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Ringo: With a Little Help by [Michael Seth Starr]

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Ringo: With a Little Help Kindle Edition

by Michael Seth Starr (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

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Ringo: With a Little Help is the first in-depth biography of Beatles drummer Ringo Starr, who kept the beat for an entire generation and who remains a rock icon over fifty years since the Beatles took the world by storm. With a Little Help traces the entire arc of Ringo's remarkable life and career, from his sickly childhood to his life as The World's Most Famous drummer to his triumphs, addictions, and emotional battles following the breakup of the Beatles as he comes to terms with his legacy. Born in 1940 as Richard Starkey in the Dingle, one of Liverpool's most gritty, rough-and-tumble neighborhoods, he rose from a hardscrabble childhood – marked by serious illnesses, long hospital stays, and little schooling – to emerge, against all odds, as a locally renowned drummer. Taking the stage name Ringo Starr, his big break with the Beatles rocketed him to the pinnacle of worldwide acclaim in a remarkably short time. He was the last member of the Beatles to join the group but also the most vulnerable, and his post-Beatles career was marked by chart-topping successes, a jet-setting life of excess and alcohol abuse, and, ultimately, his rebirth as one of rock's revered elder statesman.

Length: 409 pages	Word Wise: Enabled	Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled
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Editorial Reviews

Review

In this illuminating and comprehensive biography of Richard ''Ringo Starr'' Starkey, New York Post TV editor Starr delves into every aspect of the life of one of the 20th century's most famous drummers. Beatles fans may come away disappointed at the lack of truly new material regarding Ringo's tenure with the band, much of which is culled from the Beatles Anthology documentary. That said, Starr successfully paints a complete portrait of the legendary drummer, whose contributions to rock 'n' roll, he argues, have largely been overshadowed by his iconic bandmates. With aplomb, Starr creates an intimate picture of Liverpool and Hamburg during the 1950s and '60s that puts the rest of Ringo's life (including his later battles with alcoholism and drug addiction) into fascinating perspective. Starr's prose is straightforward, at times stilted, but frequent eyewitness accounts and quotes from original interviews with Ringo's friends and family help him succeed in revealing the nuanced and passionate man who was the backbone of the Beatles. --Publishers Weekly

It's a solid recounting of Ringo's life and will be of interest to Beatles fans looking for more information on the least-chronicled member of the Fab Four. -Booklist Online

Extensive research and an injection of personality make this a definitive biography of the most underrated Beatle. -Foreword Reviews

Until Ringo pens his memoirs (if he ever does), this biography will serve as the most complete and up-to-date telling of his life story. --Library Journal Xpress Reviews, June 26, 2015

''Through assiduous research, the author (no relation) paints a nuanced picture of Ringo as a charismatic, likeable character, whose flaws were opened by success.'' -MOJO Magazine

''Too few books have chronicled Ringo Starr's professional and personal life, but this new tome by Michael Seth Starr (no relation) thoroughly examines the drummer's story from his Liverpool beginnings to his current solo career'' -Something Else Reviews

''Ringo: With a Little Help'' is clearly the definitive biography of one of the most famous musicians - or, heck, people - of the last century (though author Starr could not get subject Starr to participate). And, while he did get help along the way, Richard Starkey richly deserves this solid literary treatment. --Houston Chronicle --This text refers to the hardcover edition.

About the Author

Michael Seth Starr (Northern New Jersey) is the TV Editor for The New York Post, where he's written about television for the past twenty years. He is a native of Northern New Jersey, and has authored biographies of Peter Sellers, Art Carney, Joey Bishop, Bobby Darin, Raymond Burr and Redd Foxx. And no – he is not related to Ringo Starr. --This text refers to the hardcover edition.

