“In My Head, I’m 27”: Ringo Starr Marks His 83rd Birthday by Beaming His Message of Peace and Love Into Space

To say Ringo Starr is at peace with his age is a bit of an understatement.

The former Beatle is not only literally throwing up a couple of peace signs for his 83rd birthday celebration on Friday (as is the tradition every year), he’s embracing his age with youthful exuberance.

“Nothing makes me feel old. In my head, I’m 27,” Starr told People ahead of the celebration. “Wisdom’s a heavy word. [Getting older] is what happens, and you try and keep yourself busy.”

The legendary musician will mark the day with his Peace & Love celebration, an annual party and concert that will see Starr, attendees and fans around the world throw up the international sign for peace at noon.

This year, however, Starr is taking his message of love and peace to the cosmos with the help of NASA, who will broadcast a pre-recorded message from the musician into the universe. The concert portion of the event will include tribute performances from  Silversun Pickups, Blake Mills and King Tuff.

Starr says the peace hour tradition began in 2003, when he was asked what he’d like fans to get him for his birthday.

“Really without thinking, I said, ‘I would like them all to go, ‘Peace and love,’ at noon on my birthday, 7/7, seventh day of the seventh month,” he said. “That’s how it started. We’ve been doing it now for so many years. And now I’ve upped it a bit because I say, ‘You can say peace and love or you can just think peace and love.’ So any way, you’re winning.”

 

 

Back on Earth, meanwhile, the former Beatle may have prevented the first war waged on AI. After Paul McCartney revealed that the Beatles were to release one final record featuring an AI assisted extrication of the late John Lennon’s voice, devoted fans of the Fab Four wrongly assumed that they had used the technology to recreate Lennon’s voice entirely.

In a podcast with Rolling Stone, Starr assured the impassioned fan base that they would never dream of faking the late Beatles legend’s voice.

“This was beautiful,” he said of the new song, which is set for release later this year and also features vocals from the late George Harrison. “It’s the final track you’ll ever hear with the four lads. And that’s a fact.”

McCartney also addressed the confusion in a Twitter post, promising that nothing had been “artificially or synthetically created.”

“It’s all real and we all play on it,” he wrote. “We cleaned up some existing recordings — a process which has gone on for years. We hope you love it as much as we do. More news in due course.”

The new track is just one of many musical endeavours that have kept Starr busy. In addition to pumping out a steady stream of new music and touring with his All Starr Band, he recently teamed up with Paul McCartney, Peter Frampton and Mick Fleetwood on a cover of “Let It Be” for Dolly Parton’s new album Rockstar.

Starr says he often collaborates with his friends in the industry.

“I play the drums and then we put them on the track, and we send it back,” he told People. “This was what we did to Dolly’s [song]. Use me or lose me!”

Meanwhile, the extraordinary fact that he and McCartney are still riding the high of Beatlemania nearly 50 years after the band’s split isn’t lost on Starr.

“We’re blessed, as the Beatles, because each generation has a listen to us. They see, ‘What does that mean to those guys?’ So we’re still selling records, can you believe it?” He said. “And we’re still remastering them, and we’re still putting them in different orders and putting out outtakes. Life is good.”

RELATED: 

“Last” Beatles Record to Be Released This Year Thanks to AI, Paul McCartney Says

The Rolling Stones Reportedly Tap Former Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr to Play on New Album

With a Little Help From Their Friends: What the Beatles Can Teach Us About Collaborative Creativity