Ringo Starr Knows Younger Grammy Viewers Don’t Know ‘Who the Hell’ He Is and He’s Fine With It
Last night’s Grammy Awards show saw the old(er) meeting the new when former Beatle Ringo Starr presented Billie Eilish with the Record of the Year award for her song “everything i wanted.”
His surprise appearance on the broadcast underwhelmed many younger viewers who didn’t know or perhaps even care who he was.
And Starr has said he’s perfectly cool with that.
Eilish said she’d rather Megan Thee Stallion had been awarded her Record of the Year Grammy
With her Record of the Year win for “everything I wanted,” Eilish’s overall career Grammy win total now adds up to 7 statuettes.
In 2020, the 19-year-old was awarded Grammys not only for Best New Artist, but also two for Album of the Year and Pop Vocal Album for When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?; and two awards for “bad guy” for Record of the Year and Song of the Year.
Grateful for her win at the 2021 awards show, the singer felt it rightly should have gone to rapper Megan Thee Stallion instead.
Eilish’s acceptance speech made it clear the award really belonged to Stallion: “This is really embarrassing for me. Megan, girl … I was gonna write a speech about how you deserve this but then I was like, ‘There’s no way they’re going to choose me,’ I was like, ‘It’s hers.’ You deserve this. You had a year that I think is untoppable. You are a queen. I want to cry thinking about how much I love you. You are so beautiful. You are so talented. You deserve everything in the world. I think about you constantly. I root for you always. You deserve it, honestly.”
Starr turned 80 in July 2020
Starr is the oldest of The Beatles and celebrated his 80th birthday on July 7, 2020.
John Lennon would have turned 80 in October 2020, Paul McCartney celebrated his 78th birthday in June 2020 and George Harrison, the youngest, would have observed his 77th birthday in February, 2020.
While the Liverpool native typically throws himself a huge party to celebrate his birthday, the covid-19 pandemic called for a remote bash.
The BBC reported in July 2020 that the former Beatle “put on a virtual charity concert on YouTube called Ringo’s Big Birthday Show.” Starr was remotely joined by former bandmate Sir Paul McCartney, as well as by Joe Walsh, Ben Harper, Sheryl Crow, Gary Clark Jr. and Sheila E in a celebration and concert to benefit Black Lives Matter, The David Lynch Foundation, MusiCares and WaterAid.
The former Beatle says kids are slowly learning who he and The Beatles are
Before presenting Eilish with her Record of the Year award, Starr made sure to let the other nominees know, “I want to say this with peace and love to all of these gifted nominees: If you’re making music in our world today, you’ve already won. And I thank you.”
Since The Beatles’ breakup in 1970, their fame and popularity as a band have only grown, with newer and younger fans discovering John, Paul, George, and yes, Ringo. Still, many young people have no idea who they are.
Ever the optimistic philosopher, as Starr explained to Billboard in 2012, the drummer knows it’s only a matter of time before young people learn about The Beatles.
“There’s always going to be some kid somewhere saying, ‘Who the hell is that guy?'” he told Billboard. “And there’s always going to be someone picking up on it. That’s just how it is. Nobody knows everybody.”
Starr added, “We’re still selling more records than most people and we’re selling them to the kids.”