Product details

ASIN : B0112BS13S
Publisher : Backbeat; 1st edition (September 1, 2016)
Publication date : September 1, 2016
Language : English
File size : 7644 KB
Text-to-Speech : Enabled
Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
X-Ray : Not Enabled
Word Wise : Enabled
Print length : 409 pages
Lending : Not Enabled

Best Sellers Rank: #548,121 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #243 in Pop Culture Music
- #271 in Popular Music (Kindle Store)
- #331 in The Beatles

Customer Reviews:
151 ratings

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2 star		4%
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Top reviews from the United States

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K. MacKenzie

A Good Read on RIngo's Life

Reviewed in the United States on June 2, 2016

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This is a very good book with a lot of detail. The only "drawback" might be that it is not an authorized version of Ringo's life, but one has no reason to think it is fictional in any sense of the word. It appears to have been extremely well researched. It is well written and easy to read. I imagine every person who becomes famous for any reason, must deal with the life dictated by certain aspects of being well known. Every person has differing aspects in their lives with which they must cope, but the most common denominator being that "Fame is a full-time job," as I once heard Tony Curtis remark to an interviewer. Many people don't know that fact until they're up to their eyes in adoring fans. Many people cannot cope with the life that fame brings; almost everyone has their own way of dealing with it. This is Ringo's story, and is very straightforward in showing his up's and down's throughout the years with The Beatles and afterwards. A good read which will give you some insight into the life of one famous person you may not know that much about. I certainly had no idea about many details of his life, especially after the Beatles. Interesting book for Ringo fans.

8 people found this helpful

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JA Lowcountry

A Bit Boring

Reviewed in the United States on October 29, 2020

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I was a huge — non-screaming Beatles fan, who had the privilege of attending their San Diego, Calif concert. I sat next to 2 young female staff of Kasey Kasem’s KRLA radio station. They had just come from backstage. What a treat! I was sitting where I could hear them and enjoyed it, but I didn’t get why most everyone was so hysterical and found that a bit embarrassing. I liked all the Beatles, and for the most part enjoyed this bio of Ringo — especially the early years. However, I think the author spends too much time on his post-Beatles recording career, where Ringo was allowed to record album after album of pretty awful music. The endless bad recordings show that Ringo’s ego or insecurity were in control or he would have stuck to what he does best — drumming.

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GR700 1985

A great read!

Reviewed in the United States on March 11, 2018

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I’ve played with some great drummers, but Ringo had a great feel . I’ve played with some very technical musicians and not all of them could produce the right “feel” for the music. Ringo did that. Without him The Beatles would not have had the right touch.

The book? Very informative and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Not sure if the author had it proof read so you will encounter typos, poor grammar and just plain writing errors...but ignore them.

5 people found this helpful

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Mark R. Brewer

Ringorama

Reviewed in the United States on January 28, 2016

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RINGO is an intelligent and well written biography of the world's most famous drummer. There was really nothing new on the whole Beatles thing, but it was interesting to view it all from Ringo's perspective. The author also made a glaring mistake here, attributing "Across the Universe" to Paul McCartney.

But it was Ringo's post-Beatles life that was most interesting, for this is the lesser known part of his tale. It is amazing that he abused alcolhol for as long as he did and is still around today. He seems to have found peace in his old age.

Beatles fans should find this an enjoyable ride.

6 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

Good Job!

Reviewed in the United States on October 22, 2015

Verified Purchase

Actually, lots of small, new facts that Beatles fanatics like myself will enjoy as well as seeing what was going on with Ringo "all those years ago ..." One example I never thought of was us American fans didn't know the history of the Fab Four and so, even after hearing about Pete Best, it never occurred to us that the group wasn't completely on equal standing ... I think that I speak for a lot of people when I state that if it was the Beatles (re: ANYTHING) than it enjoyed mythic status from the start ... no other way to explain it to myself that I still WILL NOT turn off a Beatles song in progress ... and Ringo always held a high status in my mind as an excellent drummer, period ... the others may have been telling him HOW they wanted the drums to sound, but he made the drums sound like they wanted and that must have been amazing to them ... so much of Ringo's solo efforts went unnoticed (and I am one of those who never tried to listen to him after the great album"Ringo") and it is amazing how people's lives can spiral out of control ... but he made it and this book was a welcome bit of news in an "old" Beatles fan's life ... I think the author did an excellent job - he must have, I stayed up all night and read it at one sitting ... :-)

