July 9, 2024 – Ringo Starr and his wife Barbara Starkey were joined by family, friends, and fans in Beverly Hills to celebrate his annual peace and love birthday on July 7th, including Joe and Marjorie Walsh, Fred Armisen, Glen Ballard, Gregg Bissonette, Ben Harper, Asa & Roy Orbison Jr and Alex & Erika Orbison, Linda Perry, Denny Seiwell, Matt Sorum, Stephen Stills, Diane Warren, Don Was, Edgar Winter, and more.
The celebration in Beverly Hills began with Ringo and Barbara, Joe and Marjorie Walsh arriving together at the Beverly Hills Park and stopping at Ringo’s “Peace Sculpture” for a photo op, where hundreds of fans gathered around the perimeter.
After walking the press line and speaking with media and fans, Ringo entered the party to mingle with his guests before sitting down to enjoy the musical tributes. The performances started with MC and All-Starr member Gregg Bissonette welcoming everyone and introducing the day’s first performer, Ben Dickey, who played “Weight of the World.” Next was Gabe Witcher, Willie Watson, Greg Leisz, John Jorgenson, and Don Was, performing “Beacoups of Blues,” “Love Don’t Last,”and“Act Naturally,” followed by Ben Harper performing “Walk With You,” and ending in an abbreviated rendition of The Beatles’ “Birthday” led by Steve Dudas with All Starr Band member Gregg Bissonette.
Joe Walsh then took the stage, and in his trademark heartfelt and humorous way, spoke about his brother in law, “You know his hand is much smaller than that by the way!” (referring to Ringo’s stainless steel, 8-foot tall, 800-pound Peace Sculpture), and then “the world loves Ringo Starr because how could they not?” As Ringo joined Joe on stage, his friends and family filed in behind him. “I am getting overwhelmed there are so many of you now” Ringo said. “We started doing this celebration with about 50 people in 2008. I am truly grateful you all turned up today otherwise I’d be lonely. We are going round the world – we are in 34 countries and all I can do is say is “Peace & Love.” Then Joe prompted him to do the countdown to a group exclamation of “Peace & Love!” at Noon. Joe led all present in a traditional happy birthday song as a two-tiered star cake was presented on stage (by Cake Art).
Ringo also received birthday wishes on social media from friends far and wide including Paul McCartney and his children Mary, Stella, and James, Yoko Ono, Olivia Harrison, Ringo’s son Zak Starkey as well as Peter Asher, Roseanne Cash, Henry Diltz, Nathan East, Cary Elwes, Liberty DeVito, Steve Stevens, Benmont Tench, Ronnie Wood, former and current All Starrs Steve Lukather, Warren Ham, Peter Frampton, Richard Marx, Gregg Rolie, and many more…..
Meanwhile celebrations were taking place around the world, starting in Tokyo and Osaka, Japan, continuing with celebrations in 34 other locations around the globe to create a 24-hour wave of peace and love encircling the planet, with NASA tweeting, “There are many stars in our galaxy but only one @ringostarrmusic. Happy birthday! Your message of #PeaceAndLove is currently flying across the solar system aboard our #LucyMission – the first mission to Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids.”
The full list of celebrations (listed by time zones):
Seoul, South Korea
Tokyo, Japan
Osaka, Japan
Perth, Australia
Yerevan, Armenia
Yekaterinburg, Russia
Tallinn, Estonia
Ticino, Switzerland
Halle, Germany
Barcelona, Spain
Madrid, Spain
Brescia, Italy
Liverpool, UK
London, UK – Abbey Road Institute
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Chascomús, Argentina
São Paulo, Brazil
Recife, Brazil
Uruguay
Buffalo, NY, USA
New York, NY, USA
Cleveland, OH, USA – Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
Asunción, Paraguay
Lima, Perú
Bogotá, Colombia
Panama City, Panama
Green Bay, WI, USA
Guatemala City, Guatemala
San José, Costa Rica
Puebla, Mexico
Mexico City, Mexico
Las Vegas, NV, USA
Los Angeles, CA, USA
Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
NASA (Solar System, Outer Space)
The video messages from all these events are posted on Ringo’s Facebook page.
We also want to thank our sponsors Julien’s Auctions, SiriusXM, and The Sessions for their support. Thank you also to Jackie Phillips for designing our t-shirts and to Gary and the entire team at Rock Off for making them. And special thanks to ONWTRfor keeping everyone hydrated at our event.
MORE ABOUT RINGO:
Ringo recently completed a Spring tour with Ringo and his All Starr Band, and the band will resume with a second set of dates in September.
In April he released his 4th EP Crooked Boy which includes 4 songs all written and produced by Linda Perry – “February Sky,” “Gonna Need Someone,” “Adeline,” and “Crooked Boy.”
