Zak Starkey

"I'm so proud of my dad because it's taken him a long time to shake off the association with Ringo Starr. He struggled with that, but he has proven himself to be one o fthe greatest drummers around." -Tatia

"Keith used to be a kind of musical godfather to him. He gave him his first drum kit, which I think is rather strange. Ringo may have actually given him his first drum kit, but I think Keith gave him the first drum kit that he really wanted. It had nude women on it." -Pete Townshend

"We're really pleased to have him in the band. He's just stunning. He's very easy to play with. Mind you, I'm very spoiled with drummers. I don't fuck around anymore. I only play with people who are really easy to play with: Simon Phillips is a different kind of drummer, but he's very easy to play with, he's very much a listening drummer. But what Zak has is a lot of karmic Keith Moon about him, which is wonderful. It's easy to make too much of that, he really is his own drummer. He has his own style. But he's very intelligent. What he did was adapt his own style as an imitator of Keith Moon, he does a garage band imitation of Keith Moon which is probably unbeatable, but he's modified that, moderated it, in a very intelligent and musical way so that he won't be directly compared. He won't evoke uncomfortable memories for the audience." -Pete Townshend

''With Keith, we never knew if he'd remember the songs or not. He used to sing all the way through them so he knew where he was. He never used the high-hat. He thought it was a pain, keeping time with the high-hat. We weren't exactly a normal rhythm section. Zak is more together." -John Entwistle

"At first, a lot of people didn't take me very seriously. But I did a lot of session work in the last couple of years and sooner or later, you gain some respect in the music business and people start to forget about it." -Zak

"I was five years old when the Beatles split up and I didn't really know anything that was going on. I was too young. I never really got any hassle at school or anything. It was easy" -Zak

"I don't care if I have a boy or a girl. Being a mother and being happily married is just about as much as any girl can wish for" -Maureen (while pregnant with Zak)

"It's his dream, and it came true and as a father, it's just fabulous to see your kid's dreams come true" -Ringo (Zak drumming with the Who)

“I don’t care what he does, as long as he’s happy. I haven’t have anything in mind yet. It’s too early. I’d just like him to make a success of whatever he settles down to. He may turn out to be a lazy bum, anyway, I think I would mind that. In fact, if that happened, I’d probably kick him out and tell him to get a job.” –Ringo (while Zak was still a baby)

“It’s wonderful. Every little thing he does gives Maureen and me a kick. When he smiles and laughs especially…it’s lovely having a son, you get that feeling like when are first married.” –Ringo

"We hope that our first will be a boy. Naturally I'd like the baby to be like Richie. But he needn't necessarily follow in his father's footsteps" -Maureen (while pregnant with Zak)

"I'm so proud of him. I just think 'I'm watching Zak'" -Stella (during Concert for New York City in The Love You Make documentary)

"Zak is Ringo's son. The drummer of The Who, who is a good drummer because I know him. Yeah, I've seen him." -Paul (during Concert for New York City in The Love You Make documentary)

"I haven't thought about it very much yet. I don't particularly like the idea of him going to a public school, but the difficulty is that all the other boys he will play with around here will go to one, and he'll feel different if he doesn't stay with his friends. But then you never know what may happen by the time he's due to start." -Ringo

"When we got the kids, I was frightened at first, you know, when Maureen had the baby and I went in to see her. You know, just after she'd had it-- it was all purple and crinkly. And the doctor says, 'Here you are. Here he is.' And they laid it on my arms saying, 'Ok, can you take it?' And I couldn't move because I just thought it would break...And really, they're incredible, you know. And you can't get into children until you've had some. You really can't, you know. You can be very friendly with them, but when you've got them you really-- such scenes you go through, it's incredible. I love it when they won't let me play with 'em 'cause I have a tantrum! It's sensational when we all play together, 'cuz I'm a kid." -Ringo

"We had to cool it a bit one time. Zak was sort of, when there was crowds around, he used to think that everyone had come to see 'him.' And he'd pose for the photos. So I had to tell him it was daddy that was famous and not him!" -Ringo

