Tom Petty Said Ringo Starr Was an ‘Incredibly Creative Drummer’

TL;DR:

• Tom Petty and Ringo Starr met in the 1970s.
• Tom Petty said Ringo Starr was a creative drummer.
• Ringo Starr said Tom Petty’s death was a shock.

Of all The Beatles, Tom Petty was closest with George Harrison, but he also formed a friendship with Ringo Starr. Over the years, they collaborated and bonded over their shared love of music. Petty said that he was honored to have Starr play on several of his songs. He asserted his belief that a drummer of Starr’s caliber was a rare luxury.

Tom Petty met Ringo Starr and George Harrison in the 1970s

In 1974, shortly after Petty signed with Shelter Records, he went to Leon Russell’s house. 

“Leon brought me over to his house and he said, ‘I want you to just hang around,'” Petty said in his 2017 MusiCares Person of the Year speech. “He liked the songs that I’d done. ‘If it comes to a thing where we need some words, I need you to be here and I’ll pay you for it.'”

Petty met Harrison and Starr at Russell’s house. For such a big Beatles fan, this was an enormous deal.

“So, the first session, in comes George Harrison and Ringo and Jim Keltner and they didn’t need any words,” Petty said. “But those cats were so cool, you know?”

He complimented the former Beatle’s drumming

Petty formed a friendship with Starr, leading to several collaborations over the years. Petty said he was always grateful to have someone of Starr’s caliber on his records.

“Well, it’s a luxury to have musicians of that caliber,” Petty said, per the book Conversations With Tom Petty by Paul Zollo. “And Ringo can really just play perfect time all day long. Yeah, God, that’s as good as they come, isn’t it? I’ve always been fortunate to have really, really good musicians. I don’t know why, but I’ve been very fortunate in that I really have the best musicians around. To have Ringo come in was a real honor. I’ve had him on a few things. And he knows he’s always welcome to come play.”

Petty said Starr played perfectly on the song “To Find a Friend.”

“I think he’s an incredibly creative drummer. A lot of feel,” Petty said. “I just knew he would play that song well. And I was right. He played it perfect right away. I demoed it without any drums, and we thought, how would a drum pattern go to this? And I thought, you know who could play this would be Ringo. I’ve known Ringo for years. So I called him and asked him. And he was gracious enough to come down and play.”

Ringo Starr spoke about the impact of Tom Petty’s death

Starr spoke about the impact of Petty’s death in 2017.

“It was a shock,” he told Billboard. “When you first hear it, it’s like, ‘What…?!’ Like when I heard Elvis was dead; It’s like, ‘What?!’ It has to sink in. It was very sad. That’s all I can say, really. God Bless him and his family.”

Starr, who has lost many friends over the years, said he would always miss Petty.

“I’ll miss Tom,” Starr said. “Tom was a good friend. I played with Tom, Tom Played with me. I got to know him over the years, really got to know him when he was in the Wilburys ’cause of George [Harrison]. All through my career we’ve lost really great friends, and people who aren’t my friends, but were great musicians and writers. In our business we’ve lost them very young as well. But overall there’s still a lot of us out there doing what we do.”