Zak Starkey | |
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 Starkey performing withthe Who in 2008 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | Zak Richard Starkey (1965-09-13)13 September 1965 (age 60) Hammersmith,London, England |
| Genres | |
| Occupations | Musician |
| Instruments |
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| Years active | 1980s–present |
| Labels | |
| Formerly of | |
Spouses | |
Zak Richard Starkey (born 13 September 1965) is an English rock drummer who toured and recorded withthe Who from 1996 to 2025. Other musicians and bands he has worked with includeOasis,Johnny Marr,the Icicle Works,the Lightning Seeds, andthe Semantics. He is the son ofthe Beatles' drummerRingo Starr andMaureen Starkey.
Zak Richard Starkey was born on 13 September 1965, atQueen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital inHammersmith, London, tothe Beatles' drummerRingo Starr (Richard Starkey) andMaureen Starkey, Starr's first wife.[1] He grew up at Sunny Heights atSt George's Hill in Surrey andTittenhurst Park atSunninghill, Berkshire, and attendedHighgate School in London until 1981.[2]
At the age of eight, Starkey was given a drum kit bythe Who's drummer,Keith Moon. Moon (known to young Zak as "Uncle Keith") was one of his father's closest friends and Starkey's godfather. Although they never sat together at a drum kit, Moon discussed drumming with him as a boy. The drum kit was later sold atSotheby's for £12,000.[3]
Starkey subsequently began teaching himself to play the drums. His father gave him only one lesson, but he discouraged his growing interest because of the desire not to see him in the same business.[4] Although Starr has praised his son's abilities, he had always regarded him as a future lawyer or doctor. Starr's close friend,Kenney Jones, drummer forFaces and Moon's replacement in the Who, stated that he "virtually taught" the young Starkey to play the drums.[5] By the age of twelve, Starkey was performing in pubs as a member of thegarage band the Next.[4] After Moon's death, Jones gifted the teenage Starkey a white drum kit formerly owned by Moon, which had been kept in storage by the Who.[5]
In the early 1980s, Starkey appeared with a re-formedSpencer Davis Group.[4] He briefly joinedthe Semantics, replacing founding drummer Jody Spence, during the recording process for their albumPowerbill, which ended up being released only in Japan in 1996 (after the group had disbanded). He joined the band when they moved from Nashville to Los Angeles and played in some shows and some recording sessions, but the band broke up less than a year after he joined.
In 1985, Starkey played on John Entwistle's solo albumThe Rock (released in 1996). Starkey replacedChris Sharrock as the drummer inthe Icicle Works[4] in 1988, leaving the band after a brief tenure and appearing on only one recording. Founder memberIan McNabb issued aB-side after Starkey's departure from the band. The song features Starkey on drums and, as it includes band personnel from the time, is presumed to date from his tenure with the group. Starkey also plays on the 1989 albumSilver and Gold, a solo work released byIron Maiden guitaristAdrian Smith.[6]
In 1985, Starkey joined his father onSun City byArtists United Against Apartheid, and during 1992 and 1995, he toured withRingo Starr and His All-Starr Band, having previously guested on the band's 1989 tour. Starkey performed at Ringo Starr's 70th birthday party on 7 July 2010 atRadio City Music Hall in New York City. He joined his father and guest starsYoko Ono,Nils Lofgren,Steven Van Zandt andJeff Lynne for "With a Little Help from My Friends" and "Give Peace a Chance".
In 1994, he joined John Entwistle andRoger Daltrey ofthe Who on a tour entitled "Daltrey Sings Townshend", which had developed from a two-night performance atCarnegie Hall to celebrate Daltrey's fiftieth birthday. In late 1995, he joined the band Face. In the spring of 1996, he left the band to work with the Who[4] on theirQuadropheniatour. He received good reviews in this role and was praised by the music press for his strong drumming presence,[7] without trying to emulate the band's original drummerKeith Moon. Both Townshend and Daltrey stated that Starkey was the best match for the band since the death ofKeith Moon.
