Förutom Ringo Starr kan nämnas att följande artister valdes in i Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame 2015: Den nyss bortgångne Bill Withers, gruppen Green Day, Lou Reed, Joan Jet And The Blackhearts, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Steve Ray Vaughan And Double Trouble.
I dagarna (den 30 mars 2020) har det officiella YouTube-kontot till Rock & Roll Hall of Fame uppdaterats med material från Ringo Starrs inval i Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame 2015.
Härnedan har ni Paul McCartneys tal till Ringo Starr inför invalet i Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame i Cleveland’s Public Hall i Cleveland lördagen den 19 april 2015.
Och här har ni talet i skrift också:
OK. Ringo Starr was born in Liverpool at a very early age, and he had a hard childhood. Real hard childhood, but he had a beautiful mom, Elsie, and a lovely stepdad Harry. Both of them had real big hearts, beautiful people, and they loved music. So at some point during this difficult childhood, Ringo got a drum. Ringo got a drum! And that was it. He was now a drummer.
Later on he joined a group called Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. And we saw these guys when we were out in Hamburg, we were playing out there. And Ringo was like a professional musician. We were just like, slamming around and doing stuff, but he had a beard — that’s professional. He had the suit. Very professional. And he would sit at the bar drinking bourbon and seven. We’d never seen anyone like this. This was like, a grown-up musician.
Anyway, we got friendly with him, and he used to come in late night when we were playing, and he requested a couple of songs, so we got to know him. And one night our drummer then, Pete Best, wasn’t available, so Ringo sat in. And I remember the moment. I mean, Pete was great, and we had a good time with him. But me, John and George, God bless ’em, were on the front line singing, and now behind us we had this guy we’d never played with before, and I remember the moment when he started to play – I think it was Ray Charles, “What’d I Say,” and most of the drummers couldn’t nail the drum part, it’s a little bit [sings a bit of it]. It was a little difficult to do, but Ringo nailed it. Yeah — Ringo nailed it! And I remember the moment, standing there and looking at John and then looking at George, and the look on our faces was like, fuck you. What is this? And that was the moment, that was the beginning, really, of The Beatles.
Anyway, then we started this great journey for these four guys from Liverpool who were . . .we just set off on their journey. We did ballrooms and clubs around England, and we got a little work in Europe, and then we eventually came to America. And here we were, we were staying in rooms together. And I wasn’t a sheltered kid, but I just had my mom and dad growing up and my brother. So I was staying in a hotel room with a strange man. This really brought us together. We lived like in each other’s pockets, virtually. But it was a beautiful thing, a wonderful thing. Eventually we got on The Ed Sullivan Show, and we got really famous. It was just so beautiful. As all the other drummers say, he just is something so special. When he’s playing behind you, you see these other bands, they’re looking around at the drummer, like, is he going to speed up, is he going to slow down? You don’t have to look with Ringo.
It’s a great honor for me to be able to induce him into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland tonight!
Nedan kan ni lyssna till Ringo Starrs tacktal.
Dags för musik! Ringo Starr med gäster framför I Wanna Be Your Man.
Här har vi en version av en av Ringos klassiker With A Little Help From My Friends.
Nedan kan ni lyssna på I Wanna Be Your Man i en lite längre version med kompisar såsom Paul McCartney (förstås), Stevie Wonder, Pharrell Williams, Dave Grohl, Joe Walsh med flera.
Att Ringo Starr (äntligen!) blev invald i Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame var lite av en korrigering, eftersom det hade tagit så lång tid innan han nu blev invald.
Ringo Starr var invald 1988, men då som medlem i The Beatles och det gällde ju även de tre övriga i bandet.
Men de övriga tre – John Lennon, George Harrison och Paul McCartney hade alla blivit invalda i Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame som solomedlemmar tidigare; John Lennon valdes in postumt 1994, Paul McCartney 1999 och George Harrison postumt 2004. Dessutom hade George Martin blivit invald 1999 i kategorin icke-artister och 2014 valdes Brian Epstein in postumt och erhöll dessutom the Ahmet Ertegun Award för livslång prestation. Men innan 2015 var Ringo Starr utanför den hyllade skaran inom Beatlesfamiljen. Men nu kom äntligen den sista pusselbiten på plats, kan man säga – genom Paul McCartneys rekommendation.
