Richard Starkey MBE (born 7 July 1940), better known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is an English musician, singer, songwriter and actor who achieved worldwide fame as the drummer of The Beatles. When the group formed in 1960, Starr was a member of another Liverpool group, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. He became the drummer of The Beatles in August 1962, taking the place of Pete Best. Besides his contribution as a drummer, Starr sang lead vocals on a number of successful Beatles songs (in particular "With a Little Help from My Friends", "Yellow Submarine" and The Beatles' version of "Act Naturally"), co-wrote the song "What Goes On" and was the main writer of "Don't Pass Me By" and "Octopus's Garden".

As the drummer of The Beatles, Starr was musically creative, and his contribution to the group's music has received high praise from well-known drummers in recent times. Starr described himself as "your basic drummer with unusual fills", technically limited by being left-handed playing on a right-handed kit. Drummer Steve Smith said that Starr's popularity "gave rise to a new paradigm", where "we began to see the drummer as an equal participant in the compositional aspect", and that Starr "composed unique, stylistic drum parts for Beatles songs". In 2011 Starr was voted the fifth greatest drummer of all time by Rolling Stone readers, after drummers such as John Bonham, Keith Moon and Neil Peart.

Starr is the most documented and critically acclaimed actor-Beatle, playing a central role in several Beatles films and appearing in many other films, both during and after his career with The Beatles. After the break-up of The Beatles in 1970, Starr achieved solo musical success with several singles and albums and recorded with each of his former fellow Beatles as they also developed their post-Beatles musical careers. He has also been featured in a number of television documentaries, hosted a television show and voiced the first two seasons of the children's television series Thomas and Friends. He currently tours with the All-Starr Band.