"Keith Moon was my first big influence, definitely. 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. I loved all of those ‘70s glam bands from England, like Slade and Sweet. Then when I was eight, I discovered the Who’s Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy. That turned everything on its head. It was so different and it sounded so alive. It was bouncy." -Zak

"I find the music to be really honest. It’s the same with a lot of rock ‘n’ roll, like Jerry Lee Lewis. That honestly, to me, is so inspiring. I listen to it and walk away buzzing. It’s alive." -Zak

"I never got any shit at school or anything about it. Also, I never thought of him as a Beatle. When I first started trying to carve out a career, things got a bit difficult occasionally because of it. But that's mainly a media thing." -Zak

"I went through that, definitely, when I was sixteen years old. I went through that heavily, but you've got to realize it's not going to go away. In a lot of ways, my dad's drumming was a huge influence on me. The same time I was listening to all these Who records, I was listening to Abbey Road and stuff like that." -Zak

"At 12, I was already playing in a band. I was into that whole rock and roll thing, and drink was part of it. I never took drugs." -Zak

"It’s a drag wondering how he’ll grow up. Of course he’ll be used to having nannies and that, and people doing things for him which we’re not used to, but I would love him to be just normal. Suppose he grows up to be a fat schoolboy!” -Ringo

“So we need to get settled by early next year so he can start school, which is a drag ‘cause I don’t want him to go. You know, because I think the way ‘I’m’ bringing them up is right. And you can get all that rubbish from teachers, you know, where they– it’s like the Army where they make everyone the same, and just shove all those useless facts into his head. And that’s the bit I don’t like.” -Ringo

"I’m just bringing them up, you know. I mean, I don’t have a system. I just try and tell him what’s right, and try and keep him alive. I mean, that’s what I find with the first… well, still with Zak, but especially when they’re two to three, and that. Just keeping them alive is hard enough because of the things they get into, 'cause they’re experiencing everything. Like, climbing up the walls, you know, trying not to sort of do anything. But you’ve got to be near enough so you can leap over there if he falls off, you know. Just things like that. All you can do is love them, you know, and answer their questions, which sometimes drive you nuts. All that, 'Why?’ 'Well…’ you answer. 'Why?’ And there’s always a 'Why’ to whatever you say. And the great scene about electricity– I went on for hours, and all he said was 'Why,’ and you know, when you don’t know about it– 'cause he was trying to put his fingers in the plug, and I was saying, 'Now, don’t do that, 'cause that’s electricity and you’ll end up as a puff of blue smoke.’" -Ringo

"That was definitely the low point in my life. I realised then that I couldn't waste a second. If I wasn't on the road, I'd be working with friends. It's only recently that I've been able to chill out." -Zak

"I never turned down anything. As a working musician, you can’t." -Zak

"I’m just rolling along. But meeting Ian Matthews has made me realize that you never stop learning. You can always improve. You’re never as good as you think you are. And you absolutely can’t rest on your laurels." -Zak

"It seems like everyone's kid is in a band, so I figured why not have him in my band. Plus, he's a hell of a fine drummer. Must run in the family." -Ringo

"Zak still loves me, so he tells me, 'I'm not playing with you dad, but I still love you.' But it was such a joy for me to see him play with the Who. They have always been one of his favourite bands. To see one of your children fulfill his dreams is beautiful. Both of my sons do the thing that I find impossible, which is practice." -Ringo

"I just played it for my son Zak. And Zak was so great. He said, 'Dad, it's great. This rocks! You should have been doing this forever.' It's nice coming from your boy, especially since he's a really good drummer." -Ringo (about his album 'Y Not')

"He gets excited if we're on the television, and that. At first he couldn't understand, like, we were on the telly and I was sitting next to him watching it, you know. And it threw him for a while-- you could see him trying to figure out, you know, 'cuz he didn't really understand what television is. But it just threw him, like there was two daddies in one room-- and one comin' out of a little box. But now he knows I'm in something, you know; he likes the records. But I don't think he really knows what the Beatles are-- just that they play instruments and make records he can put on, and occasionally on telly." -Ringo

