Ringo Starr Sang Lead Vocals On 11 Beatles Songs. Here's The Story About Each Of Them

Though the names John, Paul, George, and Ringo have been inseparable in the popular consciousness for nearly 60 years, The Beatles didn't quite start out as the Fab Four as we know them today.

In the early days, the Beatles' rhythm was kept by Pete Best, a renowned drummer whose good looks made him the star of the show of the band's early gigs in the North West of England and Hamburg, Germany. Best sang a number of songs during the Beatles' early days, and even had his own dance act in the show while Paul McCartney filled in on drums (via The Beatles Bible). However, after drifting apart from his fellow band members he was replaced by Ringo Starr, who was poached from fellow Merseybeat group Rory Storm and the Hurricanes.

Surprisingly, when the group finally got a recording contract through the efforts of their manager Brian Epstein, and began making their first recordings with veteran producer George Martin, Ringo found himself out of favor. According to Ringo's biographer Alan Clayson, Martin initially didn't think the drummer was solid enough for studio playing. However, Ringo eventually won the producer round, and not only did he drum on the vast majority of Beatles songs thereafter, but he was also even given his own traditional spot on lead vocals on each studio album. Why? Well, like Best, Ringo was many fans' favorite Beatle, and the band wanted to give the fans what they desired, according to the CBC.

Here are all 11 Beatles songs that Ringo sang, and how they came into being.

The Beatles had been playing "Boys" in their live shows for several years before it was committed to wax on Side B of their debut album "Please Please Me." And though the popularity of the song was, if anything, growing as a result of it being the only vocal performance by their fan favorite drummer, the other members of the band were reportedly beginning to tire of it. Paul McCartney has claimed that part of their annoyance with the song was that they had decided not to change the lyrics to have Ringo sing about girls, and that the song was growing "embarrassing" (via The Beatles Anthology).

When it came time to write and record their sophomore U.K. album, "With The Beatles," John Lennon and Paul McCartney made a concerted effort to pen a new song for Ringo Starr that could replace "Boys." That song was "I Wanna Be Your Man."

However, as John Lennon recalled in "The Beatles Anthology," it was in the aftermath of having written Ringo's new tune that The Beatles made the acquaintance of up-and-coming rockers The Rolling Stones, who asked if the world's hottest songwriting duo had a song they would be willing to give them. Lennon and McCartney decided that, though Ringo was soon due to record his version for the upcoming Beatles album, "I Wanna Be Your Man" would be a good fit for Mick Jagger's group. It became their first major hit only a few weeks after Ringo recorded his album version.

By the mid-'60s, Ringo Starr had certainly been pigeonholed as being suited to singing a certain kind of rockabilly song. "Honey Don't" is another Carl Perkins number, which this time appeared on the 1964 album "Beatles For Sale," as per Britannica.

And like "Boys," "Honey Don't" was familiar to Ringo from his musical career prior to joining The Beatles. Rory Storm and the Hurricanes reportedly played this song as part of their live shows too, with Ringo taking on vocal duties as part of his own feature spot during each set. According to "The Beatles Anthology," Ringo recalled that "every band in Liverpool" played the song, and because the track was so familiar it made for an easy and straightforward recording session when it came to recording it for the album.

The song was another that had previously been the territory of original drummer Pete Best, though initially John Lennon had taken over on vocal duties before the band realized that it would make for a suitable Ringo-led album track, according to Mark Lewisohn. Per "Ringo Starr: Straight Man or Joker?" both "Honey Don't" and "Matchbox" would later feature in Lennon's solo work as he revisited his rock 'n' roll influences.

The story of how The Beatles' power struggles eventually contributed to the break-up of the group in 1970 has been well documented and told numerous times, including in Peter Jackson's critically-acclaimed documentary series, "The Beatles: Get Back." But while the mutually-mop-topped Fab Four looked to the outside world like an unbreakable unit in the mid-1960s, the fact was that tensions were already surfacing within the band, and, surprisingly, these tensions revolved around Ringo.

As Alan Clayson describes in "Ringo Starr: Straight Man or Joker?" the respected drummer whom The Beatles had once poached from their rivals Rory Storm and the Hurricanes felt in the run-up to 1965's "Rubber Soul" that he was being sidelined from the group. As well as primary songwriters John Lennon and Paul McCartney effectively managed creative control of the group, the two along with George Harrison were collaborating with other musicians and starting to compose music in which Ringo felt he was disposable.

As a result, Ringo took his concerns to the band, who assuaged him with his first songwriting credit on a Beatles record (though "What Goes On" was an old song of Lennon's which the band revisited). As noted by Ian MacDonald, the result echoes "Act Naturally" in its laid-back style, with Ringo's songwriting contributions assumed to be lyrical.

"With A Little Help From My Friends" is arguably Ringo Starr's signature song, the reflection of his role as mediator and social glue in The Beatles in their toughest moments. The song is still a highlight of Ringo's concerts with his All Starr Band even today.

However, it is also arguable that "With A Little Help From My Friends" technically isn't a Beatles song at all. The song was the second track of 1967's "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," a concept album that begins with the Fab Four taking on the guise of the titular band on the opening track before introducing the character Billy Shears to sing track two, as noted in "The Beatles Anthology."

As Ringo notes per the same source, he is taking on the character of Shears in the song. Though the first two songs of "Sgt. Pepper's" suggest a conceptual unity to the album, nothing else after "With A Little Help From My Friends" really contributes to it. As described by Barry Miles in "The Beatles: The Authorized Biography," the song was specially written for Ringo by Lennon and McCartney, who fittingly pieced it together at a piano in front of a small audience of friends. Ian MacDonald has praised Ringo's charming vocal performance and credits its communal message and Joe Cocker's hit cover version for helping to transform the song into a counterculture hit.

"Good Night" in many ways sounds like no other song The Beatles ever recorded. The grand finale of "The Beatles" or "The White Album," it is a sweet and tender lullaby rendered into an epic through cinematic orchestration. As Ian MacDonald notes in "Revolution in the Head," "Good Night" was penned by John Lennon as a bedtime song for his son Julian, who was five years old at the time.

According to Rolling Stone, Lennon was evasive in explaining his intentions behind the song. He was adamant that Ringo should sing the piece instead of him, perhaps feeling that Starr was a more cuddly presence on what is essentially a children's song; Lennon had also shown his sensitive side on the album on the ballad "Julia," a track for his deceased mother, and may have felt singing another sweet song for his son would have left him emotionally exposed.

The song is a strange one in The Beatles' catalog as no other Beatle apart from Ringo performs on it, with the music played by session classical musicians directed by George Martin. As MacDonald notes, Ringo's soulful vocal performance and the sweeping instrumentation mean that listeners often suppose the song to be a McCartney piece, akin to the knowing style of "Martha My Dear" and "Honey Pie."