Even for those who do not know much about the Beatles, the names John Lennon and Paul McCartney may ring a bell and stand out the most amongst all The Beatles. Many do not know much about the other two band members of the fab four, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. Toonari Post have explored ten things to know about the quiet Beatle George, and will here focus on the drummer of the band, Ringo Starr.

1. He was in two bands before he joined The Beatles.

Ringo started his own group in 1957 with his friend Eddie Miles called the Eddie Clayton Skiffle Group. In 1959, he joined the Raving Texans. By October 1960, the band was renamed Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, and while they were performing in Hamburg, Starr met The Beatles.

2. His real name is Richard Starkey.

During his time with the Raving Texans, Richard adopted the stage name “Ringo Starr” because of the rings he wore and because it sounded “cowboyish,” and his drum solos were billed as “Starr Time.”

3. He wasn’t the original drummer for The Beatles.

After meeting The Beatles in 1960 in Germany, Starr sat in for Pete Best as The Beatles’ drummer on 18 August 1961 and 5 February 1962. The Beatles removed Best as their drummer on 16 August 1962, after Best had played in the early recording sessions at EMI Studios. Starr then became the band’s drummer and his first performance as a full Beatle was on 18 August 1962 at a Horticultural Society dance at Port Sunlight. Best’s removal from The Beatles didn’t sit well with Best’s fans. The following day, after Starr’s appearance at the Cavern Club performance as a full Beatle, they were upset at Best’s removal. They held vigils outside Best’s house and fought at the club, shouting ‘Pete forever! Ringo never!’ George Harrison received a black eye from one of the fans.

4. He was the oldest member to join the band.

Ringo was born July 7, 1940. John was the second oldest as he was born October 9, 1940 while Paul was born June 18, 1942 and George-the youngest of the fab four-was born February 25, 1943.

5. He was the first Beatle to actually leave the group.

It was in 1968 during the infamous White Album sessions. During the two week period in which Starr was gone, the remaining band members all took turns on the drums for some of the tracks. When he returned he found his drum kit covered in flowers.

6. Ringo was born left-handed.

He became ambidextrous because his grandmother thought it was a witch spell for people to be left handed and therefore he was forced to write with his right hand.

7. Starr didn’t play the drums on The Beatles’s single “Love Me Do.”

On September 11, 1962, during the band’s second recording session with Starr as a member, producer George Martin replaced Starr (who was inexperienced with playing in the studio) with session drummer Andy White to record takes for what would be the two sides of The Beatles’ first single, “Love Me Do” backed with “P.S. I Love You”. Instead of the drums, Starr played tambourine on “Love Me Do” and maracas on “P.S. I Love You” for this session.

8. Of all the band members, Ringo was the most consistent during recording sessions.

That’s according to English author and historian Mark Lewisohn, who is regarded as the world’s leading authority on The Beatles. In his detailed study of The Beatles’ recording sessions, Lewisohn confirmed that Starr was both proficient and remarkably reliable and consistent. According to Lewisohn, there were fewer than a dozen occasions in the band’s eight-year recording career where session “breakdowns” were caused by Starr making a mistake, while the vast majority of takes were stopped owing to mistakes by the other three Beatles.

9. Starr is considered to have influenced various modern drumming techniques.

Techniques such as the matched grip started with Starr. The drummer holds drum sticks and mallets to play percussion instruments; in the matched grip each hand holds its stick in the same way. In the traditional grip, each hand holds the stick differently. Placing the drums on high risers for visibility as part of the band, tuning the drums lower, and using muffling devices on tonal rings are also Starr’s.

10. Many drummers cite Starr as an influence.

This includes: Steve Gorman of the Black Crowes, Dave Grohl of Nirvana, Jen Ledger of Skillet, Max Weinberg of the E Street Band, Danny Carey of Tool, Liberty DeVitto of Billy Joel’s band, Nicko McBrain of Iron Maiden, Eric Carr of Kiss, Phil Rudd of AC/DC, Orri Páll Dýrason of Sigur Rós, the former Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy, Pedro Andreu of Heroes del Silencio and many others.

Image Courtesy of  Mazzzur / Shutterstock.com

The article Beatles 50: 10 Things to Know about Ringo appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

John, Paul, George, and Ringo is the answer you would get if you’ve asked anyone on the street to name the band members of the Beatles. If you’ve asked that same person about each member, you’ll find that many people-whether they’re Beatles fans or not-know more about John Lennon and Paul McCartney. But what about George Harrison and Ringo Starr?  In this two part article, fans will learn ten things each about George and Ringo. For this article, the  “Quiet Beatle” George Harrison is the focus.

1. At around the ages of 12 or 13, George lost interest in school.
Fans can thank Elvis for that. It was around this time that Harrison was riding his bike in his neighborhood when he heard Elvis’s “Heartbreak Hotel” playing out from a neighbor’s home. Harrison later said that he had an ‘epiphany’ of sorts and was hooked.

