Ringo Starr Said The Beatles Celebrated Their First U.S. No. 1 By Tempting a Friend to Jump in a River
There’s a first time for everything. For Ringo Starr and The Beatles, their first No. 1 hit in the United States happened just before their lucky appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show catapulted them to international fame. How did The Beatles celebrate making it to the top in the U.S.? By asking a roadie to dive into a river and go for a swim.
Adding Ringo Starr put The Beatles on the path to fame
The Beatles had already played residencies in Hamburg, Germany, with Pete Best as their drummer. Yet the band truly took off when it added Ringo behind the kit in August 1962.
Ringo once (wrongly) claimed he was no good as a drummer and got replaced by a session stickman during an early recording session. Still, The Beatles charted a trajectory to fame once they added the former Richard Starkey. He brought his precise timekeeping and recognizable style to the table, which was exactly what the band needed.
The Beatles celebrated their first U.S. No. 1 just before they stormed North America with their Sullivan Show appearance. Their victory dance included asking a roadie to dive into the Seine River.
Ringo and The Beatles celebrated their first No. 1 in the U.S. by tempting a roadie to go for a swim
The U.S. was behind the times when it came to The Beatles. The Fab Four sent a quartet of songs to the top of the English charts by the time “I Want to Hold Your Hand” topped the Billboard singles chart the week of Feb. 1, 1964.
For a band with grand ambitions of conquering North America, hitting No. 1 just before playing for Sullivan was a giant step forward. So how did The Beatles celebrate getting to No. 1? By tempting road manager Neil Aspinall to go for a swim in the Seine River, writes Michael Seth Starr (no relation) in the Ringo biography With a Little Help:
“We couldn’t believe it. We all just started acting like people from Texas, hollering and shouting, ‘Yahoo!’ I think that was the night we finished up sitting on a bench by the Seine; just the four of us and Neil. In those days, we’d promise Neil £20,000 if he’d go for a swim. He’d go for a swim, and we’d say, ‘No, sorry.’”
Ringo Starr describes how The Beatles celebrated their first U.S. No. 1 song
Ringo and the rest of the Fab Four became flush with cash in the coming years. In early 1964, however, paying out £20,000 (the equivalent of more than £315,000 in 2022, per the Bank of England) wasn’t in the cards.
The Beatles spent most of January and the first few days of February 1964 playing in France. The next stop was The Ed Sullivan Show. The timeline matches up, but we doubt Aspinall did a backstroke in the Seine at winter’s peak. Even if he did, the Fab Four probably didn’t have the funds to pay him what they promised.
‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’ was the first of many U.S. hits for the Fab Four
Ringo called “Rain” one of The Beatles’ weird tracks. It’s also one of the most powerful displays of his drumming skills, but the 1966 B-side wasn’t a No. 1 in the U.S. (It peaked at No. 23).
Still, the Fab Four achieved unprecedented success on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. After The Beatles celebrated “I Want to Hold Your Hand” being their first U.S. No. 1 in 1964, they captured the top spot another 19 times in the following six years. They had another five chart-topping songs in 1964:
- “She Loves You”
- “Love Me Do”
- “Can’t Buy Me Love”
- “A Hard Day’s Night”
- “I Feel Fine”
The Beatles had the top five spots on the Billboard chart in April of 1964 and sent five songs to No. 1 in 1965. “The Long and Winding Road” and “Let it Be” were No. 1 hits in 1970. They even produced a top-10 hit in the 1990s, decades after they broke up, but we doubt Ringo Starr and the surviving Beatles celebrated by going for a swim.
For more on the entertainment world and exclusive interviews, subscribe to Showbiz Cheat Sheet’s YouTube channel.
