Ringo Starr | |
---|---|
Nationality | English |
Occupation | Drummer, singer, songwriter, actor |
Years active | 1957-present |
Children |
Zak Starkey b.1965 Jason Starkey b.1965 Lee Starkey b.1970 |
Signature |
Sir Richard Starkey, MBE (born July 7, 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English drummer, singer, songwriter and actor best known for being the former drummer of the British pop-rock band, the Beatles, and the leader of his own band, the All Starr Band. He was the first narrator for Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends, narrating the first two seasons and playing Mr. Conductor on Shining Time Station. He left the show after 1989 to focus on his music career and tour with The All Starr Band, after which he was replaced by Michael Angelis in the UK, and George Carlin in the US (Carlin also redubbed the first two seasons).
Trivia[]
- According to Britt Allcroft, she chose Ringo as the narrator after hearing his voice on television and thought children would relate to him. Allcroft denied he was chosen because of his Beatles fame, since she was not a fan of the band at the time.
- Before narrating Ringo originally declined narrating the series since he didn't read any of the Railway Series books at that time. However, after reading the books, he decided to narrate the series.
- Ringo Starr recorded the narration for the first season in eight days. That includes re-doing four episodes due to the tone of his voice.
- He also recorded narration for the Ladybird audio books.
- Ringo Starr returned to voice Thomas in the 2009 Children in Need charity single.
- He, George Carlin, Alec Baldwin, and Pierce Brosnan have hosted Saturday Night Live and made guest appearances on The Simpsons.
- He, Radovan Vaculík, Carlos Enrique Bonilla, Jorge Ornelas, Enzo Avolio, Víctor Delgado, Bohuslav Kalva, Daiki Nakamura, Aku Laitinen, Marjolein Algera, Jukka Voutilaninen, Shinobu Adachi, Pasi Ruohonen, Loretta Santini, Olga Hnidey, Don Nemitz, Bin Shimada, Reinder van der Naalt, Ángel Amorós, Gerardo Reyero, Luis Alfonso Padilla, Octavio Rojas, Louise Raeder, Humberto Vélez, Hadar Shachaf Ma'ayan, Chie Kōjiro, Samuel Harjanne, Keiko Toda and Nicolás Frías also worked on "The Simpsons".
- He, Tracy-Ann Oberman and Eddie Redmayne were guests on "The One Show".
- On the BBC game show "Pointless", when asked who took over narrating the UK version of the series from Ringo in 1991, four out of the one-hundred people remembered that it was Michael Angelis.
Parodies[]
- Ringo Starr/Thomas
- Michael Angelis/Thomas
- George Carlin/Thomas
- Michael Brandon/Thomas
- Angus Wright/Thomas
- Alec Baldwin/Thomas
- Mark Moraghan/Thomas
- John Hasler/Thomas
- Pierce Brosnan/Thomas
- Joseph May/Thomas