ringo starr
Famed Beatles drummer and one-time Pizza Hut spokesperson Ringo Starr has admitted he’s never eaten pizza before.
The veteran musician made the somewhat surprising confession while appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live! to promote his 21st studio album, Look Up. As part of his chat, Kimmel asked Starr to set some rumors about himself straight. First on the list was the claim that Starr had never eaten pizza.
“I’ve never had a pizza,” Starr confirmed, as the audience expressed their shock at the news. “Or a curry.”
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“I’m allergic to several items,” Starr continued. “With pizza, you don’t know what you’re putting in it half the time. Or the curry. So I’m strict with myself since it makes me ill immediately.”
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“I used to think you had the greatest life, and now I realize mine is better,” Kimmel joked in response. Added Starr: “Yours is better because you’ve had a pizza.”
Starr’s need to abstain from pizza also goes hand-in-hand with his longtime vegetarianism, but is made all the more surprising given his role as a one-time spokesperson for noted restaurant chain Pizza Hut.
Appearing in a 1995 ad campaign for the chain, Starr promoted Pizza Hut’s newly-introduced stuffed crust as part of a 30-second spot which saw him teasing a reunion from The Beatles. The ad’s punchline sees Starr joined by members of The Monkees instead (“Wrong lads,” he quips), with all four musicians appearing to bite a piece of pizza crust-first. We now know, however, that Starr doesn’t actually follow suit.
The former Beatle’s latest record arrived on Jan. 10 as his first full-length release since 2019’s What’s My Name. Bolstered by guest appearances from Alison Krauss, Molly Tuttle, Lucius, Larkin Poe, and Billy Strings, the country record has so far been a commercial success. Look Up debuted on Billboard’s all-genre Top Album Sales chart at No. 7, charted in the top ten of Indie Store Album Sales (No. 2) and Top Rock Albums (No. 7), and also gave Starr a career-best peak of No. 27 on the Top Country Albums.
“I did love country music before I was in (The Beatles),” Starr recently told Billboard. “We got plenty of it in Liverpool, because the lads who were in the merchant navy would bring not only rock and roll over, but country — and when country bands went on tour in England, they always played Liverpool.”
Former Beatles drummer Ringo Starr has long threaded country music into his work, both as part of the Fab Four, and his decades of solo work.
During his tenure with the Beatles, Starr sang lead on the Fab Four’s cover of the Buck Owens classic “Act Naturally.” Later, as a solo artist, Starr decamped to Nashville to record his 1970 country album Beaucoups of Blues, crafted with Nashville session musician Pete Drake.
Now, more than five decades after that project, the 84-year-old Starr continues his country inclinations, crafting his recently-released new country album Look Up with legendary producer/musician T Bone Burnett, the former Bob Dylan band member known for his production work on the O Brother, Where Art Thou? and Walk the Line soundtracks, as well as his work with a range of artists, including Robert Plant, Elton John and Brandi Carlile.
Starr celebrated the release of Look Up with two concerts at Nashville’s famed Ryman Auditorium, on Tuesday (Jan. 14) and Wednesday (Jan. 15). Each show featured Starr welcoming a star-studded lineup of his fellow music luminaries, including Sheryl Crow, Jack White, Emmylou Harris, Rodney Crowell, The War and Treaty, Jamey Johnson, Billy Strings, Molly Tuttle, Mickey Guyton, Sarah Jarosz and Larkin Poe. Burnett hosted the show, welcoming artists throughout the evening, as some performances featured artists in collaboration with Starr, while other performances featured the evening’s guest offering solo performances.
Together, they spearheaded a night of music that highlighted Starr’s long-forged country connections and the wealth of musical talent Nashville encompasses beyond the country commercial mainstream, incorporating songs from Starr’s Look Up, but also several country-tinged Beatles songs along the way.
“I feel blessed tonight, with all these great players coming out,” Starr told the audience.
Noting the work of artists including Strings, Tuttle and Jarosz, Burnett commented at one point, “Some of the most exciting stuff in music is happening in bluegrass.”
Backing the artists was an ace band of revered musicians that included Mike Rojas, Daniel Tashian, David Mansfield, Dennis Crouch, Paul Franklin and Jim Keltner. White joined Starr to open the show with a rendition of “Matchbox,” and later returned to the stage to perform an intricate, blazing version of “Don’t Pass Me By.”
Tuttle called taking part in Starr’s Look Up album “the honor of a lifetime, working with Ringo and T Bone.” The Grammy winner then played what she called “the first Beatles song I ever heard,” offering a rendition of “Octopus’s Garden,” from The Beatles’ Abbey Road album. Elsewhere in the evening, Crowell and Jarosz performed rollicking version of “Act Naturally.”
Elsewhere, Strings offered a blistering performance of “Honey Don’t,” Guyton gave a powerful, elegant vocal showcase on “You Don’t Know Me at All,” Johnson dipped into grizzled blues-rock territory on “Have You Seen My Baby,” and Larkin Poe teamed with Starr for “Thankful” and also offered a sultry version of “I Wanna Be Your Man.”
Throughout the evening, the artists feted Starr for not only his musical acumen and lasting musical influence, but also for his signature devotion to crafting music that uplifts.
“I needed this,” Crow said at one point, adding, “I can’t think of anybody who emanates love and peace like Ringo — and it’s not a brand, he really does…he believes in it.”
Starr’s two Ryman Auditorium shows were taped for the upcoming television special Ringo & Friends at the Ryman, which will air on CBS and stream on Paramount+ this spring.
The show concluded, appropriately, with an all-star singalong of The Beatles’ classics “Yellow Submarine” and “With a Little Help From My Friends,” which saw additional artists join Starr onstage, including rock and country music trailblazer Brenda Lee (the Beatles once opened for Lee back in the 1960s, prior to the Fab Four’s breakthrough).
Here, Billboard highlights five top moments from Ringo Starr’s Wednesday evening show.
Jack White Brings Electrifying Performances to Ryman Stage
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