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Lean, athletic, a full head of black hair and beard and the obligatory sunglasses, Ringo Starr exudes a classic, timeless coolness.
You just can’t believe that the ex-Beatles drummer is 84 years old.
“It’s all down to broccoli,” he reveals in an interview. “I have broccoli with nearly every meal. And this is what I came with,” Starr said, pointing to his hair.
“You know, imagine this, five weeks old. That’s what I came with. And there it still is. And it’s great that my hair stayed coloured. I don’t know,” he adds with an impish grin.


And naturally he does sports, stresses the man whose real name is Sir Richard Starkey, but who since his Liverpool rock’n’roll days more than six decades ago, has been known by the name of Ringo.
“Of course, I work out and I have a trainer and I try and keep moving.” Beyond that – and perhaps more important – he regularly plays the drums.
The next tour of his All Starr Band, a group with a changing line-up of musicians such as Steve Lukather (Toto) and Colin Hay (Men At Work), is already booked. And now, after several singles, Starr is releasing a new studio album – a country album titled Look Up.
Accompanying its release will be two concerts in the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, the country music capital of the world.


“You know, when I was a young boy in my teens and music was becoming really important, I heard some country music and I loved it. I loved the emotion of it. And, you know, I love the expression of the country singers,” Starr says.
“I was like 18 when I first started listening, and it stuck with me all the time. You know, I love Willie (Nelson), love Waylon (Jennings), I love so many people. It’s just the thing.”
Shortly after the Beatles broke up in 1970, he recorded a country and western album in Nashville. It was titled Beaucoups Of Blues and was his second solo album.
His change of genre from rock to country was coolly received in Britain. Now, 55 years later, will Look Up fare better?
“I see it at number one,” Starr says with a laugh. “But if it isn’t, I’ll get on to the next one, you know. I’m putting this out because it’s country music, and it’s really cool.”


Asked whether, after such a long and successful career, it still meant something to release a new album, Starr shakes his head: “No!” – because actually he did not originally aim to make a new album.
It came about after a chance meeting with music legend T Bone Burnett.
When Starr asked him to write a song for a new single, Burnett instead sent him nine new songs, and an offer to produce an album.

“It came by accident. Another part of my life is ‘accidents happen’ and you make the right move, and we end up with this great album that I’m really proud of,” Starr said.
“T Bone did the best job ever, and I did my best, and I feel that we both did really good. And I sound good, I played good, and he got everyone else, and everybody plays good.”
From the lively opener “Breathless” to the gentle sounds of the pedal steel guitar in “I Live For The Moment” and the duet “Thankful” with country superstar Alison Krauss, Look Up is a laid-back, relaxed album.


Especially nice is the ballad “Time On My Hands” with the great line “I thought it was forever, but she had other plans”.
In real life, things are different for Starr, who has been married to Barbara Bach, 77, for more than 40 years. The actress rarely leaves his side.
“I fell in love with her and we did the same movie (Caveman) together, and she tortured me for a month, and then we got together and we’ve been together ever since. And just, I wake up every morning and, oh, she’s still here. Good!”
On the album, Starr dedicated the song “Thankful” to Barbara.

Starr is also thankful that he’s still here and still in the business, following a career that started in Liverpool, carried on in Hamburg, Germany, and finally moved westwards, all the way to California.
“You know, I’m lucky. I’m a musician and I get to play with people and, you know, other bands, and I got to play with the biggest band in the world, being part of it. And I’m still playing, playing from when I was 13,” Starr said.
“The dream of playing drums, not playing piano, not playing anything else. I still have that fantasy of playing drums.”
Thanks to broccoli.


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Ringo Starr talks about his latest album, keeping fit at 84, country music and broccoli

Ringo Starr flashes the peace sign to the crowd at the Reading Eagle Theatre in Pennsylvania. The former Beatles drummer is releasing his second country album. Photo: Getty Images

The cover of Ringo Starr’s new album Look Up.

Starr’s first country album Beaucoups Of Blues was released in 1970, just after the breakup of the Beatles.

Ringo Starr (right, with a beard) when he was drummer with the group Rory Storm and the Hurricanes at a Butlin’s holiday camp (circa 1962). Photo: Getty Images

The Beatles from left to right, Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Ringo Starr and George Harrison (circa 1964). Photo: Getty Images

Starr recorded his latest album with T Bone Burnett, (centre). Photo: Getty Images

Barbara Bach and Ringo Starr in a poster for Caveman (1981). They have been married for 44 years.

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British rock singer Rod Stewart celebrates his 80th birthday on January 10, 2025. Photo: AFP

British singer Rod Stewart performs on stage in A Coruna, Galicia, Spain, in December 2024. The singer celebrates his 80th birthday in January 2025. Photo: EPA-EFE

Rod Stewart, pictured onstage in Spain in 2024, has no intention of stopping singing. Photo: EPA-EFE

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Stewart with model Penny Lancaster after their marriage announcement in 2005. Photo: AP

Rod Stewart on stage in 1976. Photo: Hulton-Deutsch Collection/Corbis

Rod Stewart in concert with the Faces at the Hong Kong Football Club Stadium in 1974. Photo: SCMP

Stewart and the Faces perform at the Hong Kong Football Club Stadium in 1981. Photo: SCMP

Stewart with his girlfriend, Swedish model Britt Ekland, in 1977. Photo: AP

Stewart with first wife, Alana (right), and their daughter Kimberly. Photo: @thekimberlystewart/Instagram

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Robbie Williams in a scene from Better Man. Photo: Paramount Pictures via AP

Jonno Davies as a computer-generated chimpanzee in a scene from Better Man. Photo: Paramount Pictures via AP

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Then-US president Jimmy Carter (right) sings “Georgia on My Mind” with country music star Willie Nelson during a concert in Maryland in the United States in 1978. Photo: Getty Images

Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn Carter with TLC members Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas (left), Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins (centre) and Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes (right) backstage at the Omni Coliseum in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1993. Photo: Getty Images

Bob Dylan performs at the Pavillon de Paris in Paris, France, in 1978. Photo: AFP

(From left) Carter, Dizzy Gillespie and Max Roach perform “Salt Peanuts” at the White House Jazz Concert held on the South Lawn on June 18, 1978. Photo: Getty Images

Carter with The Bee Gees at the White House in 1979. Photo: Getty Images

Aretha Franklin in 1993. She sang “God Bless America” at an event for Carter’s inauguration in 1977. Photo: AP

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In 1970, former drummer Beatle Ringo Starr recorded his first country album. 55 years later, he’s releasing his second, Looking Up


In 1970, former drummer Beatle Ringo Starr recorded his first country album. 55 years later, he’s releasing his second, Looking Up.


Fame and celebrity