Ringo Starr Credits Paul McCartney for the Beatles’ Success, Talks Feeling Sad for Elvis Presley

The fame that followed the Beatles seemed legendary as they are considered the best-selling music act of all time and the greatest artists in history. During their first year of eligibility, the Beatles landed in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. And throughout their time in the spotlight, the group sold a staggering 600 million albums and released twelve studio albums. While consisting of John Lennon, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, and Paul McCartney, Starr recently praised McCartney for using his “workaholic” nature to help them gain stardom and produce more albums than they believed. 

Sitting down with Dan Rather of AXS, Starr explained how McCartney always pushed them to do more than they thought possible. Although they didn’t always get along, the musician said, “We were four guys, we had rows. It never got in the way of the music no matter how bad the row was. Once the count in, we all gave our best. And that was a little later, too, which I think it was a natural thing, you know.” He added, “Suddenly, we’ve got lives and I’ve got children and you know, the effort that we put in cause we worked really hard was starting to pale a little and we always thank Paul to this day.”

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With McCartney always willing to get into the studio, Starr joked that he and Lennon loved to sit around. “Because of Paul, who was the workaholic of our band, we made a lot more records than John and I would’ve made. We liked to sit around a little more and then Paul would call ‘Alright lads’, and we’d go in.”

With Starr taking a look back on the success of the Beatles, the musician seemed grateful for the friendships they shared. “I think it’s all part of where we came from. I always give credit that there was four of us all from the same city and we would look at each other, you know one of us would be freaking out or being a big shot and three other people would go ‘Excuse me’ and that kept us straight.”

Using Elvis Presley as an example, Starr concluded, “You know it’s interesting because the time we met Elvis, I really thought ‘How sad that he’s on his own’. He had all those people around but he was on his own.”

(Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)