Ringo Starr reveals why he’s convinced The Beatles would eventually have reunited

Ringo Starr believes The Beatles would have found their way back together to make more music had John Lennon and George Harrison lived.

The 86-year-old drummer said he thought the Fab Four could eventually have reunited after their split, reflecting on the deaths of John, who was 40 when he was shot dead outside his New York home in 1980, and George, who was 58 when he died from cancer in 2001.

Ringo remains close to Sir Paul McCartney, 84 – the only other surviving Beatle – more than half a century after the group broke up.

Speaking to Page Six, Ringo said: “I do think (The Beatles) possibly would have got together sometime from, you know, John leaving us to now, if we were all still around, you know.

The Photograph singer said what he missed most about being part of The Beatles was the relationship between the four musicians during their extraordinary rise from Liverpool clubs to becoming the biggest band in the world.

Ringo added he missed their “friendship, the togetherness, the support of each other”.

“And you know, brothers up rows and you know little get-togethers, and then little get-aparts. And for me, it was great. And musically it was dynamite, which it still is out there. You know, the chance to play that. Right. And you know, it’s all happened in eight years.”

Ringo said he and Paul remain in regular contact and speak “a couple of times a month”.

He added: “If he’s in England, we go to visit England, mainly to visit family, (if) we know, we’ll have dinner or we’ll go around and hang, so yeah, a couple of times a month.”

Ringo said Paul has played bass on a number of his records over the years, adding: “We’re still pals.”

Interest in the group is again growing ahead of director Sam Mendes’ ambitious four-film Beatles project, which will tell the band’s story from the perspectives of each member.

Harris Dickinson will portray John, Paul Mescal will play Paul, Joseph Quinn will appear as George and Barry Keoghan will take on the role of Ringo.

“The difficulty was he’s putting this story with that story. And Paul and I have to both let go of that. It’s not a documentary… it’s a story of four stories. You know, one on each of us, but, you know, of course we will get in together sometimes. So, we just said, ‘Okay, it’s a movie’.”

The renewed focus on The Beatles also comes as their 1965 album Rubber Soul is receiving a new expanded special edition, featuring new stereo and Dolby Atmos mixes alongside unreleased material.