Ringo Starr celebrated his 85th birthday at his Peace & Love Statue in Beverly Hills, CA on July 7th with current and former All Starr band members, friends, celebrities, his kids, and grandkids. February 9th, 1964, was a day that changed the world of music and drumming with the Beatles’ first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show. Starr was just 23 at the time, and The Beatles became the biggest band in the world. Following the group’s breakup in 1970, Starr had a successful solo career. In 1989, Starr assembled his first All Starr band which has included several music legends. Since 2008, Starr has held a birthday celebration.

Just before 11A.M. Starr and his wife actress Barbara Bach, brother in-law Joe Walsh and wife Marjorie came out to take photos with the Peace & Love Statue and Starr took questions from the press. Starr and Bach were sporting matching outfits and a shirt specially made for this occasion which was the same as the cake topper which was the Peace & Love Statue with a cowboy hat on it to represent Starr’s new album Look Up.

At 11:30 A.M. Emcee T-Bone Burnett announced each performer starting with Molly Tuttle, followed by Sam Phillips, Lucius, and Jackson Browne with an all star house band including All Starr band drummer since 2008 Gregg Bissonette and Robert Plant bassist Dennis Crouch. As each performer came on the previous one stayed onstage and by the end Tuttle, Phillips, Lucius, and Browne were all performing together.  Advertisement

The songs performed were Beatles songs Starr had sung on starting with “Octopus’s Garden” followed by “Yellow Submarine,” “Act Naturally,” and “A Little Help From My Friends.” Fred Armisen followed by breaking down Starr’s unique style of playing. Joe Walsh spoke after the performances which led into Starr coming onstage with his son Zak Starkey, Jim Keltner, John Densmore, Nathan East, Steve Lukather, Hamish Stuart, Matt Sorum, Roy Orbison Jr., Colin Hay, and Diane Warren. Beverly Hills mayor Sharona Nazarian presented Starr with a proclamation from the city naming July 7th Ringo Starr day. At noon, Starr was wished a happy birthday and the crowd enjoyed a moment for global Peace & Love, which is the message for this event each year.