Drummer British group The Beatles ( The Beatles), which disbanded in 1970, was awarded a knighthood. Ringo Starr became the third member of the famous quartet to receive the title “Sir”. The reason for awarding the musician is “for his contribution to music and charity.”

Ringo Starr was born in the port city of Liverpool on July 7, 1940 in the family of a docker and a pastry chef and was given the name Richard Starkey at birth. The same name that his father had. Ringo, like other band members, did not receive music education, but his joining the team in 1962 completed the formation of the Beatles and opened the way to their recognition “at the pinnacle of pop culture.” From 1962 to 1970, Ringo played percussion instruments, sang (most famous song in his performance it is “Yellow Submarine"), acted in films and even composed music (author of the songs "Octopus's Garden" and "Don't Pass By").

“I never really learned anything. I didn't learn to play the drums. I became a member of bands and made all the mistakes on stage,” said Ringo (English: I never studied anything really. I didn’t study the drums. I joined bands and made all the mistakes on stage.)

After the collapse of the band in 1970, Ringo began solo career(not the most successful, in comparison with other participants), and also collaborated with former Beatles and other musicians as part of their projects. Has its own charitable foundation– The Lotus Foundation.

Unlike John Lennon (knighted in 1969) and Paul McCartney (“Sir” from 1997), Ringo Starr was not famous for his active public position, nor a great fortune. The Great Drummer would never have dreamed of returning his knighthood as a sign of disagreement with the Vietnam War, as John did. Ringo's net worth is estimated at just over £300 million. However, in 2016 he supported the idea of ​​Britain leaving the European Union: “At first I thought the European Union was a great idea, but then I didn’t see it leading to anything.”

Ringo Starr is married to actress Barbara Bach for the second time, and has three children from his first marriage to Maureen Cox: sons Zach and Jason and daughter Lee. By the way, although Ringo was the third to receive a knighthood, he became the first Beatle to become a grandfather.

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So, today is Saturday, June 10, 2017, and we traditionally offer you answers to the quiz in the “Question and Answer” format. We encounter questions ranging from the simplest to the most complex. The quiz is very interesting and quite popular, we are simply helping you test your knowledge and make sure that you have chosen the correct answer out of the four proposed. And we have another question in the quiz - Which member of the Beatles was given the middle name Winston at birth?

• A. George Lennon
• B. Paul McCartney
• C. George Harrison
• D. Ringo Starr

The correct answer is A - George Lennon

John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon) was an English rock musician, singer, artist, writer, actor and peace activist who received worldwide recognition as one of the founders of the Beatles and the de facto leader of the group. Lennon and Paul McCartney formed one of the most influential and successful songwriting tandems in the history of rock and roll. Lennon showed the world his rebellious nature and natural intelligence on television, in films such as A Hard Day's Night, the books In His Own Write and A Spaniard in the Works, and through his work as a peace activist. The musician has two sons - Julian (from his first marriage to Cynthia Powell) and Sean (from his second marriage to artist Yoko Ono).

The Beatles - forever! Bagir-zade Alexey Nuraddinovich

John Winston Lennon (1970 to 1980)

John Winston Lennon

(from 1970 to 1980)

After the Beatles died, John did not leave the musical field. On the contrary, he immediately rushed to the offensive and immediately won. His first record of that time, “Plastic Ono Band” with the song “Give Peace A Chance” (“Give Peace a Chance”), was recognized as the best in 1970.

The song “God” speaks about Lennon’s mood at that time, in which he declares that he does not believe in God, nor the Bible, nor Kennedy, nor Elvis, nor the Beatles... but believes only in himself.

John was then full of creative energy. He was on the rise. Old and faithful friends– Klaus Voorman, who played bass, and Ringo Starr, who played drums. Lennon himself played guitar. Produced by Phil Spector. This record, like Paul McCartney's Band On The Run, was the highest achievement in all the solo careers of the ex-Beatles.

John continues to delight his fans and next year, when the album "Imagine" appears. Here John appears to us as an even greater optimist than we knew him to be. True, in the song “How Do You Sleep?” (“How are you sleeping?”) he makes a completely blatant attack on Paul McCartney. Apparently, the mutual grievances have not gone away, and John still cannot forget these ordeals in the courts regarding the division of the Beatles' property. George Harrison also performs this song. He plays the guitar. It is interesting to note that the song was recognized as one of the best in the album. I would also like to draw attention to the songs “Jealous Guy” and “Oh, My Love”. The album itself ended its journey at the top of the charts absolutely everywhere it was released. This record was also released in the USSR, and, despite the eight-year delay, “Imagine” was a great success among Soviet music lovers.

