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    Ringo: With a Little Help
    Ringo: With a Little Help
    Ringo: With a Little Help
    Audiobook16 hours

    Ringo: With a Little Help

    Written by Michael Seth Starr

    Narrated by Peter Berkrot

    3.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    Ringo: With a Little Help is the first in-depth biography of Beatles drummer Ringo Starr, who kept the beat for an entire generation and who remains a rock icon since the Beatles took the world by storm over fifty years ago. This book traces the entire arc of Ringo's remarkable life and career, from his sickly childhood to his life as the world's most famous drummer to his triumphs, addictions, and emotional battles following the breakup of the Beatles. Born in 1940 as Richard Starkey in the Dingle, one of Liverpool's most gritty, rough-and-tumble neighborhoods, he rose from a hardscrabble childhood marked by serious illnesses, long hospital stays, and little schooling to emerge, against all odds, as a locally renowned drummer. Taking the stage name Ringo Starr, his big break with the Beatles rocketed him to the pinnacle of worldwide acclaim in a remarkably short time. He was the last member of the Beatles to join the group but also the most vulnerable, and his post-Beatles career was marked by chart-topping successes, a jet-setting life of excess and alcohol abuse, and, ultimately, his rebirth as one of rock's revered elder statesmen.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateFeb 9, 2016
    ISBN9781494589714

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    Reviews for Ringo

    3.5/5

    35 ratings11 reviews

    What did you think?

