At work and home,"know the role you play," says the ex-Beatle.His role?"Peacemaker."
After politely answering questions about his old singing group, Ringo Starr issues a challenge. He encourages me to be the first journalist to write about him without bringing up any other lads from Liverpool. "That should be an exercise in journalism schools. Try writing about any one of us and don't mention the Beatles."
Sorry, Ringo. Can't do it.
Yes, he has moved on and is touring this month with his All-Starr Band, including Peter Frampton. But Starr, 56, is wrong when he says, "People are tired of this Beatles stuff." Tired? Not when $1.6 billion in Beatles CDs and merchandise have been sold since 1995.
Starr surely knows he'll always be a Beatle to us. Perhaps that's why, when asked what he learned in the Fab Four, he says,"Know the role you play."
He shares touching examples. Growing up as an only child, he longed for brothers. "That was everything I'd wanted, and suddenly I had three of the buggers."
He became the Beatles' "peacemaker" brother. During creative battles, "if there was a neutral corner, that was me." You might not ask for a role in your family or at work, he says, but when it's obvious, "take the responsibility."
Starr didn't write the songs, but he bonded the Beatles, emotionally and technically. As a drummer, he says, his role was to know his place. "A drummer has a really specific part to play: to hold a band together and allow the rest of the band to have freedom."
Starr has since found that his most important roles are as a father and grandfather. He saw this clearly during his '95 tour, which he saw cut short when his daughter, Lee, had a brain tumor.(Now 26, she's doing well.)
And what about last year's $225 million offer for a three man Beatles tour? "To set the record straight, I had dinner with George Harrison just last night and we decided...."
Yes?Yes? He beams his all star smile. "We're not getting together."
