Laurie and Paul

 September 28, 1981 

A Couple of Starrs (1981)

 A Couple of Starrs

By Fred Robbins

Thursdays Woman

September 17, 1981

    Soon after the Beatles' cyclonic arrival in the United States in 1964, Ringo Starr made it clear, indeed, that he wasn't enchanted by American women. "They have too much to say here," he declared. "They boss a man around. I'll have no woman bossing me around."

     He was 24 then. He's 41 now, and he's both mellower and wiser. Now he knows that American women, like women everywhere, defy stereotyping. Ringo also knows that a guy can't stop lightning. That's the title song he wrote for his latest album, and it refers directly to the love that struck with such dazzling force when movie actress Barbara Bach, who grew up in Queens, New York, came into his life.

     On April 27, 1980, Ringo and beautiful Barbara stopped finding it fate, that is. That was the day he recalls when he told her he loved her for the first time. On April 27, 1981, they became Mr. and Mrs. Richard Starkey. They pledged their vows in London at the Marlebone Registry Office in the presence of family and friends, including ex-Beatles Paul McCartney and George Harrison. As hundreds of fans screamed outside, their wedding party at an exclusive London club was enlivened by a spontaneous jam session, bringing the three surviving Beatles together musically for the first time in a decade. Their impromptu reunion found them playing many of their great hits of the past, including, of course, "All You Need Is Love."

     Love, says Ringo, is the last thing he expected to find when he agreed to having Barbara Bach be signed as his leading lady in the comedy movie Caveman. Nor was he particularly anxious to marry again after his divorce from Maureen Cox, his hometown sweetheart in Liverpool, and the mother of his three children, the eldest of whom is 15. "I was married for 10 years before," he said, "and I had a good marriage for eight years, and then it fell apart. And you don't really know why, because it doesn't come apart in one day. You don't wake up in the morning and say 'that's it.' It takes a couple of years for it to finally drag itself out."

     For several years after his divorce, Ringo opted for a live-in relationship with actress-photographer Nancy Andrews, who was still with him when Caveman went into production in Porta Va'arta, Mexico. And just before his recent marriage, she filed a still-unsettled $7.5 million palimony suit against him.

     When Barbara Bach was first suggested as his co-star, Ringo says, "I had never seen her on the screen, not even in the James Bond movie, The Spy Who Loved Me. I kept asking, 'What does she look like?' And everyone said, 'Oh, she's a beautiful girl.' They finally showed me some photographs, and they were right."

     But Ringo was no stranger to Barbara Bach. As a teenager, the now 34-year-old beauty would have considered herself lucky just to meet or touch Ringo Starr. But the thought of someday knowing and loving him was too much to imagine. "I was one of the early Beatles fan," she told me. "When they first arrived in America. I was living on Long Island, close enough to go to Kennedy Airport, where they landed. I was right there with my Beatle wig on, in the midst of that mob, with my little sister Marjorie, screaming and yelling."

     Offered the role in Caveman, Barbara jumped at it because it was a comedy, and because at long last she'd meet Ringo. "From the beginning, I was happy to discover that Richie (her name for Ringo) is one of the warmest, kindest, most loving human beings I'd ever met. Even though I didn't fall in love with him immediately," she says. Like Ringo, the former cover girl had also experienced a 10-year marriage that ended in divorce.  Modeling and acted in Italy, starring in dreadful movies like The Humanoid and The Island of the Fish Men. Barbara married a handsome Italian businessman and became the mother of two, Francesca, 12, and Johnny, 8. 

    Love slipped up quietly on Barbara and Ringo. "I was looking for Prince Charming," the hazel-eyed Barbara admits, "but quite honestly, I never thought I would find him. I never thought I'd get married again. Secretly, though, I was waiting and hoping for Prince Charming, and he came along, but I didn't recognize it at first.

     "I'm usually attracted to people who can laugh," Barbara continues, "So I was naturally attracted to Richie. We both agree that the best thing in life is laughter and having a good time. Also, I like sensitive people, and despite his great gifts as a performer and what many people may think, Richie is basically shy, compassionate, and understanding of others. Each new thing that I learned about him made me love him more."

     Both Ringo and Barbara wear star-shaped gold pins encasing a sliver of windshield glass; the pins, which he designed, signify an event that changed their lives. After the completion of their movie, the two went together to England, where they miraculously survived a devastating automobile crash. One rainy day, when they were on an outing in Ringo's Mercedes 350 SL. A skidding truck came hurling toward them. Trying to avoid a collision, Ringo spun the wheel sharply, and the car, going into a skid, toppled three lamp posts. He was thrown clear as the car rolled over twice, finally coming to a stop on the grassy island between highways, completely demolished, with its roof caved in, trapping Barbara inside. Incredibly, they escaped injury and suffered only severe shock. 

    "The accident happened on the 21st of April last year," Ringo relates.  "It brought us even closer together than we'd been because we realized that any day we could be separated; since that day, we have not been separated. Six days after it happened, it was like I was struck by lightning. I said 'I love you,' and we began making plans to marry."

