Zak Starkey

Zak Starkey
Starkey on stage with Oasis at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California, on September 11, 2005
Background information
Birth name	Zak Starkey
Born	13 September 1965 (1965-09-13) (age 44) Hammersmith, London, England
Genres	Hard rock, Alternative rock, Britpop, Post-punk, Pop rock, Art rock
Occupations	Musician
Instruments	Drums, Percussion
Years active	1980–present
Associated acts	Oasis, The Who, The Icicle Works, The Waterboys, ASAP, The Lightning Seeds, Face, Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band, Johnny Marr and the Healers, The Semantics

Zak Starkey, (born 13 September 1965) is an English drummer, well-known as the first child of The Beatles drummer Ringo Starr (Richard Starkey) and his first wife Maureen Cox. Starkey is mostly noted for his unofficial membership in The Who, since 1994. Starkey is the fourth drummer for the rock band The Who, playing with them live and occasionally in the studio. He is also known as being the third drummer of English rock band Oasis until summer 2008. Starkey has also worked on session and touring basis with artists including: Johnny Marr, Paul Weller, The Icicle Works, the Waterboys, ASAP and the Lightning Seeds.

Early and personal life

Zak Starkey was born on 13 September 1965 at Queen Charlotte's Maternity Hospital in London. His parents divorced on 17 July 1975, when he was 9. Ringo Starr afterward married Barbara Bach and Starkey's mother married Hard Rock Café founder Isaac Tigrett. Starkey's mother, Maureen Cox, died of leukemia in 1994, despite a bone marrow transplant for which Starkey was the donor. Starkey married Sarah Menikides in a secret register office wedding on 22 January 1985, since divorced. His parents were not told of it until after the event, but shortly afterward Ringo Starr provided a small celebration party at Tittenhurst Park. On 7 September, 1985, a week before his 20th birthday, his daughter Tatia Jayne was born, making his father the first grandfather Beatle.

Career

Early years (1977–1980)

At the age of eight, Starkey became interested in music. At ten, he started teaching himself how to play drums after receiving one lesson from his father, who reportedly did not want him following in his footsteps. Although Ringo praises his son's abilities, he said that he "always regarded Zak as a lawyer or as a doctor", not a drummer like himself.

Starkey received his first professional drum kit from his idol, childhood friend, and Godfather The Who's Keith Moon. The kit later sold at Sotheby's auction house for £12,000.^[1]

By the age of 12, Starkey was already performing in pubs with a band. In his teens, Starkey was a member of a garage act, the Next.

The Who (1994–present)

Although Starkey had previously worked with John Entwistle in Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band tours and on Entwistle's album The Rock, he received his first opportunity to work with The Who in 1994, with Roger Daltrey in his Daltrey Sings Townshend tour. This tour developed from a two night performance at Carnegie Hall to celebrate Daltrey's fiftieth birthday, when he afterward recruited John Entwistle, Simon Townshend and Zak Starkey to complete a US tour. In 1996, Starkey left his band Face, to work with The Who on their Quadrophenia tour. He received very good reviews in this role for being a strong drumming presence but without explicitly imitating original drummer Keith Moon. Starkey was the full-time drummer for The Who beginning with their 1996 Quadrophenia Tour. Both Townshend and Daltrey stated that he is the best drummer The Who had since the death of Moon. He provided drumming for one track on The Who's 2006 album Endless Wire, and for two new tracks released in 2004 on The Who: Then and Now. However, he was unable to provide the drumming for the EP Wire & Glass or the album Endless Wire because he was on tour with Oasis at the time Townshend recorded the songs. Starkey worked with The Who on The Who Tour 2006–2007, which was to finish in Glastonbury in 2007. It finished at Hartwall Areena in Helsinki, Finland on 9 July.

Starkey on stage with The Who in 2007.

According to Pete Townshend's official web site, Starkey was invited to become a full member of The Who, but he declined. Also the tour was supposed to continue until November and December. However, Starkey wanted to continue his work in Oasis, so declined a spot in the band and the touring plans had to be postponed.

On 12 July 2008, Starkey played live with The Who at the 3rd annual VH1 Rock Honors, celebrating the band's long career.

Oasis (2004–2008)

In 2004, Starkey joined the Britpop band Oasis, following longtime drummer Alan White's departure. In May 2005, Noel Gallagher revealed to the BBC that Starkey had recorded in the recording sessions (March–December 2004) for their new album, Don't Believe the Truth. Starkey recorded all but one track of the sessions called "Mucky Fingers", which was completed before his arrival with Proud Mary drummer Terence Kirkbride. In an official promotional video for the album, Starkey commented on the band and the sessions, saying, "It was amazing. They're all singers, They're all guitar players, they're all songwriters, they're all producers... and they're all fucking drummers."

Starkey on stage with Oasis in 2005

Starkey participated in every show on Oasis' 2005/2006 world tour and also appeared in the promo videos for the singles. However, as he was not an official member of the band, he rarely appeared with the rest of the band in promotional activities such as interviews and photo shoots. After the end of tours in April, Noel Gallagher confirmed that Starkey was invited to be Oasis' official drummer, but that couldn't materialize before his current working engagements with The Who were completed in mid-2007. On 14 February, Starkey sat behind the drums when Oasis received the BRIT Award for Outstanding contribution to music. The band played a set consisting of "Cigarettes & Alcohol", "The Meaning of Soul", "Morning Glory", "Don't Look Back in Anger" and "Rock 'n' Roll Star". His participation in the making of the band's seventh album was confirmed on 11 December 2007 when the official Oasis website published a picture of him in the studio with the other members.^[3]

In March 2007 the band decided to pay their previous drummer Alan White around ₤350,000 in order to buy him out of their company Definitely Maybe — probably a move to free a place for Zak Starkey in the band and their company.

However, it was announced that Starkey would not perform on the Dig Out Your Soul tour with the band due to personal problems. Gallagher later confirmed this and announced that Robbie Williams' drummer, Chris Sharrock, has taken his position in the band. Starkey and Sharrock have an extremely similar history, very often taking over from each other; Sharrock was Starkey's predecessor as the drummer for the Lightning Seeds.

Other work (1980–present)

In the early 80s Starkey landed work with a re-formed Spencer Davis Group.

In 1985, shortly after getting married, Starkey released a musical version of Wind in the Willows with Eddie Hardin.

In 1985, both he and his father Ringo Starr played drums on the recording Sun City by Artists United Against Apartheid.

In 1988, Starkey replaced Chris Sharrock as the drummer in The Icicle Works. He left the band in 1989, and did not appear on any Icicle Works recordings, although a B-side later issued by Icicle Works leader Ian McNabb featured Starkey on drums, and is presumed to actually date from Starkey's tenure with the group.

Starkey played on Silver and Gold a solo album released by Iron Maiden guitarist Adrian Smith in 1989.

In 2000 Starkey was a founding member of Johnny Marr & The Healers, debuting with Boomslang three years later. There were rumours about a second album and short tour in 2004 and 2005, which were dashed when Starkey joined Oasis.

In 2007, Starkey was drummer on the Paul Weller single "This Old Town" along with Blur guitarist Graham Coxon and Mani on bass.

In 2008- 2009, Starkey drummed for "The Who" On their Australian and New Zealand tour.

Equipment

14" Zildjian A Mastersound Hi-Hats

22" Zildjian K Crash Ride(x2)

22" Zildjian K Ride

Zak Starkey Artist Series Drumsticks(Zildjian)

External links

Notes

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