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Here's to the Night
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On 7 July, 2024 on Ringo Starr’s 84th Birthday, he held a special live broadcast as per usual. Opposed to coming on stage to sing as he usually did he never came out onto the stage. Instead he let featured artists perform the entire set. Alongside the oh-so-predictable Octopus' Gardens and Yellow Submarines, a few songs almost entirely lifted from his rather obscure back catalog were performed. Songs like Simple Love Song, Liverpool 8, Attention and You Don’t Know Me At All. Only a minute and a half before his annual “peace and love” at noon, Ringo finally came out from behind the stage. There is no way to sugar coat it when it's said that he looked worse for wear.
He was skinny, pale and had tapered hair that it seemed he was covering with a black cowboy hat. He spoke maybe two dozen words and cut the birthday cake and was ushered off stage, but not before giving a little peace symbol with his hand.
A small but very noticeable amount of speculation over the following days commenced in online forums, twitter, reddit and even a few news sites hungry for a few clicks.
“I hope Ringo’s doing okay, he seemed pretty off this morning” - A Reddit user on /r/beatles.
“Did anyone else think that the Ringo birthday was weird af :sob emoji:“ - A Discord user in the BetterBeatles server.
“Is he back on drugs or something” - A Twitter user.
His defenders outweighed all the concern though.
“He’s going on 85, of course he’s going to look like that, back off boogaloo” - A second Reddit user on /r/beatles.
The amount of comments on Ringo’s looks are seriously disgusting. Let the man rest :( - A second Twitter user.
“This is normal. My grandparents look the same and have been doing all well for a while now”. - A third Twitter user.
Both the worry and the discourse died down after a couple of days, pushed to the very back of most Beatle fan's memories. That is until...
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In early September, sightings of Ringo alongside other semi-famous musicians around Santa Barbara, California circulated through Beatles circles online. People like Steve Lukather or Joe Walsh were seen walking out to the pier or walking through a park with Ringo. Nothing too unusual to incite much attention, though a few more comments about his odd appearance sprung up here and there. That lack of curiosity lasted until the next week, when Paul McCartney was sighted in Los Angeles, California.
He pops up there every once and a while so nobody really batted an eye or made a connection yet. Not until the following day when Paul was sighted once more, this time with his former bandmate.
The news spread fast. Many caught sightings of Paul and Ringo both independently and together over around a four month span. Though many photos of these outings were often disrupted by security, leaving them unfocused or obscured. The few discernible photos of Starr led very few to be able to deny what they had before.
These sightings suddenly stopped in late December, coinciding with the announcement of the twenty-first Ringo Starr album. Scheduled for release in February.
This rather exciting (to some) news was juxtaposed by a grave tweet posted from Ringo Starr's personal social media page. It consisted simply of a video of himself in his garden where he announced that he had been diagnosed with brain cancer earlier that year.
God bless you all here, and the ones in the sky. he said.
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No updates on either the album or Starr's health were given despite the massive public demands over the following two months. In the first days of February 2025, a Twitter user spotted Ringo Starr in public much like had happened before, however he was in worse shape than anyone had seen him yet. He had grown his hair back ever so slightly, but he was skinnier than ever. He was seen walking out of an ice cream parlour with his wife and grandkids. The post was captioned the following.
“Just saw Ringo Starr… I think?”
This image received over fifty thousand likes on it's original post and widespread media attention, as any info on the Beatle had been scarce and desired. This is the final time Ringo Starr was ever seen alive.
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Here’s To the Night would be released in February 2025 as unfortunately the final studio album by Ringo Starr. As he passed away peacefully half a week after the LP’s release, to the shock of few.
The lyrics are a starch departure from much of his other work, personal and somber, yet full of hope and appreciation. His voice sounds strained and weak, however oddly beautiful. The sound of the music ranged from Beatlesque, to country, and even to what almost resembles hard rock.
Inspection of the liner notes revealed that Ringo only plays drums on a third of the record, speculated to be because he was too weak to continue performing after a certain amount of sessions.
The day following his passing, Paul McCartney published a statement with his thoughts, prayers and his tribute to his now gone bandmate. Alongside it, he posted a short video filmed on his iPhone of himself gently playing his acoustic guitar with the late Ringo singing a song, titled
The day following his passing, Paul McCartney published a statement with his thoughts, prayers and his tribute to his now gone bandmate. Alongside it, he posted a short video filmed on his iPhone of himself gently playing his acoustic guitar with the late Ringo singing a song, titled Thankful, recorded about two weeks before his passing.
Thankful for the stars above
Hoping for more peace and love
Thankful when the sun is shining
Day by day, I'm really trying
Thankful of this moment here
Thankful, you are here
Here's to the Night
The final studio album by Ringo Starr
Released on 9 February, 2025
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