Ringo Starr ( b9 )

On 11 February 1965, Starr married Maureen Cox, whom he had first met in 1962. By this time the stress and pressure that went along with Beatlemania had reached a peak for him. He received a telephoned death threat before a show in Montreal, and resorted to positioning his cymbals vertically in an attempt to provide protection from would-be assassins. The constant pressure of the Beatles' fame affected their live performances; Starr commented: "We were turning into such bad musicians ... there was no groove to it." He was also feeling increasingly isolated from the musical activities of his bandmates, who were moving past the traditional boundaries of rock music into territory that often did not require his accompaniment; during recording sessions he spent countless hours playing cards with their road manager Neil Aspinall and roadie Mal Evans while the other Beatles perfected tracks without him. In a letter published in Melody Maker, a fan asked the Beatles to let Starr sing more; he replied: "[I am] quite happy with my one little track on each album".

In August 1966, the Beatles released Revolver, their seventh UK LP The album included the song "Yellow Submarine", which was the only British number one single with Starr as the lead singer. Later that month and owing to the increasing pressures of touring, the Beatles gave their final concert, a 30-minute performance at San Francisco's Candlestick Park. Starr commented: "We gave up touring at the right time. Four years of Beatlemania were enough for anyone." By December, he had moved into an upscale estate on three acres in Saint George's Hill called Sunny Heights. Although he had equipped the house with many luxury items, including numerous televisions, light machines, film projectors and stereo equipment, a billiard table, go-kart track and a bar named the Flying Cow, he did not include a drum kit; he explained: "When we don't record, I don't play".

For the Beatles' seminal 1967 album, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Starr sang lead vocals on the Lennon–McCartney composition "With a Little Help from My Friends". Although the Beatles had enjoyed widespread commercial and critical success with Sgt. Pepper, the long hours they spent recording the LP contributed to Starr's increased feeling of alienation within the band, he commented: "[It] wasn't our best album. That was the peak for everyone else, but for me it was a bit like being a session musician ... They more or less direct me in the style I can play." His inability to compose new material led to his input being minimised during recording sessions; he often found himself relegated to adding minor percussion effects to songs by McCartney, Lennon and Harrison.During his down-time Starr worked on his guitar playing; he commented: "I jump into chords that no one seems to get into. Most of the stuff I write is twelve-bar".

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