     Of the crash, Barbara says, "It went by so quickly that we only realized how tragic it could have been once we lived through it and saw the condition of the car; we admitted to one another. Then we survived this, so we are meant to survive a lot of other things too. The little windshield pins that we wear are a constant reminder that everything that's happened between us was faded."

     Both say they do not expect marriage to change anything in their relationship. "Getting married is really just saying to the world we are together, and we plan to stay together forever," said Barbara. "And by having the same name, we believe that perhaps it will make it a bit easier on the children."

     Says Ringo, "Getting married will not alter our lives in any way. While I have no guarantee, I'm planning to spend the rest of my life with Barbara. This is forever for me."

     Speaking of Barbara, Ringo waxes lyrical. "Of course, her obvious qualities attracted me first, but that's just the surface. She's a very gentle woman, very giving, very loving, and she likes to play like I do. There's a whole woman there. Inside the lady is just as much beauty as outside. That's the difference. There are a lot of good-looking women, but very few beautiful women. And the beauty, I think, comes from within the soul. I'm a romantic, and I love being in love with Barbara."

     Since their marriage, Ringo and Barbara live just like they did before in a house in the Hollywood Hills with her children, and they vacation at the villa he has in Monte Carlo; Barbara adds that she remains friendly with her ex-husband, who is frequently around. "He comes to L.A., stays at the house with us, and visits the kids," she says. 

    While he's been more active in movies than any of the other Beatles, Ringo doesn't want anyone to get the mistaken notion that he is forsaking music. "I am a musician," he says empathetically. "Though there may be long periods between albums, there will always be a new one, but what's the hurry? I've got another 40 years. The music scene is in a state of transition now," he observes. "As the Beatles, we were lucky," Ringo says. "We were able to stay together as a group longer than most. Everything seems to be going at a faster pace now, and the turnover today is frightening. You can have a group up there as number one, the biggest thing in the world, and two months later, nobody wants to know them. Somebody new has come up."

     Then Ringo talks of his musician son and smiles as he relates. "He's 15 now and already in a band, a heavy metal band. I've got records of his, and they'll wipe you out. But he's not into Beatles music at all, no way. And he has a great line.   He says,  'You know those records you made, Dad? Some of the tracks weren't bad.'"

     Even for Ringo, the Beatles are yesterday, and he realistically says "You can't live in the past." Speaking of the Beatles, inevitably brings up the subject of the tragic death of John Lennon. "Barbara and I were on holiday in the Bahamas when her daughter called and told us what had happened," he says. "The shock, of course, was just a mind blower. John was more than a good friend to me. I looked at him as a brother, like I do the other two, Paul and George, being that I was an only child. So his death just blew me away. When something like that happens, you react in one of two ways: you either go hide somewhere with your grief, or you go and visit. Our decision was to get on a plane to New York just so we could say to Yoko Ono, 'We're here if there's anything we can do,' and there really wasn't. I said to Yoko, 'I know how you feel.' She looked at me very honestly and said, 'No, you don't,' and she was right. I was close to John, but nowhere near as close as she was, they were like one soul within two people."

     Barbara admits she was unprepared for the mob scene she and Ringo encountered outside the Dakota in New York after paying their condolences to Yoko Ono. Her face clouds as she recalls it. "When we walked out of the Dakota, I was really frightened. Such a crush of people! They kept yelling, 'We love you, Ringo,' and they were all grabbing at him. And I am obviously not used to that, as Richie is. So I was yelling back, 'You're hurting him. If you love him, have some respect for the man. He's making a condolence call.'

      "Since it was not a concert or public appearance, I did think it was very disrespectful of the crowd not to leave him alone, not to let us even get to the car. All the running, pushing, shoving, and screaming was terrifying. It was sheer madness. In a crowd like that, one person can tick something off, and that is what we're always afraid of."

     And that is why Ringo never ventures out now without being accompanied by two bodyguards. "Suddenly, you're made to realize that it can be dangerous out there,"  he says. "Once it starts, it's like a forest fire. A lot of people get ideas, so until it cools off, you've got to protect yourself against that. But you must not allow yourself to become bitter. You cannot blame the whole human race for one man, you know, you can't blame New York where it happened. There were some really nice people in that town, in every town."

     Ringo readily admits he's still not fully reconciled to John Lennon's death. "I was upset and pretty low for a long time," he said. "It does get easier because we all have to carry on living, but then again, it gets brought up all the time, so it still knocks me down. Then you start remembering the good times, which is what you should do. It also helps that I strongly believe in reincarnation. It's pointless if you think there's no life after life. Why would you try to do or create anything if you thought that's the end of it? Everyone comes back as another human being. I believe I'm going to come back, and I believe that John will too."

