Ringo Starr Closes Out Rock Hall Ceremony With Paul McCartney, Green Day, Joe Walsh + Others
by Matthew Wilkening April 19, 2015 12:59 AM

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Ringo Starr celebrated becoming the fourth Beatle to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for his solo career by performing three songs with (forgive us) a little help from his friends.

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“I’m gonna start with a number I’ve done since 1960,” Starr explained before introducing fellow 2015 Hall of Fame inductees Green Day, who helped him perform the Shirelles hit “Boys,” which the Beatles covered on their Please Please Me album.

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After a lengthy delay that found Starr vamping for time by teasing Bill Withers for his long (but highly entertaining) speech earlier in the night, hugging a few fans in the front row and – whoops! – finally remembering to thank his wife of 35 years, something he forgot to do during his induction speech, Starr returned with his brother-in-law, Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh. The duo clearly had a blast tackling Starr’s 1971 solo hit “It Don’t Come Easy.”

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After another brief break, Ringo’s former bandmate Paul McCartney – and just about every other one of the dozens of music stars on hand for the big night – joined him for rousing sing-alongs on “With a Little Help From My Friends” and “I Wanna Be Your Man.”

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McCartney, Bruce Springsteen and Dave Grohl were reportedly the catalysts for Ringo’s induction into the Hall of Fame. When asked what the honor meant to him by Rolling Stone, Starr said, “It means recognition. And it means, finally, the four of us are in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame even though we were the biggest pop group in the land.”