The Beatles might have had two main lead singers in John Lennon and Paul McCartney, but from the beginning of their career, the band made a conscious effort to feature every member on lead vocals while recording an album. That even went for drummer Ringo Starr.
Whether it was Please Please Me’s cover of The Shirelles single ‘Boys’, or the Lennon/McCartney original (and Rolling Stones single) ‘I Wanna Be Your Man’, Ringo always had to sing his piece. In fact, the only studio album the band recorded which lacks a Ringo vocal performance is A Hard Day’s Night. In that case, he had to settle for coining the album’s title and starring in its accompanying film.
As The Beatles progressed in the studio, Starr even dabbled in songwriting, contributing ideas to Rubber Soul’s ‘What Goes On’ in late 1965, as well as a lyrical line for 1966’s ‘Eleanor Rigby’. His first fully-fledged compositions were released on The Beatles’ 1968 self-titled LP known as The White Album (‘Don’t Pass Me By’) and their 1969 effort Abbey Road (‘Octopus’ Garden’). He wrote the latter song after accidentally ordering seafood while on holiday in the Mediterranean with comic actor Peter Sellers.
But even when he’d started to write songs himself, Starr was still used as a singer by Lennon and McCartney on certain tracks due to his rich baritone voice. Starr’s deeper vocal range and texture provided contrast to the sound of the rest of the group, proving ideal to songs like nursery-rhyme singalong ‘Yellow Submarine’ and the operatic pastiche ‘Good Night’.
So, how many songs did Ringo sing on?
,
There are really two questions to answer here, since there are certain Beatles songs on which Starr sang the lead vocals, while on others he only sang backing vocals.
Concentrating solely on Ringo’s lead vocal performances, his voice fronted 11 different Beatles songs from their officially recorded catalogue. As well as seven of the songs mentioned above, he sang cover versions of Carl Perkins’ ‘Honey Don’t’ and Buck Owens’ ‘Act Naturally’ for the 1964 album Beatles for Sale and 1965’s Help! respectively. He sang another Perkins cover, ‘Matchbox’, for the EP Long Tall Sally, too. And there was his famous vocal on ‘With a Little Help from My Friends’, a song written mostly by McCartney for his adopted persona “Billy Shears” on 1967’s Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
Yet those weren’t the only vocal contributions Ringo made to Beatles recordings. Including the three new Beatles singles released since John Lennon’s death, Starr has sung backing vocals on additional eight songs by The Beatles. Combined with his lead vocals total, that means his vocals feature on a total of 19 different Beatles songs.
Most notably, Starr sings the chorus of ‘Carry That Weight’ from the album Abbey Road along with the other three Beatles. The implication inferred from this chorus is that it refers to the weight all four members of the band would have to bear individually once it broke up.
Ringo Starr has arguably carried that weight more lightly than the other Beatles, being the only member who remained on good terms with each of the others from the moment they went their separate ways. He’s played with them all on their various solo projects.
And he’s released an enormous breadth of his own music through the years. At its best, it features his inimitable baritone, front-and-centre.