2. By the age of 14, Harrison was into guitars.
He would sit at his desk in the back of his class and draw guitars. Harrison said, “I was totally into guitars. I heard about this kid at school who had a guitar at £3 10s, it was just a little acoustic round hole. I got the £3 10s from my mother: that was a lot of money for us then.” Eventually he purchased his first guitar-a Dutch Egmond flat top acoustic guitar- and taught himself a few chords. His early rock heroes included Carl Perkins, Little Richard, and Buddy Holly.

3. Before the Beatles ever had a number one hit, George was an apprentice electrician at the age of 16.
His father wanted George and his two brothers-one was a mechanic the other was a groundskeeper-to go into business with him, but it was not to be.

4. Whenever something angered Harrison he usually used music to express his anger.
An example is Harrison’s song entitled ‘Only A Northern Song’. It was a dig at the band’s publishing company and the concept of the Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. The song was supposed to be on Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club band but it was cut. The song was then featured on the album Yellow Submarine.

5. He knew how to play a lot of instruments.
Twenty-six in all: the guitar, sitar, 4-string guitar, bass guitar, arp bass, violin, tamboura, dobro, sword mandel, tabla, organ, piano, moog synthesizer, harmonica, autoharp, glockenspiel, vibraphone, xylophone, claves, African drum, conga drum, tympani, ukulele, mandolin, marimba, and the Jal-Tarang.

6. Harrison developed a huge interest in Indian music.
He was the first musician to introduce the sitar to the pop world when he played it on John Lennon’s ‘Norwegian Wood’ beating The Rolling Stones and their sitar-hit ‘Paint It Black’ by about 12 months.

7. His interest in Indian music extended into a desire to learn more about eastern spiritual practices.
In 1968, he led the Beatles on a journey to northern India to study transcendental meditation under Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

8. In 1969, during the recording sessions for the album Let It Be, Harrison walked out.
He didn’t return for several weeks. It was only after it was promised that the band would use more of his songs on their records that he returned.

9. During the last months of Lennon’s life, George and John were not on good terms.
It was due to Lennon’s disappointment with George’s autobiography, I Me Mine. John felt insulted and hurt that George mentioned him only in passing, even though Lennon was mentioned eleven times.

10. In 1981, six months after Lennon’s murder, George paid tribute to Lennon with his song ‘All Those Years Ago’.
It contains the lyrics “I always look up to you”, suggesting that George was in agreement with Lennon’s view of their relationship in which John Lennon had stated that his relationship with George was “one of young follower and older guy”, and admitted that “[George] was like a disciple of mine when we started.”

Image Courtesy of  George Harrison

The article Beatles 50: Ten Things About The Quiet Beatle appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

The Beatles had an amazing impact on the music industry and the world at large. A majority of today’s mainstream musicians cannot even begin to compare with the talent that this fantastic foursome had. In honor of the 50th anniversary of the formation of the group, here are ten interesting facts about The Beatles that fans new and old should know.

1. During the week of April 4, 1964 The Beatles held the top five places on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US. No other group or artist has ever managed to match this feat.
2. The “man in the crowd,” in which Lennon refers to in the song Happiness Is A Warm Gun, was taken from a newspaper story about a man who was arrested by the police for having mirrors on his toe caps to look up women’s skirts at football matches.
3. On Lennon’s song Girl from the album Rubber Soul, one can hear Paul and George constantly repeat the word “tit” in the background. John also breathes heavily several places. This could have been done to emphasize on the fact that the song had sexual references.
4. What Goes On from the album Rubber Soul was written by Lennon and McCartney together with Ringo Starr. Ringo also wrote Don’t Pass Me By on The Beatles, also known as The White Album, and Octopus’s Garden on Abbey Road. He also sang lead vocal on songs such as With A Little Help From My Friends, Yellow Submarine and Good Night.
5. While Let It Be was the last album to be released by The Beatles before their breakup, most of it was recorded before Abbey Road, their second last album.
6. The album Abbey Road was originally going to be called Everest, named after the brand of cigarette Beatles engineer Geoff Emerick was smoking at the time. Paul McCartney even wanted the Beatles to go to Tibet and pose in front of Mount Everest for the album cover! Other suggestions were Four In The Bar and All Good Children Go To Heaven, before Ringo joked that they could call it Abbey Road.
7. On September 11, 1964, the Beatles refused to play at Gator Bowl, Jacksonville, without guarantees that the audience would not be segregated.
8. The Beatles were featured in an American Saturday morning cartoon series called ‘The Beatles.’ 3 seasons (39 episodes total) were produced.
9. The album Sgt. Pepper was one of the first pop albums to include completed lyrics. They were printed on the back cover.
10. Some of the band’s early influences included Elvis Presley, Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, Eddie Cochran, Carl Perkins and Ray Orbison. Later, The Beatles were also inspired by Bob Dylan, Frank Zappa, The Byrda and The Beach Boys.

Image Courtesy of  The Beatles

The article Ten Things You Should Know About The Beatles appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.