UMeRingo Starr‘s 20th solo album, What’s My Name, was released Friday.
The former Beatles drummer produced the 10-track collection at his home studio with help from various famous musicians, including Paul McCartney, Joe Walsh, Edgar Winter, Dave Stewart, Benmont Tench and current All Starr Band members Steve Lukather, Colin Hay and Warren Ham.
As previously reported, one of the most noteworthy tracks on the album is a cover the John Lennon rarity “Grow Old with Me,” which features backing vocals and bass by McCartney and a guitar solo by Walsh.
As Starr explains to Billboard, he decided to record the romantic ballad after famed producer Jack Douglas made him aware of Lennon’s 1980 demo for the track.
“I called Paul and said, ‘Hey, we’ve got this song. It’s a John song…I’m going to put it on the album. You coming in, you could play bass for me please?,'” Starr recalls. “He said, ‘Sure, I’m coming over.’ And that’s what it was.”
Ringo also notes that Douglas, who did the string arrangements for his version of the tune, added a well-known George Harrison riff to the track, so all four Beatles are represented.
Another song on What’s My Name is a new rendition of the Motown classic “Money (That’s What I Want),” which The Beatles previously covered in 1963. Starr’s version features his voice processed through a vocalizer. As Ringo explains to Billboard, “I just wanted to do it different. I thought it turned out great. I was trying to be a bit more now.”
“What’s My Name’s” title track was written by Men at Work frontman Hay and inspired by a chant that Ringo has fans call out at his All Starr Band shows. An official video for the tune premiered Friday on Starr’s official YouTube channel.
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