Ringo Starr’s Wife Preferred 2 Singers to The Beatles

Ringo Starr‘s wife, Barbara Bach, was not a huge music fan. She revealed she preferred two iconic soul singers to The Beatles. One of those soul singers put out a fantastic cover of a Fab Four ballad. Her rendition of the song became a pop hit in the United States.

Ringo Starr’s wife admitted she ‘knew very little about The Beatles’

Bach is an actor most known for appearing in the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me. During a 1981 interview with Rolling Stone, Bach discussed her feelings about Ringo. “To me, Ringo is definitely Richie,” she said. “Ringo is the public figure, and Richie is the man I live with. You see, I really knew very little about The Beatles.”

She was no Beatlemaniac. “I didn’t follow them,” she revealed. “My favorite musicians were Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin, but music just wasn’t my thing.”

Later in the interview, Bach explained her comments to Ringo. “Darling, we were just discussing how I didn’t follow The Beatles,” she said. In a deadpan tone, Ringo said Bach was more interested in Bob Dylan and The Rolling Stones.

Ringo Starr’s wife had seen 1 of his movies but it wasn’t a movie starring all of The Beatles

Bach said she was familiar with Ringo’s movies, but she couldn’t remember the name of it. “Oh, the one with David Essex — That’ll Be the Day,” he said. “I could really relate to that one because that was how I was.” In That’ll Be the Day, Ringo plays a “Teddy Boy,” which is the British version of a greaser.

Ringo had fond memories of That’ll Be The Day. “Claude Whatham, the director, was fabulous,” Ringo opined. “He told me, ‘Look, you don’t have to learn all the lines. Just get to know what’s happening in the script.’ He let me ramble on all I wanted because people write lines for you that you’d never say, and they always sound crazy. So I did my own dialogue. I love it when they let me go off on my own.”

Aretha Franklin’s cover of ‘Eleanor Rigby’ was a hit that appeared on a classic album

Franklin has an interesting connection to The Beatles. She covered the classic ballad “Eleanor Rigby” in her signature style. Her cover reached No. 17 on the Billboard Hot 100, staying on the chart for eight weeks. Her rendition of the song appeared on the album This Girl’s in Love with You. That record reached No. 17 on the Billboard 200 and remained on the chart for 30 weeks.

Notably, Franklin’s “Eleanor Rigby” performed about as well as The Beatles’. The original version of the song reached No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 and lasted on the chart for eight weeks. The ballad appeared on The Beatles’ Revolver. That record topped the Billboard 200 for six weeks and spent a total of 94 weeks. 

Bach liked Charles and Franklin more than The Beatles, and Franklin became a part of The Beatles’ history.