Ringo Starr’s Brother-in-Law Is This Member of the Eagles
When Beatle Ringo Starr married Barbara Bach in 1981, he had no idea that the union would eventually grow to include another member of rock royalty.
Here’s more on his famous brother-in-law, a member of the Eagles, with whom he has more in common than marriage and music.
Ringo Starr is married to Barbara Bach
The Beatles drummer has been married once before he met Bach, to Maureen Cox. The couple wed in 1965 and stayed together until 1975, just a few years after The Beatles themselves had disbanded. They had three children: daughter Lee Starkey and sons Jason Starkey and Zak Starkey, the latter serving as drummer for The Who, on and off, since 1996.
The “You’re Sixteen” singer met Barbara Bach on the set of the film Caveman in 1980. The two married in 1981 and Starr described to Extra the first time he saw his future wife.
“I went to LAX to check in on a plane to go to Mexico,” Ringo recollected, “and Barbara was on the other side of the counter… and I fell in love with her.”
Ringo’s marriage to Barbara was his second, and last one. Married for four decades, the two are practicing vegetarians.
Joe Walsh of the Eagles is married to Barbara Bach’s sister
The Eagles guitarist and singer has been married to Barbara Bach’s sister Marjorie since 2008. The couple had known one another for years before they wed.
“I feel whole, and I also got, along with her, this huge extended family that came along in the deal,” Walsh told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in 2013. “They’re very close and they all have each other’s backs and they talk to each other all the time to make sure everybody’s OK, and I’ve never been around that dynamic.”
Kevin Mazur/WireImage for Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
One gets the sense that Walsh found the home he’d long been yearning for in his marriage to Bach.
“My wife was the part of me that was missing,” he said. “I’ve been pretty much all alone, or isolating heavily, in the dark days.”
Starr and Walsh are more than just brothers-in-law
Although they have been related by marriage now for many years, the two musicians also share another unique bond: they share a history of addiction, as well as one of recovery. The two have banded together to speak openly about addiction, what it’s cost them, and their hope to educate others.
The “Life’s Been Good to Me So Far” singer and his wife received in 2018 what Rolling Stone called “the highest humanitarian award for activism in the addiction recovery community, jointly awarded by the nonprofit Facing Addiction and the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (NCADD).”
The couple, along with Starr and his wife, have lived through substance abuse and its aftermath, as the musicians told Rolling Stone in 2019. And they are ensuring they can help as many others as possible to avoid their mistake.
“The discussion is very difficult, because we did as much as anybody did and we’re still here and we’re sober, and there’s no telling when that day is when you leave,” Starr said. “I don’t know why Tom [Petty]’s gone and I’m here. It’s unanswerable. But I know in the bands I hang out with, there’s a pretty — not absolutely — but a pretty large sober mentality going on now.”
How to get help: In the U.S., contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration helpline at 1-800-662-4357.