     Ringo hopes that no one believed the widely reported story that he, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison had reunited to do a memorial album to John Lennon. "It was just a rumor," he insists. "We have no intentions. We are still close, all three of us, but we have our separate lives, even though we help each other. Paul produced three tracks on my recent album. He also wrote two tracks for me, and on one of the tracks he plays drums and I play guitar. Also on Paul's new album, I'm on two tracks playing drums by myself on one, and on another with Steve Gatt, a very good New York drummer. Meanwhile, George made a new album on his own. We're all doing our albums, you know. We're all carrying on, and we will always be friends, though we will never again be the Beatles."

Not Your Average Millionaires (1981)

The McCartney family in 1981 

 

Not Your Average Millionaires

By David Lewin

The Toronto Star

September 6, 1981

    Mr. and Mrs. Paul McCartney are a nice average couple with rather more than average achievements. They have four kids, three houses, and enough money in the bank to buy and sell your average millionaire 40 times over.

     At 39, McCartney is worth, to be precise, $40 million, and another couple of million rolls in like the sea every year.  Mr. McCartney writes songs. He is the most successful music maker in history. 100 million LPs sold. 100 million singles. Mrs. McCartney takes photographs, is a key member of her husband's group Wings, and makes cartoon films. She is also a mother, bringing up a family of young children who will inherit the vast family fortune.

     Paul and Linda McCartney are both aware of the problems that such an inheritance can bring. Their children are aged between 18 and three and a half. The youngest is a boy, James Louis. The other three are girls: Heather, 18, from Linda's first marriage; Mary, 11; and Stella, 9. The children have one bedroom, but not each, just between them in the four-room cottage on the farm in Sussex, which is their main home. 

    Paul McCartney said, "We may have to build a third bedroom now because our youngest is a boy, but we have deliberately kept them in one room because I want a close family, just as I had when I was growing up in Liverpool. I don't want a mansion where I have to telephone from the East Wing to make an appointment to see my kids in the West Wing. 

    "Of course, they are going to get a lot of money, but Linda and I are trying as much as possible to make their growing up an ordinary one. We don't have a chauffeur, and I drive my youngest kids to the local primary school. We don't send them to be privately educated, and they get 50 cents pocket money a week, just about enough to buy a packet of crisps.

     "When people come and visit us in the country, they tend to drive past our cottage the first time because they're looking for a bigger house. They think ours must belong to the gardener. The children go out visiting sometimes and come home and say,  'Daddy, our friend's parents must be rich. You should see how big a house they have got.'"

     The McCartney approach to money is typified by a recent trip they made to the south of France. They flew to Nice as tourists. Then they chartered a private jet to get back in time to have dinner with the family. "Money should make you free," said Linda McCartney. "So we don't waste it, but we use it when it is necessary."

     Linda McCartney was wearing a white jacket, a pair of faded blue jeans and yellow socks; her millions self-evidently don't go on clothes. "The jacket I got free from a film I appeared in," she said. "The socks are the most expensive item. They cost $2. The jeans cost less. They aren't designer-made."

     Paul McCartney wore a gray jacket, gray socks, and white trousers; he would be the despair of any boutique owner.

     I asked him whether having so much money blunted ambition. He thought for a moment and said, "Probably. Well, really, the answer has to be 'Yes, it does.' When we started, the Beatles used to say, 'Let's write a house,' then we'd say 'Let's write a car,' and finally it was 'Let's write a swimming pool.' But when you have got your houses and your cars and your swimming pool, there isn't much else to write. For me, music is a hobby, as the actress said to the bishop. 

    "I like it, so I'll go on doing it. If I stopped, I'd do woodwork. My goals now? Oh, happiness, the kids, stuff like that."

     Whatever happens, the royalties from his music will keep right on rolling in. "But we have no trust fund for the children," said Linda McCartney. "That would put too much pressure on them. Of course, they have expectations, but the important thing is for them to get their value structure right and not use the money as a crutch. It is difficult, but it can be done if we keep things as ordinary as possible."

     The McCartneys are different in temperament. Linda McCartney said, "We are opposites in fact. I am not intellectual. Paul is. I am the calming influence. In fact, I'm rather dull, falling asleep sometimes right after supper.  Paul stimulates me. I wait. He moves.

     "Of course, we have rows because at first, when we were married, I had an identity problem. Paul's life was the Beatles, and when they broke up, I had to make a new life for myself in England."

     Paul said, "There were moments when our marriage might not have worked. I'm not the charming Paul of my public image, and if someone knocks something I have written, which I think should be a masterpiece, I can be shattered."

     How do they resolve their fights? "In bed," said Paul. His wife hit him. Then she said, "My domain is the house. I don't mean doing the housework, but having it my way at home. Paul's domain is his work. Super stardom doesn't turn me on. Really, I'm very ordinary. I hope that doesn't hold Paul back. I want the marriage to last."

     It has for 12 years, the longest of any of the Beatles. Paul McCartney looked at his wife and said, "I can see us both growing old gracefully, but Linda won't be alone. I'll be around, and with her too."

