Ringo Starr is bringing His All Starr Band to the Mann

Ringo Starr and His All Starr Band are playing the Mann Center in Fairmount Park on Tuesday, marking the former Beatles drummer’s first Philadelphia appearance since 2022.

Starr, who celebrated his 84th birthday in July with global “Peace & Love” events — reaching as far as outer space, thanks to NASA.

In the midst of a late-career burst of creative activity, Starr has released five four-song EPs of new music starting with 2021′s Zoom In. The latest, Crooked Boy, was written and produced by Linda Perry, the 4 Non Blondes singer who has penned hits for Pink and Gwen Stefani, among many others.

In Crooked Boy, Starr plays drums and sings, and is most affecting on the title song, evoking a childhood in Liverpool that included a life-threatening bout with peritonitis. “Fell into a coma then got back on my feet,” he sings. “A Teddy Boy who found his own way.”

The All Starr Band was formed in 1989, and its members have included Joe Walsh, Todd Rundgren, Dr. John, Clarence Clemons, and Nils Lofgren, among others.

The current lineup includes guitarists Steve Lukather of Toto and Colin Hay of Men at Work, and bassist Hamish Stuart of Average White Band. The show mixes Beatles songs and Starr solo material with hits from the musicians from the other bands.

This spring, the cheerful Beatle took questions submitted by journalists around the world — including one from Inquirer music critic Dan DeLuca about country music — in a Zoom news conference from Starr’s home studio in Los Angeles where he records and makes visual art. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

I work out, I watch what I eat. I’m on the road. I makes records. I keep busy. So yeah, most of the time I’m in a good space.

She was very excited to show me this song, “Crooked Boy.” It was a bit edgy for me. She’d read up on me and found out I’d been sick as a child but I made my way through it all. The only thing I changed was I put in the line about Teddy Boys, which is what we were in Liverpool. We were like gang members.

Then there’s “February Skies.” We all know what that means, it’s gray skies. But I said to her, there’s got to be something in the last verse that’s a glint of sunlight. ... No matter how dark it gets, there’s got to be a spot of sun so you can climb out of it. My songs can be ‘Oh, the world’s gone mad!’ or ‘The grass won’t grow!’ But there’s got to be a flower in the corner.

Oh, it was hard. Very, very hard. [Smiles]. No, it was great. We sent each other tracks back and forth. I’ve done about 10 CDs in this room, and Paul has been on four of them. If he’s in town, I say, ‘Bring your bass over.’ It’s better when we’re in the room. He’s an incredible bass player, and he’s an incredible guy. And he’s got a big heart.

And now I find out he’s had a camera all these years and he’s showing his photos. [”Paul McCartney Photographs: Eye of the Storm” has been touring the U.S. and is now at the Portland Art Museum]. I did a book. And it’s like all the photos are in reverse. I’d take one of him, he takes one of me. I’d take one of John, he’d take one of George.

It was really weird, because we were so close together in ‘64. Really, the only things we could take photos of were each other. But it’s always great to work with Paul. I love the man and he’s my friend.

I’ve loved country music since I was a lad. And it was great in Liverpool because it’s a port. The boys in Liverpool — and I was nearly one of them — would join the Merchant Navy to go and see the world. The lads would go to America and come back with records. It wasn’t on the radio — there was very little rock and roll on the BBC.

When we became the Beatles, we had very rarely been listening to the same things. Bill Haley was like the first biggest thing in my neighborhood, but he always felt like he was your Dad. And then you had Buddy Holly and a lot of the other lads, like Gene Vincent and Elvis, of course. They were our age. So it was great to get that feeling from them.

Well, I don’t think about it much. But AI was helpful with what we did with “Now and Then.” John is there because of AI. Peter Jackson has a mad machine. He had a cassette, and he brought John out of that cassette and gave his voice some strength. When we first heard “Now and Then” in 1996, we couldn’t tell it was John. ‘Who is it?’ So we have AI to thank for that. Though I know there’s a lot of fear it will steal your soul.

I have a passion for playing. And I am the drummer, so I need a band in front of me. The first band I had in 1989 was great because I had never done it before. I had this phone book, so I called Joe Walsh, and Dr. John and Levon [Helm] and Nils [Lofgren]. And everyone kept saying yes. So I had to close the phone book or otherwise it would have been an orchestra, the biggest rock band on the planet! Now, I still do it because I love it, and I still do it because I can.

If you want to sell T-shirts, you do the new record. … We’re doing the hits. It’s a great day out, because people get to hear the songs they love. It’d be funny if I didn’t do “With a Little Help From My Friends,” wouldn’t it? So I do it, because I know they love it. And I love it. So that’s what we do.

Ringo Starr and His All Starr Band at the Mann Center, 5201 Parkside Ave., 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 24, mnncenter.org.

An older version of the article misstated Ringo Starr’s last Philadelphia appearance. It was in 2022.