"Yes, well, that was the drag for sending him to school as well, is that I just don't want him to make all these pals 'cuz someone-- it won't really happen while he's five, and that. But when he gets older, you know, and you get all these pals because of what 'I' am, you know; I dont want that. He may get it when he's five with all these crazy mothers pushin' their daughter on him. But you just have to watch it, you know. He'll have to learn like I had to learn. I was put-on for years 'til I sussed it out. You know, every time you'd go to a club I'd think, 'Wow, it's great having all these friends,' and then you realize that half of them are sitting with you so that, if anyone'd come in, they're all: 'Hello, guess who I'm with!!' You know, it was all that scene. But it took you a while to learn that. You know, then you don't stand there anymore." -Ringo

"I am not a rock ’n’ roll star. I’m not famous, I suppose. But I am a very successful musician.”-Zak

"I was brought up on music. Dad taught me the basics of drumming when I was 12, then left me there. He said if I wanted to learn properly then I would have to do it myself- so I did." -Zak

"I don't have pots of money either. I'm no millionaire, I get by, but that's all. I want to make this group really work. I want to be able to make my own way in life and not rely on anyone else. I want this group to succeed and I'm sure it will." -Zak

"I was 10 at the time and he showed me how to drum. It would have been unusual if he hadn't - I mean, I can't see Ringo trying to teach me the guitar, can you? Anyway, I was hooked right away. All I wanted to be was to be a drummer too." -Zak

"I'd only played piano a bit until the day my dad took me out to play drums. After the first and only lesson, he told me that, if I wanted to keep at it, I'd have to do it myself, and I did. It's the last thing he expected, but that's how I learned. After two years of my playing on his kit, he gave me a tiny Ludwig set, with a 20" bass drum, 12" and 14" toms, and a little piccolo snare." -Zak

"I've kept my own style, without really changing over the years. To get extra power, I make sure my pedals are quite stiff, but basically, I like to keep things simple." -Zak

"When I was learning to play the drums, my dad gave me one lesson in how to keep straight time. He said, 'If you want to carry on learning how to play, put some headphones on and play along to records.' Now I'm sure he thought I'd just do it for a little while and eventually give it up. So when I was about ten or eleven years old, I was sitting at my kit with headphones on and actually playing along to Quadrophenia and other albums, like Who's Next. Of course, when we started this, I already knew the album back to front. Dad was always into me playing drums, although my parents neither actively encouraged or discouraged me. They let me just go my own way, and by the time I was twelve I was playing in a band, doing pub gigs." -Zak

"Like sport, drumming has become a science, but I never really got into all that technical stuff. You don't need to play every lick you've ever learned in one song. It's all about complementing the song in the best way possible and listening to everything else that's going on. Unfortunately, there's a hell of a lot of drummers out there who are just playing for their own pleasure, and most of the time what they're doing doesn't make sense in terms of the wider view of the music. But it's not a retro thing, it's just how it should be." -Zak

"My parents were divorced at the time. My dad gave me a small four-piece Ludwig kit when I was eleven, and it used to be in the dining room. But my mum let me do it; she put up with it. I was never actively pushed to do anything like that, but I was never discouraged. I was left to do what I wanted, really. I'm sure they thought it would wear off after a while and I'd lose interest, but they were wrong!" -Zak

”It feels like full circle, the fact that Zak Starkey is playing with them, because Keith taught Zak to play. Zak used to call him ‘Uncle Keith’. And Zak is lovely.” –Mandy Moon DeWolf (Keith’s daughter)

"Actually I saw him for the first time in maybe 10 years the other day. He's a sweetheart, actually." -Julian, 1993

Jason Starkey

"Being Ringo's son is the biggest drag in my life. It's a total pain" –Jason

“We would mind another boy, but it doesn’t really matter so much this time. We’d made up our minds that we wanted a boy before” –Ringo (after announcing Maureen’s second pregnancy)