9 people found this helpful

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Chrysalis

He got kicked to the curb often but he came back as best as he could - he was no slouch

Reviewed in the United States on October 3, 2015

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Ringo was not just along for the ride. He made a strong contribution and this book covers the nature of that contribution as well as insight into his life. He got kicked to the curb often but he came back as best as he could - he was no slouch. I have been listening to Beatle music with a keener ear to his drumming and it is definitely not inferior work - it is distinctive. Too bad that some people cannot get past their own limits of what good drumming should sound like. Since this is an unauthorized biography it lacks Ringo's perspective but the author does a great job of compensating by drawing proper perspectives from an assembly of anecdotes and facts.

2 people found this helpful

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beatlefan

Not just a Drummer

Reviewed in the United States on August 5, 2015

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A long and winding story. This story is slow at the beginning since it consists of the same stories about the beginning of the Beatles from prior books. It gets better post Beatles years. It discusses his life with Barbara , his divorce from Maureen who cheated on him. I especially enjoyed the part about his friendship with Keith moon known as uncle Keith to RIngo's kids. He was their godfather. I would have liked photos of Ringo with the Beatles and Keith, Harry Nilsson, his close friend.

7 people found this helpful

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Stewart Cannon

A Fairly Good Effort

Reviewed in the United States on January 22, 2019

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I did learn quite a few tidbits I hadn't seen before, so it was well worth the read. Most of the Beatles era stuff is pretty standard and taken from well-known sources, but all in all an interesting trip.

2 people found this helpful

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Mervyn Capel

DON'T UNDER-RATE RINGO STARR

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 15, 2015

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For some reason the author of this book seems almost apologetic for having written about Ringo, as though his subject matter is unworthy of him. This spoils an otherwise well researched (though plainly derivative) biography of the least understood Beatle.
Those who sneer at Richard Starkey and call him "the luckiest man who ever lived" are just ignorant....they haven't LISTENED to his contribution to the Beatles' recordings. His idiosyncratic drumming was a major factor in making their sound what it was. Just listen to the drumming track on "Rain", or watch him in action on footage of the live concerts, rather than the TV sessions when they were all miming and the guitars weren't even plugged in! No wonder that all he could do was nod and smile.
He's a man of contradictions, like all four of them. This book reflects it all.
So maybe his singing wasn't great, but it improved with age!

6 people found this helpful

E. Russell

Good book about Ringo

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 16, 2019

Verified Purchase

Interesting read about the least interesting of the Fab Four. Interesting to read about the period when Ringo couldn’t give an album away.

SuziQ26

A really interesting read... just a shame ...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 31, 2016

Verified Purchase

A really interesting read...just a shame that Ringo himself chose not to co-operate with the author...but you can't have everything!

sollypi

Unofficial story of Ritchie Starkey.

Reviewed in Canada on May 17, 2017

Verified Purchase

This was the first ever book I've read about Ringo. Everyone who's ever followed this band knows their early lives from all the books written about them. There hasn't been much written about Ringo, even after the band split. Most of the books have been about John, Paul and lately George. It's the usual story of a music star going on a alcohol and drug fueled life style. I wonder if Ringo will ever sit down and write his own version of his life and maybe set things right? Until he ever does, this may be only one of many books on this subject of Ringo Starr. I would recommend reading this "unofficial" story on his life.

One person found this helpful

Carlo

Discreto

Reviewed in Italy on September 10, 2019

Verified Purchase

Sembrava essere una novità e invece è solo un mix di informazioni prese da altre fonti e scritte con larga licenza dall’autore. Troppi errori cronologici e storici che potevano essere risparmiati con un minimo di attenzione in più. Onesto nella prefazione dove viene specificata la totale estraneità di collaborazione da parte di Ringo, il quale non ha autorizzato questa sorta di biografia.
Rimane comunque una lettura piacevole e di buon ripasso generale per chi ha bisogno di avere tutto dei Fab4.

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