Yoko Ono, the famous widow of the phenomenal artist, John Lennon, believes that Ringo Starr is "the most influential Beatle," according to a pre-show interview with Rolling Stone conducted during the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Cleveland, Ohio. Starr, the widely known drummer for the iconic band, The Beatles, was finally inducted as one of the stars to be included in the prestigious list.
"No one is probably going to believe it, but he was the most influential Beatle," shared Ono. She went on to say that, "For some reason John [Lennon] got it, then George [Harrison] got it, then Paul [McCartney] got it. So why didn't they think about Ringo?"
Ono also disclosed her appreciation for Starr's demeanor and outlook in life. She shared that compared with her late husband, the talented drummer of the group is very gentle and carefree. She remarked, "John [Lennon] would go up and down and all that, but Ringo was always just very gentle." Ono then added that she admired how Starr "really believed in peace and love."
Starr is the last member of the band to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for his solo career despite the fact that the drummer is the first among them to achieve a high ranking hit. While the people behind the organization claimed to think that Starr should be part of the list, it was McCartney himself who started the ball rolling.
"I talked to Bruce Springsteen and I talked to Dave Grohl, and they both said he should be in," McCartney said in a separate interview with The Rolling Stone. Apart from suggesting Starr's inclusion, he also volunteered to perform the induction.
Read the full text of his speech here:
"OK. Ringo Starr was born in Liverpool at a very early age, and he had a hard childhood. Real hard childhood, but he had a beautiful mom, Elsie, and a lovely stepdad Harry. Both of them had real big hearts, beautiful people, and they loved music. So at some point during this difficult childhood, Ringo got a drum. Ringo got a drum! And that was it. He was now a drummer.
Later on he joined a group called Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. And we saw these guys when we were out in Hamburg, we were playing out there. And Ringo was like a professional musician. We were just like, slamming around and doing stuff, but he had a beard - that's professional. He had the suit. Very professional. And he would sit at the bar drinking bourbon and seven. We'd never seen anyone like this. This was like, a grown-up musician.
Anyway, we got friendly with him, and he used to come in late night when we were playing, and he requested a couple of songs, so we got to know him. And one night our drummer then, Pete Best, wasn't available, so Ringo sat in. And I remember the moment. I mean, Pete was great, and we had a good time with him. But me, John and George, God bless 'em, were on the front line singing, and now behind us we had this guy we'd never played with before, and I remember the moment when he started to play - I think it was Ray Charles, "What'd I Say," and most of the drummers couldn't nail the drum part, it's a little bit [sings a bit of it]. It was a little difficult to do, but Ringo nailed it. Yeah - Ringo nailed it! And I remember the moment, standing there and looking at John and then looking at George, and the look on our faces was like, fuck you. What is this? And that was the moment, that was the beginning, really, of the Beatles.
Anyway, then we started this great journey for these four guys from Liverpool who were . . .we just set off on their journey. We did ballrooms and clubs around England, and we got a little work in Europe, and then we eventually came to America. And here we were, we were staying in rooms together. And I wasn't a sheltered kid, but I just had my mom and dad growing up and my brother. So I was staying in a hotel room with a strange man. This really brought us together. We lived like in each other's pockets, virtually. But it was a beautiful thing, a wonderful thing. Eventually we got on The Ed Sullivan Show, and we got really famous. It was just so beautiful. As all the other drummers say, he just is something so special. When he's playing behind you, you see these other bands, they're looking around at the drummer, like, is he going to speed up, is he going to slow down? You don't have to look with Ringo.
It's a great honor for me to be able to induce him into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland tonight!"
