Ringo Starr’s Son Once Said He Didn’t Think of His Father as a ‘Great Drummer’
Ringo Starr’s son, Zak Starkey, followed in his footsteps and became a drummer. He’s played with several bands, including Oasis and The Who, and he now says he considers his father one of the greatest drummers of all time. He didn’t always feel this way, though. Starkey once said that while he appreciated Starr’s timekeeping skills, he didn’t think he was actually that talented of a musician.
Ringo Starr’s son is a drummer
Starkey became a drummer like his father, though he said one of his biggest influences was one of Starr’s friends.
“Keith Moon was my first big influence, definitely,” he told Modern Drummer in 2007. “I wanted to play the drums because of Keith. When I was very young there was music all around me in my parents’ house. You would go into the living room and find stacks and stacks of LPs. I would spend my days listening to records. My dad took me to see T. Rex when I was six. That was it for me; I wanted to be Marc Bolan. Then I got into David Bowie.”
He said that he only received one drumming lesson from Starr.
“We were hanging out in the studio one day and he said, ‘So, should I show you how to play the drums?’ I said, ‘Yeah, of course.’ So he showed me that pattern,” Starkey explained. “The next day he showed me how to add an additional 8th note on the bass drum: dunk-kat, dunk-dunk kat. I said, ‘Well, I can do that already, Dad.’ And he said, ‘So you’re on your own.'”
Ringo Starr’s son said he didn’t think of his dad as a good drummer
Starkey had a tenuous relationship with his father when he was growing up. He said Starr was rarely around and that he resented when people compared him to his dad.
“To be perfectly honest, being Ringo’s son is the biggest drag in my life,” he said as a teenager, per the book Ringo: With a Little Help by Michael Seth Starr. “I’m always written about as Ringo’s son, always classed in with him in every single thing I do … And if I do get successful, I don’t want to live like my old man, on a big estate and all that.”
Starkey said that he also didn’t think that highly of his father’s musical abilities. While he thought he was a good timekeeper, he didn’t rank him as a great drummer.
“My old man’s a good timekeeper, one of the best, but I’ve never thought of him as a great drummer, not really,” he said. “Ringo gave me one lesson, just one, when I was young. Then he told me to listen to records and play along with them.”
He now has a higher opinion of his father
As he grew up, Starkey’s opinion of his father changed. He said he welcomed comparisons between the two of them because he thought of Starr as the greatest drummer alive.
“It doesn’t get tiring. I kind of rebelled against it when I was a teenager; I said some pretty stupid things,” he said. “But I’ll be honest, it’s great being Ringo’s son. He’s the greatest living drummer as far as I’m concerned.”
