Ringo Starr was born Richard Starkey in Liverpool, Merseyside, England, on July 7, 1940. His parents divorced when he was three and he and his mother moved to another home in Liverpool. While attending Silas Infants' Schools he suffered from many afflictions that basically ruined his education: he had constant severe abdominal pains, was once diagnosed with a ruptured appendix that led to an inflamed peritoneum--which also led to one of his first surgeries--he was in a coma for a couple of months, during which more operations were performed, and he was known to be accident-prone. Shortly after he came out of the coma, he was trying to offer a toy bus to another boy in an adjoining bed, but fell and received a concussion. When he finally was able to go back to school, he learned that he was far behind in his studies. As if that weren't bad enough, at age 13 he caught a cold that turned into chronic pleurisy, necessitating another stay at another hospital in Liverpool. A few lung complications followed, which resulted in a stay in yet another children's hospital, this time until 1955. Meanwhile, Richard's mother Elise had married Harry Graves, the man who her son referred to as a "stepladder".His first job was as a delivery boy for British Rail. His second was a barman on a ferry to New Brighton, and his next was as a trainee joiner at Henry Hunt & Sons. His stepfather bought him a new drum kit and Richard promised to be the best musician, ever. He traveled from band to band, but he eventually landed a spot with "Rory Storm & The Hurricanes", a popular band at the time, and Storm encouraged Richard to enhance his career by legally changing his name to Ringo Starr. The Hurricanes became popular in England and topped the bill at one of Liverpool's clubs, where The Beatles also featured.Original Beatles' drummer Pete Best was not considered by the other band members to be the greatest drummer, and they were keen to recruit Ringo as his replacement. Ringo's group was now playing second-fiddle to The Beatles and Gerry and the Pacemakers. He wanted to leave The Hurricanes to join another group called "The Seniors". After considering Johnny Hutchinson of "The Big Three," The Beatles new A & R manager George Martin asked Ringo if he would be interested in filling in the position. He agreed, but when he played with The Beatles at The Cavern Club, a lot of longtime fans were still disappointed about Best's firing, and began to shout, "Pete forever, Ringo never!"Ringo also wanted to be a professional actor, more so than the other Beatles. He received great reviews for his performance in A Hard Day's Night (1964), and also for Help! (1965). He had married his old girlfriend, Maureen Cox, on February 11, 1965, and they had three children. The couple broke up in July 1975 and he married actress Barbara Bach. Ringo had the same problem as George did, which was getting his songs noticed. At times John and Paul would write a song or two for him to sing on one album, such as "Boys", "I Wanna Be Your Man", "Honey Don't", and "Yellow Submarine". During his stay with The Beatles, Ringo wrote two songs, however--"Don't Pass Me By" and "Octopus' Garden".After the breakup of The Beatles, Ringo sustained a very popular solo career, turning out 13 hit songs and eight best-selling albums. He also appeared in various TV shows, including his own special, Ringo (1978) (TV), and a TV mini-series, Princess Daisy (1983) (TV), with his wife Barbara. He stayed out of the limelight for years after that, however, and in 1984 he did narration for the children's series "Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends" (1984). He conquered a drinking problems--his wife attended the rehabilitation clinic with him--and came back to the scene sober to do the All-Starr Band tour of America and Japan. The tour was so popular that he formed another All-Starr Band in 1992, and began an American and European tour in June of that year. While he continues to do the All-Starr Band, along with George Harrison and Paul McCartney he did a Beatles' anthology to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the breakup of the band. They sang two new songs, in addition to adding themselves to a couple of John Lennon demos. His old friend and bandmate George Harrison passed away on November 29, 2001, after a long battle against cancer, and the following year, on the anniversary of Harrison's death, Starr, McCartney and Eric Clapton appeared in a Concert For George, to raise money for the exploration of alternative life views and philosophies. It also supported charitable organizations with consideration to those who have special needs.