Why Yoko Ono Saw Ringo Starr — Not John Lennon — as the ‘Most Influential’ Beatle

Yoko Ono fell in love with John Lennon, but she once said that Ringo Starr was the most influential member of the Beatles. In the years since she met Lennon, Ono has gotten to know Starr well. She asserted her belief that his influence had little to do with the music he created in the Beatles or his solo career. Instead, she pointed to a quality Starr had that Lennon often preached about.

Yoko Ono said Ringo Starr’s personality made him the most influential Beatle

In 2015, Starr became the final member of The Beatles to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist. Ono, who has known Starr since the 1960s, attended the ceremony. She expressed her delight that the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame was finally honoring Starr’s solo career, telling Rolling Stone it meant “so much to all of us in the Beatle family.”

“For some reason John got it, then George got it, then Paul got it,” she said. “So why didn’t they think about Ringo?”

She added that he deserved the honor. She’d gotten to know all of the Beatles and believed Starr was the most influential.

“No one is probably going to believe it,” she said, “but he was the most influential Beatle.”

Ono said Starr “just sort of embodies peace and love.” His personality was what made him the most influential, she believed.

“John would go up and down and all that, but Ringo was always just very gentle,” she said. “And he really believed in peace and love.”

Yoko Ono saw Ringo Starr’s kindness firsthand

Lennon witnessed Ono’s kindness firsthand after Lennon’s death. He was the only former Beatle to fly to her side. 

“We rented a plane as early as we could and we flew up to New York, not that you can do anything, but you just have to go and say hello. . . . There’s nothing you can do but say, ‘We’re here and you know, if you want some ice cream or whatever,’ ’cause you know, your brain is adult at the time,” he said, per the book Ringo: With a Little Help by Michael Seth Starr. “But I said [to Yoko], ‘You know I know how you feel.’ And the woman straight as a die, in all honesty, said, ‘No, you don’t.’ Because no matter how close I was to him, I was not half as close as she was to him. And that blew me away, more than anything.”

Starr spoke with Ono, then played with her young son, Sean.

John Lennon said the Beatles drummer was the most welcoming to Ono

Ono had always known Starr as a kind person, though. While Lennon had been furious with George Harrison and Paul McCartney for their treatment of Ono, he couldn’t fault Starr.

“Ringo was all right, so was Maureen [Starkey], but the other two really gave it to us,” Lennon told Rolling Stone.

Partly for this reason, Lennon and Starr were able to maintain their friendship after The Beatles broke up.