"There was always a kit at home. I suppose I remember from about the age of four or five that I became aware of a room in the house that was a studio, and there were instruments in there. At about seven, my brother and I would sneak into the studio when everyone was out of the house. We'd fiddle around with ARP synthesizers and stuff like that. We didn't know how to turn it on, but we were pretending we were driving a spaceship or something." -Zak

Francesca Gregorini

"I'm ready to be a homebody. For years I didn't know what I wanted. It's taken me until now to work that out. Now I'm ready for a career but also to be a parent. I feel confident in my own skin and I'm ready to be me." -Francesca

"I thought being happy would affect my songwriting. I always thought I had to write from a point of angst, but I am truly happy and my writing hasn't been affected." -Francesca

"I had boyfriends but I never understood the whole hoopla about sex. I could take it or leave it. Then, when I discovered girls, it was like 'Aha, now I get it!' I was 19 years old. I knew I was a lesbian. I told my mum I thought I might be a lesbian and she talked to Rich and he said: 'She's definitely not a lesbian.' Rich had met lesbians when he was touring with The Beatles. I remember Mum came back to me and said: 'Oh, don't worry, Rich says you are not a lesbian. Everything is fine.' Finally, when I gave them evidence that I really was a lesbian, they were very supportive and cool. Considering what some lesbians go through, I had it easy." -Francesca

"I want to make my mark. I don't want to make a point of saying who my dad is. I really don't know much about the Beatles. They had almost split up when I was born" -Lee

"My daughter, Lee, says "It's great hanging out with you, Daddy. You're not drunk or watching telly." It makes my heart glad" -Ringo

"But I’m a drawer and designer of sixties fashion. Is in those years where I find my inspiration. I’ve tried to bring the vibrations, the colours and the freedom of that style to the nineteen’s”. -Lee

"I remember when my daughter, Lee, turned me onto Lenny [Kravitz] for the first time. I took a listen, then went back to her and said, 'It's lovely, dear, but isn't it a little bit Beatle-ish?" And she said, "Of course it is, Daddy.'" -Ringo 

"My daughter asked me once, 'Daddy, you used to play in Paul McCartney's backup band, didn't you?'" -Ringo 

"It wasn't like a really big thing. I went to school with lots of people whose parents were in bands. I knew one of the Hollies' daughters" -Lee

"She tried acting school and decided she didn't like that. She got her diploma from make-up school and wasn't really enthusiastic about that." -Ringo

"But I wasn't too good at it" -Lee (about playing drums)

Gianni Gregorini

"I was only 25 and I didn't even know what cerebral palsy meant. There were no problems during my pregnancy and I went in for a regular birth. Then they said, 'The child's heartbeat is disturbed, we're going to do a Caesarean section'. Only afterward did I learn that Gianni had the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck and would have died. But there was already brain damage due to lack of oxygen.
I was living in Rome, and had no idea there were so few places to go for help. Luckily, we had the means to search out the best doctors- and we did. We started a system of treatment devised by a Czech doctor, Vaclav Vojta. He had physiotherapy 3 times a day for 30 minutes each time. It had to be done by his mother and father so the child understood that it was done with love. We started the therapy when he was 16 days old, and at the end of 2 years, he began to walk.
Having a child like Gianni can be very stressful. My whole focus went to him. Then you have to watch out. What about the husband and the other children? Francesca had a real hard time. She was still very little and it upset her very much. She didn't understand why I was always taking care of Gianni.
The children and I moved to Los Angeles after Augusto and I separated. But, even there, it was difficult. Gianni had a really terrible gait. He was up on his toes and terribly crooked, but he could move himself around- and that meant he could go to a mainstream school. But the other mothers objected to him being there. It was just mind-boggling how people were so prejudiced.
It was very hard to watch him struggle. But now, when I talk to my son, I can see a young man who has come full circle." -Barbara