Paul's Buddy Holly cosplay

September 7, 1981 
 

Grocery Shopping

 

August 16, 1981 

The traveling family

 August 11, 1981 -  Heathrow Airport 

Paul in the backseat

 July 15, 1981 

On the Trail of Duff Lowe (1981)

 Paul tells the story about the recording of "In Spite of All the Danger" in concert these days and mentions Duff Lowe and how he bought the record from him many years later.  Well here is when it all started, in 1981.  Back when fans only heard that there was a song with this title and the fact that the record was still around was a shock to everyone.   It is wild how the record was saved and was eventually released on Anthology 1, and now if you see Paul in concert, you are invited to sing along with them to this well-known song. 

On the Trail of Duff Lowe

No Writer Listed

Sunday Mercury

July 12, 1981

    Since the existence of the first Beatles record was revealed, the hunt has been on for the mysterious Midland stockbroker said to own the only copy. The record has been put up for sale at Sotheby's in November by a Mr. Duff Lowe, who seems to be lying very low at the moment.

     Mr. Lowe is reported to have turned down an offer of £5000 from Paul McCartney for the disc, which includes McCartney's first recorded composition, "In Spite of All the Danger." Sotheby's have predicted a sale price in five figures.

     But now Mr. Lowe is not taking calls from anybody, and I'm told he has had legal consultation over the problem of the copyright to the record. Tracking Mr. Lowe down proved difficult. Sotheby's wouldn't say where he was, nor would Paul McCartney's publicist and the stock exchange in Birmingham said they had never heard of a stockbroker called Duff Lowe. The only stockbroker Mr. Lowe in the Midlands, has been diled by calls from everyone, including ATV and BBC. He's Mr. William Lowe of Stock on Trent, and he would like me to tell you he is not the right one. 

    So where is the mysterious Mr. Lowe? I managed to find an actor called Arthur Kelly, who has the best possible qualifications for verifying the story. He was there when the record was made. 

    Arthur is best known to TV fans as Detective Sargent Chegwin, the sidekick of the hero in the Chinese Detective, and he has just finished making three episodes of Angels in Birmingham. But back in his youth, he was one of the Liverpool lads in the Beatles' early days. He went to the same school and was a great friend of George Harrison. In fact, Arthur had a chance to play with the Beatles when they were the Quarrymen, but he turned it down because he couldn't afford to buy his own bass guitar. 

    "It was hardly a recording studio where they made the record; more like a back room in an old house, like a corner sweet shop," Arthur told me. "They ran off this one single on the same sort of machine they'd have in a fairground for do-it-yourself records. It cost a couple of pounds. It got passed around, everyone in the group and their friends, and I remember having it for a week or so."

     Arthur remembered Mr. Lowe, who was there to play piano on the record. "He was in the same class as Paul. Duff was just a school nickname, and I can't even remember his first name. 

    "He was in the cathedral choir, and he seemed to be a bit posh. He could play classical music, so we used to think 'he's not really a rocker.'"

     Anyway, the record certainly does exist, and so does Mr. Lowe somewhere in the Midlands.

Bob Dylan Concert

 July 1, 1981 

Reunited or Not -- Beatles like to keep hungry fans guessing (1981)

 

Photo taken by Linda McCartney 

Reunited or Not -- Beatles Like to Keep Hungry Fans Guessing

By Kim Tyson

Austin American-Statesman

May 19, 1981

    The new Beatlemania.  It has hit the country, supported by rumors about a new Beatles record. The latest controversy to stir hardcore fans' memories is whether the Beatles have really joined again in tribute to the late John Lennon, and if the record is really by the Beatles.

    The record company says it can't even substantiate that all of them sing on it. "All Those Years Ago", a single by George Harrison, is already being played by radio stations and is expected to be available in some record stores this week.

    Whether it represents the long-awaited Beatles reunion has been left up to Beatles fans. Most of those associated with the industry deny it's anything like a reunion and focus their debate on the quality of the music.

     In Austin, Texas, both K98 and KLBJ began playing the three-minute 42-second single immediately after it was released for promotional purposes on May 7. The song is also a cut on Somewhere in England (Dark Horse Records, a subsidiary of Warner Bros). 

    Robb Stewart, program director for K98, called the record "a sentimental favorite" and said the station has received a "massive reaction" to it. He said the station has been receiving 5 to 6 requests an hour, and they play the single every 5 to 6 hours. "The Beatles have been famous for letting people say it's them ---no, it's not. The end product is making people talk about the Beatles. 

    "The Beatles like to cause a lot of talk about themselves, dead or alive. Beatlemania will be with us forever," Chuck Dunaway, program director for KLBJ, said. "The station has been playing it every 10 to 12 hours; it's the closest thing I think you'll get to a Beatles reunion record.

     "It's just a good commercial song, but there's nothing wrong with being commercial. It's gotten a great response, a super response," he said. 

    San Antonio's top 40 station, KTSA, played the single for three days that first week, then took it off the playlist to give it more time to prove itself. Station manager Lee Randall said, "We're debating whether to start it up again."