On 20 October 2001, he performed with the Who at the Concert for New York City at Madison Square Garden. This was heralded as the Who's "comeback" performance and they stole the show.Rolling Stone called their performance "one of the 50 moments that changed rock and roll". It was also one of John Entwistle's final appearances with the band.On 7 February 2010, Starkey appeared with the Who during the half-time show ofSuper Bowl XLIV at theSun Life Stadium, Miami, Florida.[8]
Starkey was not available to record for most of the Who's 2006 albumEndless Wire,[6] as he had been on the road with Oasis and only had time to play on one track.[9] However, he did join the Who forThe Who Tour 2006-2007 in support of the album, during which they headlined atGlastonbury Festival in 2007. The tour finished at theHartwall Areena inHelsinki, Finland on 9 July 2007. Pete Townshend's official website stated that Starkey was afterwards invited to become a full member of the Who, stating: "Some of you may have noticed in one of my recent diary postings that I welcomed Zak into the Who as a permanent member. This is something he doesn't feel he needs or wants. Let's just say that the door is always open to this amazing musician and whenever we can, we will always try to make it possible for Zak to work with the Who in the future."[10] On 12 July 2008, Starkey played the drums for the Who at the 3rd annualVH1 Rock Honors, which celebrated the band's long career.
On 30 March 2010, he played with the band during their performance ofQuadrophenia at the Royal Albert Hall in aid of theTeenage Cancer Trust. On 12 August 2012, he played with the Who at the finale of the2012 Summer Olympics closing ceremony and later that year, on 12 December, he joined them at12-12-12: The Concert for Sandy Relief. Starkey also joined the Who on their 2012–13 Quadrophenia and More tour, but he had to back out in February 2013 when he developedtendonitis but he re-joined the Who in September 2014 for their Who Hits 50 tour of UK and Europe and North America. in July 2015 and other shows during this year as part ofThe Who Hits 50! tour, which had started in 2014. This tour went on to include the Who at Desert Trip concert atCoachella Festival in California on 28 June 2015. Starkey also appeared with the Who when they performed as the headline act at theGlastonbury Festival. During this time, Starkey also played shows withMick Jones ofthe Clash and formed the Silver Machine withBobby Gillespie,Andrew Innes,Glen Matlock andLittle Barrie.
In September 2016, Starkey was interviewed byRolling Stone about the new covers album he was working on withSharna Liguz, compiled with songs that had influenced them. They recorded these with the original members from each of the relevant bands. Funding for the album's ten tracks was raised by acrowdfunding campaign through thePledgemusic site. Under the name SSHH, Starkey and Liguz also recorded other tracks.[11]
On 15 April 2025, it was reported that Townshend and Daltrey had sacked Starkey as their drummer, due to a disagreement or miscommunication between Daltrey and Starkey. During a charity concert on 30 March at the Royal Albert Hall, Roger Daltrey stopped the show a few times, with Pete Townshend carrying on when he could not, due to a problem with sound levels. Daltrey ended the concert at the last song, saying "To sing that song I do need to hear the key, and I can’t. All I’ve got is drums going boom, boom, boom. I can’t sing to that".[12] Daltrey later explained that the problem was caused by the sound person feeding a bad mix into his in-ear monitor, but Starkey took this as criticism of his playing, sniped back, and there were hurt feelings all round.[13]
Starkey stated: "I was surprised and saddened anyone would have an issue with my performance that night" but added: "I remain their biggest fan" and "wish them the best."[14] On 19 April, the band publicly announced that Starkey would be remaining with the band after all, with Townshend stating that all communication issues between Starkey and the band had been "aired happily".[15][16] However, a month later on May 18, Townshend announced on Instagram that Starkey would be leaving to pursue other projects. Starkey refuted this statement on Instagram, saying he had been fired two weeks after reinstatement and had been asked by the band to state that he had quit.[17] The band then released a formal announcement reiterating their impending retirement and that Starkey "needs to devote all his energy" towards his other projects.[18] He later claimed that he had been "retired rather than fired".[19]
In 2000, Starkey was a founding member ofJohnny Marr & the Healers, although their first album,Boomslang,[4] would not be released for another three years after which the band did a world tour in 2003. On 14 April 2001, he featured in both of thebacking bands for the "Steve Marriott Tribute Concert", in which he appeared along withRick Wills,Rabbit Bundrick,Bobby Tench,Noel Gallagher andPaul Weller.[20]
Starkey was a touring guest member for the bandOasis from 2004 and was also featured on two tracks included on the Who's biographical album,The Who: Then and Now.[6] In May 2005,Noel Gallagher told theBBC that Starkey had participated in the recording sessions forDon't Believe the Truth although he was never an official member of the band. Starkey had recorded all but one track of these sessions which were originally called "Mucky Fingers" and were also for an official promotional video for the album. After the completion of these sessions Starkey stated: "It was amazing. They're all singers, they're all guitar players, they're all songwriters, they're all producers and they're all drummers."
