration of his All-Starr band are making their way across the country, with a show in Montreal on Oct. 21.
“What I do in Canada … is that I rehearse the All-Starr Band there,” Starr continues. “We’ve done four different bands in Fallsview (in Niagara Falls, Ont.). I love Canada. That’s just how it is. Like most countries, it’s beautiful. Vancouver is on the West Coast and I live on the West Coast now. I’ve always loved the West Coast because it’s warmer. One year I went to Vancouver and then froze my ass off in Toronto.”
In addition to performing, Starr, an avid photographer, unexpectedly unearthed a whole treasure trove of many never-before-seen photos taken during his time with the Beatles.
The shots were collected and recently published in a beautiful volume entitled Photograph, not just an echo of the title of Starr’s biggest single as a solo artist, but also in tribute to his love of photography. It’s often forgotten that Starr was the director of photography for the Beatles’ Magical Mystery Tour television special in 1967 (credited under his real name, Richard Starkey).
“There’s many shots no one has ever seen before,” Starr said of the pictures in his new book. “The story is very simple: I found this huge box of stuff. I was emptying all of the storage places I have around the world and trying to get it all in one spot. That’s when you realize how much stuff you’ve got.
“Anyway, the joy was that I found this old trunk of photo albums and negatives — hundreds and hundreds of negatives. There were all these shots from the ’60s that were in there, so I thought, ‘What a great thing I’ve found here!’”
Starr reached out to book publisher Genesis, who immediately agreed to cobble together a book.
Most of the pictures are taken from Starr’s point of view, which gives them a very personal touch. Candid images of Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison abound, with acolytes Brian Epstein and George Martin also shown with levity in mind.
Starr makes the book more autobiographical by adding childhood photos and other pieces of memorabilia such as images of the call sheets for the Beatles Cavern Club performances, and the original scribbled lyrics for Don’t Pass Me By, the first song he both wrote and recorded with The Beatles (on the White Album, but written circa 1964).