CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Ask Ringo Starr about his decadeslong love affair with Ludwig drums. Go ahead; we did. You’re guaranteed to smile.
What’s more, the Beatles drummer also gave two thumbs up (and playfully stuck out his tongue) when The Charlotte Observer asked about his instruments made in North Carolina — and nowhere else — for 40 years now.
So may we introduce to you the Beatle we’ve pursued for all these years, as he finally tells the Observer exactly what those drums mean to him.
Starr, now 84, also took questions from other U.S. and international reporters during a 50-minute Zoom press conference earlier this year from his home studio in L.A. The occasion was the kick off of his latest All-Starr Band tour and on the heels of his new album, “Crooked Boy.”
A relaxed, joking Starr was dressed all in black, with a small chain and silver peace sign pendant around his neck.
Come together
Back in 2015, the Observer profiled Ludwig’s operations at its Monroe plant and has been seeking an interview with Starr ever since. We had to know why he sought these particular drums, out of all the drums out there.
Ludwig, which is owned by Conn Selmer, employs about 70 people in Monroe. The manufacturing plant last handled a custom job for Starr in 2019, according to the company.
So just what do Ludwig’s drums mean to him? We’ll let the man himself tell it.
One fateful day in April 1963, Starr and Beatles manager Brian Epstein were strolling down a London street when a music store display caught Starr’s eye.
“I went in and said, ‘Oh man, I want those drums.’ And the guy said, ‘Are you in a band, lad?’
“Yeah, we’re in a band.”
Starr wanted the Ludwig drum kit. “We were all into (anything) American” at the time, he recalled.
The Drum City Ltd. salesman went to rip off the Ludwig logo on the drum front when Starr stopped him. “Leave it on,” Starr said. “It’s American, you know. It was just the kit for me.”
Eight days a week
Those drums also meant something to Ludwig, especially after 73 million people tuned in to “The Ed Sullivan Show” on Feb. 9, 1964, and saw the Beatles in America with Starr on his Ludwig Downbeat oyster black pearl drum kit.
Drum production ballooned from an eight-hour day, five days a week, to 24 hours a day, six day a week. Back then, Ludwig was still based in Chicago. Company leaders were grateful. Very, very grateful.
When the Beatles flew to Chicago in September 1964, Ludwig leaders presented their favorite drummer with a gold-plated Super Sensitive snare drum as thanks for choosing their brand.
“I met Mr. Ludwig, Mr. Ludwig and Mr. Ludwig, who was their granddad, the son and his son. I met all the boys,” Starr told the Observer.
“I do have several kits now, but the first kit, we played all the time,” he added. “They’re (a) great sound for me.”
Starr also had plans with his drums so he wouldn’t be overshadowed by the other lads during their live shows.
“Usually the drum was on the floor, and you’d have to look around one of the frontmen to see me,” he said. “So I thought — not that I invented it — but I demanded a rostrum to put me up a bit, so I’d be more part of it.”
Love me do
When the Observer visited the Ludwig shop nine years ago, employees spoke of the palpable excitement they felt whenever a special order comes in for Starr.
The feeling, most assuredly, remains mutual.
“Mainly, my heart swells when I look at my (drum) kit, you know, and I still love them,” Starr said. “I’m still using them all these years later. From ‘63, say, we started. And they’re still the drums for me…
“They’ve never let me down.”