     "My judgment is the record is only being played because it's got three of the four remaining Beatles on it," said Randall, who added that his station had received a few calls for the song. "It sounds like a typical George Harrison record to me. The world was waiting for a Beatles record, and this is a George Harrison record. I think."

     The record has Harrison singing the lead and playing lead guitar. In the background are reputed to be Paul McCartney and his wife Linda on backup vocals, and Ringo Starr on drums, but a casual listener may have trouble picking out the background voices.

    " All Those Years Ago" has a soft rock beat and Harrison's sweet-sounding slide guitar. The lyrics contain references to John Lennon's songs, such as "All You Need Is Love", "Walls and Bridges", and "Imagine".

     "I'm shouting all about love, while they treated you like a dog. When you were the one who had made it so clear all those years ago,"  Harrison sings. 

    Local record stores said last week they hadn't received it, but Record Town Manager Charlie Caldwell said he anticipates a shipment today of the single. "We had several people a week come in and ask for it," he said.

     "It's really not that big of a deal," said Jack Cantor, manager of Inner Sanctum Records. He called the reaction "practically nil."

     "In no way is it a Beatles reunion cut," Cantor said, giving his opinion of its quality. "It's just another pop song. It's a good method for Warner Bros. to stir up some media hype on it," he said. He has heard from his customers. "Oh, it's okay, it's nothing like the Beatles."

     As for national reaction, the May 15 Radio and Records weekly tabloid, considered one of the most respected trade publications for radio and records, showed that the single set a new record in the tabloid's history for the first week acceptance. 87% of their 231 reporting stations across the country added it to their playlist the first week. 

    Cal Rudman, a Cherry Hill, New Jersey, publisher of a popular radio station tip sheet, Friday Morning Quarterback, predicted it to be a hit, no question. "Absolutely, it will be very big." Rudman, famous for forecasting the success of Christopher Cross, called the Beatles reunion idea overblown, but said the song's acceptance record is terrific. "It's a good George Harrison record", said Rudman, who views it as a quality sounding, quality produced song. 

    He added that he believes some of its popularity has been buoyed by rumors. "The word is, it was supposedly written for Ringo to do. I don't think it's fair for the American public to bill it as a Beatles reunion record. The point is, if you can't make out Paul McCartney's voice, if it's not featured predominantly, then what does it all mean?"

     Bob Merlis, publicity director for Warner Bros. Records, says the single was in some stores across the nation as early as Wednesday, and the Harrison LP is expected to be out by the first of June. The album Merlis says lists no studio information other than to say it was recorded entirely in England and gives no musician credits to Paul and Linda McCartney, who are believed to be singing background vocals on "All Those Years Ago." However, it does thank them for their help with the song. 

   "Ringo Starr is listed as one of four drummers on the album, but not listed for that specific song," Merlis said. "I've been trying to track this down for two weeks," Merlis said. About the publicity that the three remaining Beatles have gotten together for the song. "They may all three be on it, I just don't have any hard evidence," he said. 

Harrison and his manager won't comment.

Portrait Label Drops Ringo Starr (1981)

 

I wondered what had happened in 1981 with Ringo's "Can't Fight Lightning" record.  During his press appearances for Caveman, he was also promoting this new album and then suddenly you stopped hearing him talk about it for a while.   What happened?   This article sort of clears that up -- and the album was released under the name "Stop and Smell the Roses" later in 1981.

Portrait Label Drops Ringo Starr; Album Distribution Plan Blamed

By Christopher Connelly (Rolling Stone affiliate)

May 13, 1981 

    Ringo Starr's latest album, Can't Fight Lightning, apparently, won't be thundering into record stores for some time to come. Starr's label, Portrait Records, has dropped the former Beatle from its roster after being unable to concoct an international distribution deal for the LP, according to Portrait vice president and general manager Lenny Petze. 

     "We let him go to make him happy," Petze said. "I'm very disappointed, because I think it's a tremendous album, but without a worldwide deal, the export problem would have been tremendous. In other words, people would only have been able to buy the album in Europe from U.S. dealers who would be exporting it. That would be disastrous for Ringo. He would lose a lot of sales over there without a label. We didn't want to cause him any problems, so we decided to let him go."

     Ringo Starr's lawyer Bruce Graykal would not comment, but a close associate of Ringo's, Peter Silbermann, disputes that assertion. "To my knowledge, that's absolutely not true," says Silbermann, who declined to say precisely what it was in Petze's account that he considered inaccurate. "It's such a sticky thing. I just can't go into it at this time."

     It would seem that the album's worldwide distribution could have been handled by CBS International, with which Portrait is affiliated, but Petze says that it wasn't. "They weren't interested at this time", says CBS International spokesman Julian Shapiro. "If he was offered here and we didn't sign him, it's got to be the same reason we don't sign anybody. It's a cost versus the expectation of sales basis." Indeed, whatever his personality, Starr's records have not sold especially well in the past. (With the exceptions of two gold albums, Ringo and Goodnight Vienna).