Ringo recently published his 8th book, Beats & Threads, through Juliens Auctions. Ringo’s trend setting threads were as signature as the beat of his drums and this book features over 200 images including never before seen photos and extensive details on his drums. Ringo–in collaboration with noted historian, author, speaker, drummer, and vintage drum collector, Gary Astridge–offers for the first-time the most comprehensive look at his legendary Beatles-era drum kits containing decades of research-based information with curated and detailed photographs of these pieces of music history. It is available now through Juliensauctions.com
For More information, please visit Ringo’s website, RingoStarr.com
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At Julien’s, we exist to bring those moments back into your life through iconic artifacts and one-of-a-kind collections. Whether collaborating directly with artists, partnering with legendary estates, or working closely with discerning collectors, our auctions make culture pop with the promise of discovery and reconnection. From Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, and Ringo Starr to Lady Gaga, Banksy, and Kurt Cobain-from LA to the world, we are where originals find their kind.
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SIRIUSXM The Beatles Channel
The Beatles Channel can be found on SiriusXM channel 18 and on the SXM App. The channel features the band’s hits and album tracks, live recordings and rarities, solo works from John, Paul, George and Ringo, records that influenced the band, as well as the music they inspired. SiriusXM have been proud sponsors of Ringo’s Peace & Love Birthday events since 2017.
THE SESSIONS – Enrich, Educate, Empower
The Sessions was founded by photographer, author and philanthropist, Jules Follett, and provides the bridge between dreams and reality by Enriching artist lives through Education, focusing on Empowering and sharpening their business skills in the pursuit of excellence. This is done through in person and online panel events, as well as interviews with music industry Artists sharing their story, valuable information and advice from all areas of the business, accessible to all through their YouTube channel in their Artist Series interviews.
HISTORY & BACKGROUND OF RINGO’S ANNUAL JULY 7 PEACE & LOVE BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS:
Since 2008 Ringo has invited everyone everywhere to think, say or post #peaceandlove at Noon their local time on July 7th to fulfill his birthday wish of a wave of Peace and Love encircling the planet. Usually Ringo meets with fans in whatever city he is in, a tradition that began July 7, 2008 when he convened with fans and friends on the streets in front of the Hard Rock Café in Chicago, passing out cupcakes and joining the crowd for “Peace and Love” exactly at Noon. In the ensuing years it has grown enormously and in 2019 there were over 30 Peace & Love events in countries all around the world.
2020’s pandemic prevented an in-person event, and Ringo instead moved the celebration to be virtual, hosting “Ringo’s Big Birthday Show,” which featured unseen concert and unique performances by Starr, Paul McCartney, Joe Walsh, Ben Harper and Dave Grohl, Sheryl Crow, Gary Clark Jr and Sheila E. The show was broadcast globally via AXS, YouTube and Ceek and it benefitted Black Lives Matter Global Network, The David Lynch Foundation, Musicares and WaterAid. Meanwhile the #peaceandlove posts came from near and far, with the Mars Rover and The International Space Station being the first to wish Ringo a Happy Birthday “From 260 miles above our home planet, NASA Astronauts wish Ringo Starr a happy 80th birthday! Since our orbiting laboratory operates in Greenwich Mean Time, or GMT, it’s officially July 7 – a perfect date to send #PeaceAndLove to everyone across the universe!”
2021 found Ringo celebrating with a few friends and family with a photo call at his Peace sculpture, with the world celebrating with their wave of peace and love celebrations globally.
In 2022, Ringo welcomed friends, family, and the media to his Peace sculpture and over 30 Peace and Love regional events happened around the globe. In addition Ringo’s star song – the sound the stars made when he was born along with a recording of him saying “Peace & Love” – was beamed out into space and to the International Space Station (ISS) where it orbited around the Earth, passing over many countries and much of the Earth’s population beaming back down messages of peace and love while also traveling out to distant stars. In 2023, Ringo returned to the Peace sculpture to greet friends, family and the media while over 30 Peace and Love events kept the wave of peace and love traveling around the world. While NASA help spread the message to the universe and by beaming at Noon PST a pre-recorded message from Ringo from Barstow California based station in the Deep Space Network.
2008 – Chicago, IL Hard Rock Cafe
2009 – Online campaign including in store salutes at Noon at all Hard Rock Cafes worldwide
2010 – New York City, NY: Hard Rock Cafe, Times Square
2011 – Hamburg, Germany: Hard Rock Cafe
2012 – Nashville, TN: Hard Rock Café
2013 – Online celebration including a video message from Ringo
2014 – Los Angeles, CA: Capitol Records Tower
2015 – Los Angeles, CA: Capitol Records Tower
2016 – Los Angeles, CA: Capitol Records Tower
2017 – Los Angeles, CA: Capitol Records Tower
2018 – Nice, France: Hard Rock Café
2019 – Los Angeles, CA: Capitol Records Tower
2020 – Los Angeles, CA: Virtual celebration, “Ringo’s Big Birthday Show”
2021 – Los Angeles, CA: Beverly Hills Garden Park
2022 – Los Angeles, CA: Beverly Hills Garden Park
2023 – Los Angeles, CA: Beverly Hills Garden Park