Ringo Starr performing with The Beatles at Palais Des Sports, Paris - 1965

Credit: Bent Rej

How did Ringo Starr join The Beatles?

Thu 23 January 2025 19:59, UK

It’s nearly impossible to imagine The Beatles with any lineup other than John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. Their individual iconic statuses have only amplified the band’s already monumental cultural impact. However, believe it or not, the man who would later be celebrated as a maestro of the drum kit wasn’t part of the original lineup—Ringo Starr wasn’t initially one of the Fab Four.

In their most recognisable form, the Beatles came together in 1960, although had been floating around in various incarnations of different groups since childhood friends Lennon, McCartney and Harrison first made a skiffle band in 1958. As they evolved into the Beatles, they picked up drummer Pete Best along the way, though he only lasted for two years before the band’s producer George Martin set about replacing him as his skills weren’t up to par.

From there, Starr had already been playing with the band in parts as a session drummer and was gaining an increasing sense for their music, so Harrison approached him to join the ranks full time. It might seem like a no-brainer with our benefit of hindsight, but at the time the Beatles were yet to make it big, and Starr already had a drumming position in the Hurricanes which he would have to give up to make this local Liverpool trio into a quartet. However, jumping into a leap of faith, he decided to take Harrison up on his offer – and it turned out to be the best decision he’d ever make.

The heights Starr then went on to hardly need to be explained, but it’s probably fair to say he was glad to have not stuck it out with the Hurricanes. Through the vortex of Beatlemania and all the carnage it brought with it, Starr went on to further success even after the Fab Four’s eventual disbandment with a string of hits and chart-toppers. But you can bet he’s stopped so many times to pinch himself, given that this life of rock godliness almost never happened…

So, was Ringo Starr lucky to be in The Beatles?

Although you might think it was inevitable that the Beatles’ drumming boots were always going to be filled by Starr, in other ways it is true that he was overwhelmingly lucky to land the gig. What if he hadn’t had been in the Hurricanes, and therefore also doing the rounds on the session circuit? Or what if he just didn’t manage to hit it off with the other three; would he have been happy with his lot of a life in the background?

Further in that sense, he would have also been blessing poor old Best’s lacklustre skills behind the kit. The rest of the Beatles would fully agree that bringing Starr on board was the best choice they could have possibly made – even though they did later express regret over how Best was unceremoniously dumped from proceedings – but it also conjures the thought: would the Fab Four have even made it off the ground if Starr hadn’t come along?

To be fair, these days the thought probably isn’t crossing his mind too much in the knowledge that his status is safe, but just imagine if he’d decided to turn Harrison down instead.