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    • 4/5
      Nice listen never got bored. Pretty fast trip beginning to end. Enjoyed it
    • 3/5
      It’s a well written story but I find this narrator so annoying- his diction sounds phony and condescending and this is his best effort. I guess people like him though but the Greg Allman and Fillmore books are even worse. I feel bad because I noticed we have FB friends in common but .....am I the only one who hears it like this?
    • 3/5
      Right from the off-set, we learn from the author that Ringo hadn’t given his acceptance for this book to be written, so as a result it’s a cobbled together collection of information from other books. But all in all it was interesting to listen to, if you are a Beatles fan.
      My biggest gripe was when the narrator spoke Ringo’s voice he used an Irish accent!? Seriously, if you can’t do Scouse, just use your own voice!
    • 4/5
      The book text was not amazing or even new (this being an unauthorized biography), but the reading by Peter Berkrot was first rate. This Early Reviewer came on disk and it was great fun listening to the narration of Berkrot--accents and all.
    • 5/5
      If you are looking for an in-depth detailed tell all of Ringo’s relationships, thoughts, and experiences, this is not the book for you. It reads like a group of friends sitting around after the funeral reminiscing about the good, bad, and the ugly of the dearly departed. With the telling there are lapses in facts or different memories of what really happened. It is a comfortable story about a unique individual who will always have a place in musical history. Peter Berkrot read the unabridged book on compact disk version. He spoke clearly and it was easy to understand him. The sound quality is consistent throughout. He gave a five star delivery. The book itself only rates a four start for some lapses in fact checking.
    • 3/5
      I won this Audiobook CD on a Library Thing Early Reviewers giveaway. I found this tale to very disjointed and was constantly having to rewind to understand the context of what the author was talking about at the time. He kept on jumping around in the timeline and I finally had to give up at the 50% mark. This was somewhat of a disappointment as I have been a Beatles fan pretty much my whole life and have enjoyed several previous novels written about the fab four. It might be that I need to donate some more time to this to realize the enjoyment but as of now, I will probably leave it as a DNF.
    • 3/5
      New York Post TV columnist Michael Seth Starr's biography of Ringo Starr (no relation) is a thorough chronology of Ringo's life before, with, and after the Beatles. Prospective readers should understand that it is an “unauthorized” biography – in other words, there are no new revelations from Ringo himself. The author relies upon surviving informants and past coverage and memoirs for information. That's not necessarily a bad thing if you want the unvarnished story – a subject's collaboration can obviously veer away from the objective. My point is, don't expect Ringo to shed new light on old incidents.The book appears to be a fairly objective presentation of Ringo's life story, and he comes off as a likable lad. The good parts of his life and the bad, boozy, parts are dealt with evenhandedly. For readers with more technical knowledge of drumming then I, the Epilogue, interviews with prominent drummers discussing Ringo's influence and technique, will be of interest.The book, and the author, suffer from lack of a good editor. Several incidents are referred to repeatedly, as if the reader had forgotten about them in the course of reading. Author Starr has a limited stock of phrases, which he uses instead of simpler words. “Come to fruition” and “lost to history” get tiresome if used in the same chapter. Much of the latter chapters, dealing with post-Beatle life, relies heavily on listing the names of other musicians who appeared with Ringo, which isn't scintillating reading.I received an MP3-CD version of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review, under the LibraryThing Early Reviewer Program.
    • 5/5
      This audiobook was really easy to listen to. The narrator did a great job keeping me invested in the story. I'm wondering why Ringo chose not to be affiliated with it. I really feel it was an honest, loving portrayal of Ringo's life. Where it wasn't so flattering, it was done in such a gentle and respectful way.There were many things that were brand new pieces of information which was surprising given how iconic Ringo and the Beatles are/were. You would think we all would know pretty much everything of interest to know, but not so for me. I would recommend this book to anyone who would like to know more about Richard Starkey.
    • 3/5
      I listened to this book on CD and did not like the narrator Peter Berkrot. In general I found his tone sarcastic and his use of various accents (except for Ringo’s) confusing rather than clarifying. In general I think this book would have benefited by a careful reading by a good editor. I appreciated learning more details about Ringo’s personality and his life. I also came to a better understanding of Ringo’s relationship with each of the other Beatles and the Beatles with each other. Sometimes this was also a bit contradictory, for example when the author would say Ringo’s relationship with Paul was stressed by an argument between them and later in the same chapter he would say their relationship was not affected. It would be more accurate to say their relationship was affected but it was healed, and that the future of their relationship was not affected.The chronology was confusing as to how old Ringo was when his father left. By my math, he seemed to be three, but by adding and subtracting the years he seem to be only one. This is a case where the editor needed to clarify chronologies.The chronology is again confusing during the period of 1969-70 when the author seems to jump ahead and back when mentioning months for events. It is unclear which year he is talking about. Use of the words “et al” and “Liverpudlian” are excessive. Other phraseology, such as simply saying “and others” or “someone also from Liverpool” would have been less jarring to my ear. These may not present a difficulty for someone who is reading the text but listening to these phrases was very distracting.The name-dropping of “so called famous” people, was excessive. In particular when the person is not relevant, or not perhaps even mentioned for the rest of the book. This seems unnecessary and was distracting from the main point of learning about Ringo’s life.Giving details about events that never came to pass was distracting. For example, a concert that was planned that never happened did not need to be mentioned, unless it was expanded upon in terms of why it was relevant or important to the story of Ringo’s life.
    • 3/5
      I enjoyed listening to this audiobook. Peter Berkrot is a great audiobook voice. His subtle changes in tone, volume, and accent let you know the character has changed without abruptness.Not being a Ringo fan, I found it an interesting experience, especially the part where Ringo joins the Beatles and had to put up with Pete Best fans. There are some repetitive parts in the text/narration, but it flows rather smoothly. The book states that it was done without the cooperation of Ringo, but relies heavily on first hand experiences.The book does go to great lengths to prove that Ringo was a great drummer - I'm not sure it makes the point convincingly. I found Ringo's drumming a bit tinny as he used the cymbals too much. I preferred the aggressive thumping of Dave Clark better.
    • 4/5
      audio MP3(rec'd for a fair, honest review)PennsyLady (Bev)an audio book narrated by Peter BerkrotI'll preface by saying I know others found editorial errors in some 2015 paper copies.The audio book (2016) (Tantor Media) read quite smoothly.Initially I listened with some interest to Ringo's younger years.I was, however, one of those kids watching the Ed Sullivan show,in black and white, in early 1964.So, with the British Invasion, my interest accelerated.The biography is unauthorized but quite comprehensive.There were points where it became a bit lengthy but I'll overlook that.I had a basic black and white sketch of Ringo Starr; the book added color and dimension and gave me a more expansive understanding of Ringo's place in pop culture history.3.5 ★