     Meanwhile, Ringo took a break from his busy schedule late last month to tie the knot with his longtime girlfriend, American actress Barbara Bach. The ceremony was performed on April 27 in London's Marylebone registry office, with hundreds of fans gathered outside hoping to catch a glimpse of the couple.

Honeymoon to the Tonight Show

 May 6, 1981

Just married and still promoting their movie 

Shock as Denny Quits Wings (1981)

 

I often forget that Denny Laine officially quit Wings in 1981.  I find it a bit humorous that the reason Denny gives sounds like something Paul himself said to The Beatles.  I don't think John's murder is the reason why Wings stopped touring, although it didn't make Paul and Linda want to jump back on the road  If you look at what Linda was saying after the Wings Over America tour, she wanted to slow down and do concerts -- then Japan happened, and that was the end of touring for Wings. Plus, why wasn't Tug of War recorded as a Wings album if Wings were still together?  Sure, Denny was on a few tracks on that, but it was never a Wings album.   Anyhow -- Denny is seen in this photo sitting on top of his car because the same week he quit Wings, he was charged with drunk driving and was banned from being behind the wheel for 3 years.  He was quoted as saying he was having a "bad week."  

Shock as Denny Quits Wings

No Writer Listed

Daily Star

April 29, 1981 

     Rock Star, Denny Laine, has quit Paul McCartney's top band, Wings. The breakup has happened because McCartney refused to go on tour, particularly since the murder of fellow ex-Beatle John Lennon.

     But it does not mark the end of Wings. Spokesman Tony Brainsby said, "Wings are Paul and Linda McCartney."

     Since Lennon's death, McCartney has increased protection around his family, but singer- guitarist Laine enjoys concerts in public life and plans to go on solo tours. His manager, Brian Adams, said there is no row. "Denny likes to tour, and Paul has decided not to make any tour plans."

     Laine said, "It became obvious that Wings would not be touring again, which is the whole purpose of being in the business, as far as I am concerned. After 10 years, it was a difficult decision to make, but after doing some solo work last year, I enjoyed it so much that I decided to leave Wings."

    He added, "I had been rehearsing solidly with Phil Curtis on bass guitar and John Hollywood on drums." The trio will record an album in June for release in the autumn. Then they will go on tour.

     McCartney, who is working on a new album and a Rupert Bear cartoon, said last night, "I wish Denny all the luck in the world."

Family Wedding

 

April 27, 1981 

Happy 45th wedding Anniversary to Ringo and Barbara!

 April 27, 1981

Fabulous - Beatles in Wedding Day Reunion

By John Crossland

Liverpool Daily Post

April 28, 1981 

    Ringo Starr yesterday celebrated his marriage to actress Barbara Bach with a little help from his friends Paul McCartney and George Harrison.

    The three surviving ex-Beatles appeared together publicly for the first time since John Lennon's death for the ceremony at London's Marylebone registered office. Fans gathered for up to five hours, and there were screams when McCartney arrived with his wife, Linda. A mustached Harrison and his wife slipped into the building almost unnoticed. 

    Ringo, 40, and Miss Bach, 34, had arrived in a maroon taxi. Ringo was dressed all in black with dark glasses, and Miss Bach was wearing a full-length cream dress decorated with roses. The wedding party included best man, Roger Shine, a friend of Ringo's, who was inside for about an hour.

     As they left, scuffling broke out among fans being held back by a police cordon. A man was knocked unconscious when he hit the pavement and was taken to hospital.

     Ringo said the honeymoon would be "somewhere in England." He said he felt "fabulous". McCartney said it "was great to be back" with his former colleagues. 

    Ringo and his new bride left again in a taxi for a reception at the Mayfair club, Rags. The wedding party had included only relatives and close friends.

     Ringo and Miss Bach, a former Playboy magazine pinup who starred in the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me, have lived together for more than a year. They met on the set of the film Caveman, which is set to be released later this year. 

    Miss Bach has two children by her marriage to an Italian businessman, and Ringo has three: Zak, 15, Jason, 13, and Lee, 10, by his marriage to childhood sweetheart, Maureen Cox.

Oh! Oh! Heaven! Ringo Weds Bond Bird Babs

By Mick Seamark

Daily Star

April 28, 1981

    Ex-Beatle Ringo Starr, wed  007 girl, Barbara Bach, yesterday, with a little help from his friends. Fans young and old, lined the pavement for the 10 Minute ceremony at St. Marylebone register office in London. They were joined by George Harrison and Paul McCartney, his wife Linda, and their children. And shortly afterward, Ringo's mother, Elsie, and stepfather, Harry Graves, rolled up to be followed by Ringo's and Barbara's five children from their first marriages.

     As Ringo made his way through the crowd with his new bride, he beamed and said, "I feel fabulous. How would you feel?" One of the witnesses, Roger Shine, said, "It was a lovely occasion, with Ringo and Barbara surrounded by family and friends."

