David Lynch Foundation - Change Begins Within (4 April 2009, Radio City Music Hall, New York City) Featuring: Eddie Vedder, Sheryl Crow, Ben Harper. Ringo Starr (born Richard Starkey; 7 July 1940) is an English musician, singer, songwriter and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for the Beatles. On most of the band's albums, he sang lead vocals for one song, including "With A Little Help From My Friends", "Yellow Submarine" and their cover of "Act Naturally". He also wrote the Beatles' songs "Don't Pass Me By" and "Octopus's Garden", and is credited as a co-writer of others, such as "What Goes On" and "Flying". Starr was twice afflicted by life-threatening illnesses during his childhood, and as a result of prolonged hospitalisations, fell behind scholastically. In 1955, he entered the workforce and briefly held a position with British Rail before securing an apprenticeship at a Liverpool equipment manufacturer. Soon afterwards, he became interested in the UK skiffle craze, developing a fervent admiration for the genre. In 1957, he cofounded his first band, the Eddie Clayton Skiffle Group, and they earned several prestigious local bookings before the fad succumbed to American rock and roll by early 1958. When the Beatles formed in 1960, Starr was a member of another Liverpool group, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. After achieving moderate success with them in the UK and Hamburg, he quit the Hurricanes and joined the Beatles in August 1962, replacing Pete Best. Starr played key roles in the Beatles' films and appeared in numerous others. After their break-up in 1970, he released several successful singles including the US number four hit "It Don't Come Easy", and number ones "Photograph" and "You're Sixteen". In 1972, he released his most successful UK single, "Back Off Boogaloo", which peaked at number two. He achieved commercial and critical success with his 1973 album "Ringo", which was a top ten release in both the UK and the US. Although he continued to record and remained a familiar celebrity presence, by 1975 his solo career had diminished in importance. He has been featured in a number of documentaries, hosted television shows, narrated the first two seasons of the children's television series Thomas & Friends and portrayed "Mr Conductor" during the first season of the PBS children's television series Shining Time Station. Since 1989, he has successfully toured with twelve variations of Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band. Starr's creative contribution to music has received praise from drummers such as Phil Collins and Steve Smith, who commented: "Before Ringo, drum stars were measured by their soloing ability and virtuosity. Ringo's popularity brought forth a new paradigm ... we started to see the drummer as an equal participant in the compositional aspect ... His parts are so signature to the songs that you can listen to a Ringo drum part without the rest of the music and still identify the song." In 2011, Rolling Stone readers named Starr the fifth-greatest drummer of all time. "Yellow Submarine" is a 1966 song by the Beatles, written by Paul McCartney (credited to Lennon--McCartney), with lead vocals by Ringo Starr. It was included on the "Revolver" album and issued as a single, coupled with "Eleanor Rigby". The single went to number 1 on every major British chart, remained at number 1 for four weeks and charted for 13 weeks. It won an Ivor Novello Award "for the highest certified sales of any single issued in the UK in 1966". In the US, the song peaked at number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and became the most successful Beatles song to feature Ringo Starr as lead vocalist. It became the title song of the 1968 animated United Artists film, also called "Yellow Submarine", and the soundtrack album to the film, released as part of the Beatles' music catalogue. Although intended as a nonsense song for children, "Yellow Submarine" received various social and political interpretations at the time. Lyrics: In the town where I was born Lived a man who sailed to sea And he told us of his life In the land of submarines So we sailed up to the sun Till we found the sea of green And we played beneath the waves In our yellow submarine We all live in a yellow submarine Yellow submarine, yellow submarine We all live in a yellow submarine Yellow submarine, yellow submarine And our friends are all on board Many more of them live next door And the band begins to play We all live in a yellow submarine Yellow submarine, yellow submarine We all live in a yellow submarine Yellow submarine, yellow submarine And we live a life of ease (A life of ease) Everyone of us (Everyone of us) has all we need (Has all we need) Sky of blue (Sky of blue) and sea of green (Sea of green) In our yellow (In our yellow) submarine (Submarine, ha, ha) We all live in a yellow submarine Yellow submarine, yellow submarine (Repeat)