DM's Beatles forums
Solo forums => Ringo Starr => Topic started by: stevejrogers on June 05, 2012, 02:58:53 PM
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Something I've always wondered about concerning the early wave of Beatlemania.
Well, you know how Brian Epstein was able to keep a lid on John Lennon being a married man during those early years as he marketed the lads and all. Well, that had me wondering if there was a push concerning the idea that Richard Starkey's stage name was really his name?
For what purpose? Who knows, obviously the image of the lads being single to cultivate a young female fanbase is one thing as compared to a complete stage name being used by one of the boys (and no, Paul flipping his first and middle names does not count as a true stage name), but just curious.
By the same token, was Ringo ever officially publicly "outed" as being just a stage name? I know in A Hard Day's Night there is the bit where Paul reads off an invitation that Ringo got in the mail with "Dear Mister Richard Starkey, (looks up and towards Ringo) that's you..." or was it just a small bio tidbit sort of thing, like "Paul McCartney's given birth name is James Paul McCartney" or something like that.
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There was never an attempt to hide Ringo's birth name. He started off as Richard Starkey, used the stage name "Rings Starr" for awhile (because of two rings on each hand), and as legend would have it, changed it to Ringo, which he thought sounded like a cowboy name. Ringo loved westerns in his younger days. Coincidentally, in 1964, Lorne Greene (of Bonanza fame) had a hit record about a cowboy named "Ringo". (Actually, it was not a coincidence.) The other Beatles referred to him as Ringo, but usually called him "Richie" privately. His first wife, Maureen, did. And I suspect Barbara Bach (yummy) also calls him Richie.
Now, on to a more important question: Does Ringo still hate Donald Duck? <wink>
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On the other hand, the narrator (John?) on Magical Mystery Tour identified Ringo as "Richard B Starkey". Inside joke or did Ringo have a middle name we don't know about?