Ringo Starr Said He ‘Hated’ Beatles Producer George Martin for Years
In 1962 producer George Martin began working with John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. He hadn’t been entirely sold on The Beatles, but he eventually agreed to sign them. Clearly, this was a good choice, but Martin wasn’t always impressed with the band members. He was particularly hard on Starr, which the drummer said he had a hard time forgiving.
Ringo Starr couldn’t help but feel upset with George Martin
The Beatles were in the recording studio with Martin shortly after hiring Starr. They had fired their previous drummer, Pete Best, and it seemed, to Starr, that they would soon be firing him. He’d struggled to record his drum part, so Martin replaced him with a session musician.
“On my first visit in September we just ran through some tracks for George Martin,” Starr said in The Beatles Anthology. “We even did ‘Please Please Me.’ I remember that, because while we were recording it, I was playing the bass drum with a maraca in one hand and a tambourine in the other. I think it’s because of that that George Martin used Andy White, the ‘professional,’ when we went down a week later to record ‘Love Me Do.’ The guy was previously booked, anyway, because of Pete Best. George didn’t want to take any more chances and I was caught in the middle.”
Starr said this decision crushed him and shaped his opinion of Martin for years to come.
“I was devastated that George Martin had his doubts about me,” he said. “I came ready to roll and heard, ‘We’ve got a professional drummer.’ He has apologised several times since, has old George, but it was devastating — I hated the bugger for years; I still don’t let him off the hook!”
The Beatles drummer had a right to be angry
Starr was right to be angry. Even if he was shaky, he had the right to prove himself as the band’s drummer of such a short period of time.
“I don’t think Ringo ever got over that,” Paul McCartney said. “He had to go back up to Liverpool and everyone asked, ‘How did it go in the Smoke?’ We’d say, ‘B side’s good,’ but Ringo couldn’t admit to liking the A side, not being on it.”
The decision did little to build Starr’s confidence in the band. He was convinced they were planning on firing him and he feared for his short-lived position. He ultimately proved himself as the right drummer for the band, but the decision to keep him off “Love Me Do” could have caused him to leave the group. Brushing him off so early in his time with the band wasn’t good for camaraderie or group morale.
Ringo Starr spoke fondly of George Martin after his death
While he had his problems with Martin, Starr spoke highly of the producer after his death.
“He was great, and kind, and loving,” Starr told Rolling Stone in 2016. “And understanding of four punks from Liverpool. At the beginning he was the boss. It was so crazy, he was the only man who could press record.”
Starr explained that Martin brought The Beatles’ music to new heights.
“I think he was always at a higher level,” he explained. “I don’t really feel like, ‘Oh, that one.’ It’s all to do with the record. It could have been the song; it could have been what we play; it could have been lots of things. But we were a great match. We were lucky to get him, though we felt Parlophone [Records] wasn’t rock & roll. But we were just so thrilled to get a record deal.”