Judging by the first albums after the group's breakup, Lennon occupied leading place among the ex-Beatles. However, the next double album “Sometime in New York City” (“Sometimes in New York”) made many critics doubt the above. As for the records, one was studio recordings, and the other was recordings made during two jam sessions. (A jam session is a time when different musicians gather to play music together on a certain well-known topic. Here everyone has the opportunity to show themselves and their art of ownership. musical instruments). All this was packed in an envelope that resembled newspaper clippings. All in all, as Rolling Stone magazine put it, it was “artistic suicide.” How true this is is difficult to say. In any case, John proved himself to be a real tribune of the people, who is concerned about all the pressing problems of our time. Например, «Woman Is The Nigger Of The World» («Женщина – рабыня в этом мире»), «Sisters, Ih, Sisters» («Сёстры, о сёстры»), «Attika State» («Тюрьма „Аттика“), “Angela” (“Angela”), “Cold Turkey” (Cold Turkey) are songs of protest against racism, occupation Northern Ireland, arbitrariness in prisons, in defense of Angela Davis...

True, from a musical point of view, all this was not presented as interesting as, say, the song “Give Peace a Chance” (“Give Peace a Chance”), “Imagine” (“Imagine”). And although the group “Elephant Memory”, which acted as an accompanist, was praised, since it coped with its role perfectly, the album was a failure by critics.

Next albums “Mind Games” (“ Mind games") (1973) and, especially, "Walls And Bridges" (1974) again forced critics to change their opinion about John the artist in better side. Lennon was once again at the top of the charts.

According to some researchers, for example, Roy Carr and Tony Tyler, the beginning of transition period in John's work. The album “Rock-n-Roll” (1975), released before a five-year lull, apparently is the answer to the question of what Lennon’s transition period led to. Here we meet the rock and rolls performed at the dawn of the youth of the Beatles quartet. John seems to be showing his return to that belle époque, his loyalty to her.

This album has been in the works for a long time. Most of the songs presented on it were recorded by John several years before the release of this disc. However, due to a number of circumstances (including the car accident of Phil Spector, under whose leadership all this was being prepared), it was not possible to release the album on time. But then Lennon took the release of the record into his own hands, recorded the missing compositions, and in 1975 “Rock and Roll” went on sale.

Of the songs, the most attractive are “Stand By Me,” “Sweet Little Sixteen” (remember the Hamburg days?) and “Sleeping And Sliding.” There was a lot of praise. After that, the album "Shaved Fish" was released, and suddenly John disappeared, only to reappear... five years later.

What did he do these years outside of music? And in general, why was John not heard or seen? Maybe he felt heavy under the burden of his incredible fame and hid from the annoying attention of the crowd? Or, tired of fighting against the cruel reality that surrounded him in America and experiencing an acute creative crisis, John decided to step away from the role of youth leader and peace activist? It is difficult to talk about this, since Lennon himself remained silent on this matter. In any case, he managed to find peace and consolation in the family, where he and Yoko had just had a long-awaited child - a son named Sean. This happened on October 9, 1975. Then John and Yoko switched places. That is, John turned into a “mother”, leaving his wife to manage all matters not related to the home. And all these years, until 1980, John personally looked after his son, washed and ironed, and even baked homebaked bread. And, apparently, he did all this with great pleasure.

In October 1980, when asked by American journalist Barbara Grostark why he had not been heard from for five years, John replied: “Because I will be forty, and Sean will be five, and I wanted to give him five full years, to be with him all the time. I didn't see my first son Julian grow up, and now he's a seventeen-year-old man who calls me on the phone and talks about motorcycles. I wasn't there at all during his childhood. I was on tour. But my childhood was different... I don’t know what price you have to pay, I don’t know how this mechanism works, but I know for sure that you have to pay for inattention to children. And if I hadn't given Shawn attention for zero to five years, I'm not sure it would have been possible to make up for it for sixteen to twenty. It is my duty, it is the law of life, to devote myself to the child in one way or another.”

And: “In the beginning it was very difficult not to do anything in music, because I felt that I could write a lot. But I didn't want to record music precisely because everyone thought I should. And I had to go through a long and difficult period cooling down, people usually experience this when they retire, around sixty years old. And then I got used to it and became a normal housewife, turning all my attention to Sean.”

In addition to raising his son, John became interested in livestock farming for one period, buying a farm in New Jersey and starting raising cows of the famous Holstein breed.

But in 1980, after a voluntary five-year silence and on the eve of his fortieth birthday, John Lennon returned to music, recording the wonderful album Double Fantasy. He, as stated in his new, immediately popular song “Starting Over,” started over. “After all, I’m only forty, and if the Almighty wishes, I have another forty years of life and work ahead.”

The new album showed that a mature musician had returned to the public, having found spiritual harmony and a man reconciled with himself, whose newly awakened powers promised many accomplishments ahead.

John himself commented on his record as follows: “I finally found myself. I discovered that I was John Lennon before the Beatles and will remain John Lennon after them. So be it. The air has cleared. I myself have become clean.”

Optimism really bulged out of John: “...I’m not going to die at forty. Life is just beginning. I believe in this and it gives me strength.”

But... On December 8, 1980, just a few days after the release of “Double Fantasy”, something happened that I just can’t say enough...