Complete Name: Richard Starkey
aka Ringo Starr, Ritchie Birth Date: July 7, 1940
Place of Birth: 9 Madryn Street, Dingle, Liverpool

Parents
Mother: Elsie Starkey

Another Beatles Item sold! Geesh! I better create a category for Beatle Artifact or Beatles Auction or something..

Ex-Beatles’ bike sells for £36,000

A HONDA bike owned by John Lennon and Ringo Starr sold yesterday for £36,000 – more than five times its estimate.

The 1970 Honda 160Z monkey bike was bought by Lennon as a fun way of getting around the many acres of his Berkshire home and was among the items inherited by Starr, the auctioneer Bonhams said.

“Beatles Auctions” category? Yep, I just created it!

Last April 5, 2008 another die hard Beatles fan and collector has just acquired an autographed stationary of the fab four. As an additional bonus, the autograph was written in Elvis Priestley’s. The auction was held at Heritage Auction Galleries in Dallas.

Here’s the story behind that almost $60,000 piece of paper! Apparently, John, Paul, George and Ringo were scheduled to play the Balboa Stadium in San Diego. At that very moment, the lads heard that Elvis was filming Paradise, Hawaiian Style in Hollywood.

On the night of August 27, 1965, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr arrived at Elvis’s house in Bel Air.

It was also rumored that Elvis himself greeted them at the door and kiddingly said, “If you guys are going to stare at me all night,” joked Elvis, “I’m going to bed!”

Jerry Schilling, a member of Elvis’s “Memphis Mafia,” probably a big fan himself.. (come on! I’m sure those time, everyone who has a radio is a fan of the Beatles) Well anyway, he got the autographs of all four Beatles on a 5″ x 8″ piece of Elvis Presley’s personal stationery, and dated the event “8/27/65.”

And that’s the story behind the $60,000 piece of paper.

Sir Paul McCartney is in mourning for his childhood friend and Beatles mentor Neil Aspinall, who has died at the age of 66. Neil died last March 24, 2008 in New York because of lung cancer.

Paul and Neil met at school when they were both 11 years old and has been friends ever since.

Mr Aspinall worked as a roadie and accountant for the band before becoming chief executive of Apple Corps and until he quits last year.

In a statement released on behalf of surviving Beatles Sir Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, the company described him as a “great man” who would be missed.

Other quotes from Paul McCartney:

“I was able to say goodbye and thank him for everything he did for us and I send my deepest sympathies to his wonderful family. I will miss him but will remember the laughs, there were plenty.”

John Lennon’s widow, Yoko Ono, also sends here condolences to Neil Aspinall’s family

“Neil was an important member of The Beatles family. John [Lennon] loved him. I continued to treasure his wisdom and support in the years after John’s passing.

“My love and deepest sympathy go to Neil’s wife Suzy, and to his children. With love, Yoko Ono Lennon”.

That very familiar black and white, simple, plain letters-only Beatles logo for the most famous rock band of all time has perhaps the simplest origin story. It was designed in 1963 by Ivor Arbiter. He is an instrument repairer and drummer…

Ivor Arbiter opened Drum City in Shaftesbury Avenue in the heat of the theatre district. It was the first ‘drums only’ store in the whole of London, and became a Mecca for all jazz drummers - the store introduced many different kits to the UK like the German manufactured Trixon drums and also Paiste cymbals. Later Ivor Arbiter gathered rights to Pearl, as well as being the first to stock a complete selection of US drums: Ludwig, Slingerland and Gretsch.

For those who didn’t now, he was the man who sold Ringo Starr his drums — and applied on Ringo’s bass drumhead by London sign painter Eddie Stokes.