He travelled as asideman on the year-long Oasis tour that followed and appeared in promotional videos for the associated singles. Despite this, he was not an official member of the band and rarely appeared with them in promotions. In April 2005, Noel Gallagher confirmed that Starkey was still a member of the Who. On 14 February 2007, Starkey appeared with Oasis when they received theBRIT Award for outstanding contribution to music.
Starkey recalled that playing with them was "massive" and called the band "some of the smartest musicians I've ever met".[21]
In 2008, Starkey formed the band Penguins Rising which had previously been called Penguin, along with his partner Sharna Liguz. The band's original lineup also included his daughter Tatia.[22] Penguins Rising went on to supportKasabian andBeady Eye on their respective tours. They released an album under the moniker of Pengu!ns, entitledHatemale, in 2011. Sshh signed to BMG as a solo artist in 2018, and the duo toured Australia opening forPrimal Scream and then Liam Gallagher in support of the Sshh single "Rising Tide".
Starkey went on to build a studio in Ocho Rios and formed the in-house recording group withSshh Liguz,Sly & Robbie,Tony Chin,Cyril Neville andRobbie Lyn. In 2016, he launched the record label Trojan Jamaica based on the island, co-funded byBMG Rights Management.[23] The Trojan name was licensed for use from theTrojan Records label. The label was formed with a mandate to reflect music from Jamaica along with soul and blues from America.[24] Recording on Trojan Jamaica and with the roles of co-producer and guitarist he is credited on the albums 'Red Gold Green & Blue', 'Red Gold Green & Blue RMXZ' both released in 2019. In 2020,RGGB RMXZ was released, whileGot To Be Tough byToots and the Maytals followed the same year. This won aGrammy for Best Reggae Album that year.[25] Additionally, the albumSolid Gold was released byU-Roy, featuringZiggy Marley,Santigold,Shaggy,Big Youth,Mick Jones ofthe Clash (Starkey has previously gigged with Jones),Richie Spice,Tarrus Riley,Jesse Royal, and Rygin King. At this time, Starkey and his partner's band Sshh appeared at the invitation of the Peter Tosh Museum in Kingston, Jamaica, performing their version of "Get Up, Stand Up" (featuringSoul Syndicate andEddie Vedder).
In 1985, Starkey married Sarah Menikides (b. 1959). They separated in 2006 and divorced in 2021.[26] They had a daughter, Tatia Jayne (born 7 September 1985).[6][26]
Starkey marriedSharna Liguz, his partner of 18 years, on 21 March 2022. The couple had chosen the date in honour of their daughter, Luna Lee Lightnin, who was born a year earlier.[27] The wedding was held at theSunset Marquis Hotel inWest Hollywood, California.Eddie Vedder andJohnny Marr served as Starkey's best men, while reggae musicianPato Banton officiated the ceremony.[28]
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