     The only sadness was the absence of the fourth Beatle, John Lennon, who was murdered in New York. Barbara, a former Playboy pinup and the James Bond girl in the film The Spy Who Loved Me, met Ringo on the set of another movie.

     For two years, they have shared a 12-room house in Hollywood. The couple was involved in a bad car crash in South London last year, and Ringo said later that this had persuaded them that they should marry. 

    Barbara applied for the marriage certificate last Friday and gave her real name as Goldback. Ringo's real name is Richard Starkey, and he gave his occupation as "musician".

     The brief ceremony was delayed half an hour as Linda McCartney and showbiz photographer Terry O'Neil took snaps.

     Afterward, the couple jumped into a cab to head for a private reception at a London nightclub. 

    They have two more days in London before jetting back to Los Angeles, where Ringo faces a lawsuit. His former girlfriend, model Nancy Andrews, who lived with him for five years, is suing him for two and a half million pounds.

The day before the big day

 April 26, 1981 -- Ringo and Barb's family all gather together at Tittenhurst the day before their wedding.  

Ringo Starr Doubly Sells Self to Actress (1981)

 

Ringo Starr Doubly Sells Self to Actress

By Robert Hilburn

LA Times - Washington Post

April 19, 1981

    The Hollywood actress Barbara Bach's dismay was understandable when she learned that Ringo Starr would be her co-star in the film comedy Caveman. Like most screen beauties, Bach considered herself restricted by her sex symbol image. She hoped a key role in a hit comedy would change that.

     Bach had high hopes for Up the Academy, the comedy she did a while back with director Robert Downey, but the film was far from a smash, so the actress, best known as James Bond's sexy colleague in  The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), next turned to Caveman.

     She liked the idea of a prehistoric comedy where the characters had to act out their intentions, aided only by a 15-word language. Besides, producers Lawrence Turman and David Foster promised they would sign a major comedy actor to play her leading man.

     "I was thinking of someone along the lines of Dudley Moore,"  Bach said, sitting in the huge den of a rented Beverly Hills home. "It was a real demanding part, because the actor would have to use so much pantomime. When they phoned and said they had signed Ringo Starr, I thought, 'Oh, boy. What have I got myself into?' It sounded to me like we were in trouble."

     Bach blushed as she told the story because she was seated next to Starr, the bearded ex-Beatle who was now her fiancé. She added quickly that she only knew Ringo by his image when filming began last year on Caveman, and that he soon demonstrated on the set that he was a "real professional."

     Starr smiled. He is used to having people misjudge him. 17 years after "I Want to Hold Your Hand", he is still known as the happy-go-lucky clown.

     About his image, he said, "I've had to deal with it for so long, and I had to either try to understand it or go around depressed because it was always being hurled in my face. I've come to accept the fact that people don't turn loose of the first image you give them. They don't realize that a person changes. To millions of people, I'll always be remembered as the dummy. It's the same reason Paul will always be the charming one, and John was known for his rapier wit, and George was the mystic. 

    "That's why I'm excited about this movie. In the past, I've been guilty of letting people use me for marquee value, and there were scenes in the films you let go because you wanted to get home or whatever, but there's nothing in this film that I'm ashamed of. I'm hoping people will now realize this dummy can also act."

     Each of the Beatles has spoken about the difficult adjustment after the breakup of the most spectacularly successful pop group in history, but Starr faced the stiffest career challenge because he was neither a songwriter nor an experienced vocalist. He had little potential as a record maker. "I sat in the garden at home for a year after the split because it was hard for me to get started on my own," Starr said. "The others had something to fall back on, but I was starting from scratch. I didn't know what to do."

     He eventually recorded an album of pop standards and a country album, but neither sold well. His fortune changed in 1971 when he had a top 10 single with "It Don't Come Easy." Then came Ringo, an album with producer Richard Perry that went to number one. Star's LP sales dipped after the mid-70s, but he demonstrated he could hold his own when given viable material.

     The drummer's film career moved up and down through such movies as Candy, The Magic Christian, and a spaghetti western called Blind Man. Things picked up in 1974 when he landed a small but meaty part in That'll Be the Day, a stark, unsentimental look at a young would-be musician (played by David Essex) in pre-Beatles England. A hit in Britain, the film was a flop commercially in the United States, except with critics, a few of whom suggested that Starr deserved an Oscar nomination for his supporting role. 

    "That was a real important step for me," Starr said, speaking with the ease that always caused interviewers to describe him as the most affable Beatle. "It gave me the most scope. I had a chance to go from one attitude to another. It also gave me confidence." Despite a vow to be more careful about future roles, Star ended up with novelty bits in two films, Litztomania and Sextett, that he never even bothered to see. 

    Caveman was by far his biggest challenge. "What attracted me was the fact there were only 15 words in it," he explained.  "That meant I'd have a lot of opportunity to use mime. I think I'm better at that than going through 25 pages of dialogue. Also, I like the story. I'm this sort of weak thing at the start of the film, and I end up as the hero. It's sort of brain winning out over brawn."

