Ringo Starr

Ringo Starr learned to play drums in a hospital. As a child in the Dingle, a working-class district of Liverpool, he was seriously ill twice: at six he developed peritonitis after a burst appendix and spent months in the hospital, and at thirteen he contracted tuberculosis and spent nearly two years in a sanatorium. There, a music teacher brought instruments to the children's ward, and Richard Starkey started banging a drum. He has said that was the moment he knew what he wanted to do.

He was born on July 7, 1940, in Liverpool, five minutes after midnight, a time he has given himself. His Sun is in Cancer and sits in the fourth house, tied to his roots. Cancer is warm, loyal and attached to home, and the fourth house describes someone whose identity is grounded in where they come from. Ringo has always been the most down-to-earth of the Beatles, proud of his Liverpool roots and devoted to family.

His Moon, Mercury, Mars and Pluto are all in Leo, in his fifth house of performance, fun and creative play. Leo loves an audience, and the fifth house is the house of joy and entertainment. That cluster describes someone who delights in performing and in making people happy, and Ringo's good humor, his deadpan jokes in the Beatles' films and his warmth on stage made him one of the band's most beloved members.

Jupiter and Saturn, both in Taurus, sit in his first house. Taurus is steady, patient and rhythmic, and Saturn adds discipline and consistency. Ringo's drumming was admired by other musicians not for flashy solos but for feel, steadiness and inventive fills that served the song. Pisces is his rising sign, adding gentleness and sensitivity.

Neptune in Virgo falls in his sixth house of health, a placement that can describe illness and vulnerability, and his childhood health problems kept him out of school for long periods.

He played with Rory Storm and the Hurricanes before joining the Beatles in August 1962, replacing Pete Best. He sang "Yellow Submarine" and "With a Little Help from My Friends," and wrote "Don't Pass Me By" and "Octopus's Garden." After the Beatles broke up, he had solo hits including "It Don't Come Easy" and "Photograph," narrated the children's series Thomas the Tank Engine and, from 1989, toured with his All-Starr Band.

Venus, retrograde in the last degree of Gemini, falls in his fourth house. He married Barbara Bach in 1981, and he was knighted in 2018. His message to fans has long been simple: peace and love. The Cancer Sun kept him rooted; the Leo planets in his fifth house made him a joy to watch.