Time Line

• July 7, 1940 - Richard Starkey Jr. is born in his parents' house in Liverpool.
• 1943 - Ritchie's parents are divorced.
• 1946 - Ritchie is hospitalized with a ruptured appendix, and lapses into a ten week coma.
• 1953 - With Ritchie's blessings, Elsie marries Harry Graves.
• 1953 - Ritchie is again hospitalized, this time for chronic pleurisy. He remained in the hospital until 1955.
• December, 1957 - Ritchie's father buys him his first set of drums.
• November, 1959 - Ritchie joins the group, Rory and The Hurricanes.
• October, 1960 - Ritchie, now Ringo Starr, leaves for Hamburg Germany with Rory and The Hurricanes. There, he meets The Beatles for the first time.
• 1962 - Ringo returns to Hamburg as a drummer for Tony Sheridan.
• August 18, 1962 - Ringo replaces Pete Best as the drummer for The Beatles.
• August 3, 1963 - The Beatles play their farewell show at the Cavern Club, having logged almost three hundred performances there.
• February 7, 1964 - The Beatles begin their first US tour.
• February 9 and 16, 1964 - The Beatles headline twice on the "Ed Sullivan Show" on CBS, for a $3,500 performance.
• March, 1964 - Shooting begins on the Beatles' first feature film, A Hard Day's Night, as "Can't Buy Me Love" tops the charts both in Britain and America.
• 1964 - Ringo misses part of The Beatles world tour to have his tonsils removed.
• February 11, 1965 - Ringo marries his childhood sweetheart, Maureen Cox.
• July 29, 1965 - Help! has its world premiere in London's West End. Reviews hail the Beatles as "modern Marx Brothers."
• August 1965 - The Beatles meet Elvis Presley at his home in Bel Air. Not knowing their individual names, Elvis refers to each as "Beatle."
• September 13, 1965 - Ringo's first child, Zak, is born.
• August 19, 1967 - Ringo's second child, Jason, is born.
• January 30, 1969 - The Beatles' last performance as a group is on the roof of the Apple building, during the filming of Let It Be.
• November 11, 1970 - Ringo's third child, daugfhter Lee Parkin, is born.
• April, 1971 - Ringo releases "It Don't Come Easy"/"Early 1971" the first of a string of hit singles.
• 1971 - Ringo completes acting roles in two other films, Blindman, and Frank Zappa's 200 Motels.
• August 1, 1971 - Ringo joins George Harrison at Madison Square Garden for the Concert for Bangladesh.
• July, 1975 - Ringo and Maureen are divorced.
• April, 1979 - Ringo collapses from severe intestinal problems. Near death, he is rushed to a Monte Carlo Hospital where doctors remove portions of his intestine and save his life.
• February, 1980 - Ringo begins work on the movie, Caveman, and meets Barbara Bach.
• April, 1981 - Ringo and Barabra Bach are married in London.
• July 1989 - Ringo tours with his newly formed All-Star Band.
• July, 1992 - The second All-Star Band tours America and Europe.
• January, 1994 - Ringo joins George and Paul to record "Free As A Bird," and participate in the Anthology Television series.
• January 15, 1994 - Ringo's dear friend Harry Nilsson dies of a heart attack.
• August 27, 1994 - Ringo's stepfather, Harry Graves, dies of pneumonia.
• December 30, 1994 - Ringo's ex-wife, Maureen, dies of complications as a result of a bone marrow transplant. Ringo was at her side at the time of her death.