     Besides Bach, Starr is joined in the United Artists release by Dennis Quaid, Shelley Long, Avery Schreiber, and six-foot-eight Oakland Raiders football star John Matuszak. 

    Was it love at first sight? "Oh, no," Starr shrugged. "Everyone in the cast would go out to dinner and spend time together, but nothing went on. It wasn't until just before we left Mexico that Barbara and I really said 'hello', but we've been together ever since."

Mourning John Lennon and Making Movies (1981)

 

Mourning John Lennon and Making Movies

By Bernard Drew

Gannett News Service

April 17, 1981

    When I asked for "Ringo Starr" at the desk at the Plaza Hotel, they said there was no such person registered. Luckily, his manager's name was listed, and he responded to my phone call by coming downstairs and escorting me up to a large suite where a security officer sat in front of the door. The suite was registered under "Richard Starkey", Ringo Starr's real name. The security precautions were begun after John Lennon's brutal murder in December. 

    Ringo came in to greet me. He has changed a great deal since he was the sassy, fun loving drummer of the pop quartet. Aside from the two memorable movies, the Beatles made A Hard Day's Night in 1964 and Help! a year later. Ringo went on to appear on his own and starred in The Magic Christian, That'll Be the Day, and the prehistoric comedy Caveman, which he co-starred with Barbara Bach.

     He and Bach have been living together since the film was made and have plans to marry. With a mustache, Ringle looks more handsome than he used to be and a lot more serious. He wears one beautiful earring.

     Over lunch, I asked him about his early movies and mentioned that Richard  Lester, who directed those first two Beatles movies, never again achieved the zest and fun he had in the beginning. "Well, Dick was excited too." Then Ringo explained, "Like us, he was fresh and new. In those days, we were just having a good time, having fun with everything. We were like four excited little boys. 

    "There was no undercurrent of seriousness. We had all come from Liverpool, where, despite our success, feelings there and in London were more restrained. Then we came to New York, and the media's carrying on was mind boggling. That's what caused the crowd screaming everywhere. It was almost, but not really, too much. 

    "We'd take an entire floor of a hotel we stayed at and had a different channel on the telly in each suite, and would run from one room to the other. We were together for eight years. I joined the other three in 1962, and we toured for the next four years. Then, by 1966, we decided to make some serious music. So we stopped touring and worked solely in the recording studios, and then it started falling apart. The four of us had been dedicated to one image, the Beatles, but we were getting older, channeling our own individual songs, Paul's songs, John's songs, George's songs; we weren't on the same track anymore. We were turning 30, so that by 1970, it was all over, and we went our separate ways."

     Ringo remained in England until 1975, making a few albums and playing roles in occasional films. He maintains residences in Monte Carlo and Los Angeles. Part of the year, he returns to England and visits his children, who live with their mother. 

    Barbara joined us, looking weary and sipping chicken soup, as she was suffering from the flu. "Barbara and I live mostly in Los Angeles now," Ringo stated, "with her two children from her former marriage to an Italian industrialist.

     "After 1975, I did an album a year and a couple of TV specials. Then for two years, I just took off," Ringo recalled. "I didn't want to work. I'd lost my direction and did nothing until Caveman came along."

     All this early success can present problems later on. Is that what happened to John Lennon, too? "Yes, I'm sure of it," Ringo said soberly. "What can I say about John? It was a terrible shock, and we miss him and think about him all the time. I lost a good friend, and the world lost a great artist. John had stopped working because he got tired of it. You reach a point when you don't want to do what you're doing just to do it. I know I had, and John wanted to raise Sean because he missed his older son, who was in England with his mother, and he just wanted the experience of raising a child.

     "I  still can't understand what happened and why," Ringo muttered about John's death. "You can understand a political assassination, bad as it is, but a rock and roll assassination is beyond me. There was no great motive behind it. It was all so dumb and meaningless. A guy came in and went, boom-boom. It makes no sense."

Island Days

 

Paul Can Still Stop Traffic (1981)

 Paul Can Still Stop Traffic

No writer listed

The London Evening Standard

April 9, 1981

    Nearly 20 years on from the Beatles' first hit record, Paul McCartney still manages to stop the traffic and send the audience into paroxysms of screaming when his new film Rock Show was unveiled before Lord Snowden and a host of celebrities at the Dominion Theater, Tottenham Court Road, last night.

     The movie is simply a collection of concert footage film during Wings tour of America five years ago and hung around a show played by the band before a recording 67,000 people at a hall in Seattle.

     Despite a lack of consistency in recent Wings albums, the film confirms yet again that Wings is one of the most exciting rock bands in the world, and it verifies McCartney's status, along with Mick Jagger and Pete Townsend, as one of the last of the '60s rock legends still functioning. 

    The film might have been even more exciting with a little backstage action, but it would appear to have been shot with the home video market eventually in mind, and as such, it must be destined eventually to become a number one video cassette best seller. Certainly, it catches one of the great bands of the 70s at their peak.