Ringo Starr’s Son Was Furious When People Mentioned Him in the Same Sentence as His Dad
When Ringo Starr’s son, Zak Starkey, began to work professionally as a drummer, people understandably made comparisons between him and his father. Though Starr is one of the most successful drummers in the world, Starkey resented the comparison. He wanted to make it as a musician in his own right, and he also didn’t think Starr was that good of a drummer. He didn’t even want to be mentioned in the same sentence as his father.
Ringo Starr’s son said having him for a dad was a ‘drag’
Starkey is the eldest of Starr’s three children and spent most of his childhood in Starr’s chaotic post-Beatles years. He said that being Starr’s son was a “drag.”
“To be perfectly honest, being Ringo’s son is the biggest drag in my life,” Starkey said, per the book Ringo: With a Little Help by Michael Seth Starr. “I’m always written about as Ringo’s son, always classed in with him in every single thing I do … And if I do get successful, I don’t want to live like my old man, on a big estate and all that.”
He also said he rarely saw his father. Instead, he spent more time with Starr’s friends, particularly Keith Moon.
“My old man was never there,” he said. “During my puberty, Moonie was always there with me while my old man was far away in Monte Carlo or somewhere.”
Ringo Starr’s son didn’t like to be compared to him
Starr’s relationship with his son grew more complicated when Starkey started working professionally as a drummer. He was constantly mentioned in relation to his father, which he resented.
“He would be mentioned in a newspaper as ‘Zak Starr, son of Ringo Starr’ and he would get furious,” Starr said, per the book The Beatles: The Authorized Biography by Hunter Davies. “I told him that I didn’t ring up the papers, telling them to put my name in, but he seemed to think it was my fault. He just didn’t understand how newspapers work. Then he came to me one day and said he thought the group was just using him, for his name. Son, I said, you’ve got a lot to learn.”
Starkey also likely prickled at the comparison because he didn’t consider his father a “great drummer.”
“My old man’s a good timekeeper, one of the best, but I’ve never thought of him as a great drummer, not really,” he said. “Ringo gave me one lesson, just one, when I was young. Then he told me to listen to records and play along with them.”
They have a better relationship now
As Starkey aged, he grew to appreciate being compared to his father. He regretted some of the things he’d said about Starr.
“It doesn’t get tiring,” he told Modern Drummer in 2007. “I kind of rebelled against it when I was a teenager; I said some pretty stupid things.”
He also shared a kinder opinion of Starr’s drumming skills.
“I’ll be honest, it’s great being Ringo’s son,” he said. “He’s the greatest living drummer as far as I’m concerned.”
