# Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band
**Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band** is a rotating touring supergroup led by former Beatles drummer [Ringo Starr](https://www.edgepedia.org/ringo-starr), in which well-known musicians perform their own hits alongside Starr's Beatles and solo songs. Producer David Fishof conceived the idea and the band first toured in 1989; more than three decades later the format is still how Starr tours, with the lineup unchanged since 2024.[1](https://allstarrbandtickets.com/all-starr-band-history/) • [2](https://www.ringostarr.com/ringo-starr-and-his-all-starr-band-announce-fall-tour-dates-3/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1989, from a concept by producer David Fishof; first show July 23, 1989, Park Central Ampitheatre, Dallas, Texas[1](https://allstarrbandtickets.com/all-starr-band-history/) • [3](https://www.ringostarr.com/sir-ringo-starr-announces-additional-shows-30th-anniversary-all-starr-band-tour-1989-2019/) |
| First lineup | Joe Walsh, Dr. John, Billy Preston, Levon Helm, Rick Danko, Nils Lofgren, Clarence Clemons, Jim Keltner, plus Starr; three drummers including Starr[1](https://allstarrbandtickets.com/all-starr-band-history/) • [4](https://mmusicmag.com/m/2015/07/ringo-starr-3/) |
| Membership rule | Every member must have had at least one hit somewhere in their career[5](https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/ROA-Times/issues/1995/rt9506/950616/07120001.htm) |
| Lineups | Roughly sixteen by 2026, counting the current group, which has been unchanged since 2024[6](https://allstarrbandtickets.com/) |
| Current members | Steve Lukather, Colin Hay, Warren Ham, Hamish Stuart, Gregg Bissonette, Buck Johnson[2](https://www.ringostarr.com/ringo-starr-and-his-all-starr-band-announce-fall-tour-dates-3/) |
| Show format | About two hours; Starr's solo tracks and Beatles songs he sang, interspersed with each member's hits from their primary bands[7](https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2025/05/ringo-starr-beatles-look-up/682115/) |
| Recordings | Mainly live albums documenting particular tours, beginning with a 1990 Rykodisc live set of the first tour[8](https://cityclerk.lacity.org/onlinedocs/2010/10-0077_rpt_boe_1-12-10.pdf) |
## Origin in 1989
The idea reached Starr as a proposal, not as his own plan. A promoter approached a friend of his about a Pepsi-sponsored tour concept and asked whether Starr would put a band together and go on the road. He had never toured solo before, and he responded by working through his personal contacts: he described taking out a physical phone book and calling [Joe Walsh](https://www.edgepedia.org/joe-walsh), then [Dr. John](https://www.edgepedia.org/dr-john), [Billy Preston](https://www.edgepedia.org/billy-preston), Levon Helm, Rick Danko, Nils Lofgren, Clarence Clemons, and session drummer Jim Keltner.[4](https://mmusicmag.com/m/2015/07/ringo-starr-3/) • [9](https://yonkersobserver.com/ringo-starr-on-the-all-starr-band-and-why-he-likes-being-the-boss/)
The tour was announced at the Hollywood Palladium under the banner "Diet Pepsi Presents A Concert For All Generations: Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band," and the first show followed on July 23, 1989, in Dallas.[10](https://www.beatles.ru/books/paper.asp?id=2562) • [3](https://www.ringostarr.com/sir-ringo-starr-announces-additional-shows-30th-anniversary-all-starr-band-tour-1989-2019/) Starr later recalled the scale of the first group: "It was like an orchestra," with himself in the middle, [Levon Helm](https://www.edgepedia.org/levon-helm) on his right and [Jim Keltner](https://www.edgepedia.org/jim-keltner) on his left, the only time the band has had three drummers.[4](https://mmusicmag.com/m/2015/07/ringo-starr-3/) The timing mattered personally as well as professionally: Starr and [Barbara Bach](https://www.edgepedia.org/barbara-bach) had embraced sobriety in the late 1980s, which was around the time he convened the band and resumed his touring career.[7](https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2025/05/ringo-starr-beatles-look-up/682115/) The tour was the first of his career as a solo act, ending at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles in September 1989.[11](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-09-04-ca-1221-story.html)
The tour yielded Starr's first live album, *Ringo and His All Starr Band*, released on Rykodisc in 1990.[8](https://cityclerk.lacity.org/onlinedocs/2010/10-0077_rpt_boe_1-12-10.pdf)
## How a show works
The All-Starr concert is structured as a shared hit parade rather than a backing-band job. Starr set one rule for membership: everyone on stage has to have had at least one hit. In performance, he described the shape simply: "There will be a block of songs from me, then one from each member, then a couple more from me."[5](https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/ROA-Times/issues/1995/rt9506/950616/07120001.htm) Recent shows have run about two hours, mixing Starr's solo hits such as "Photograph" and "Back Off Boogaloo," Beatles songs on which Starr sang lead ("Octopus's Garden," "With a Little Help From My Friends"), and each All Starr's signature numbers, with Lukather leading Toto's "Africa" and Hay leading [Men at Work](https://www.edgepedia.org/men-at-work)'s "Down Under."[7](https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2025/05/ringo-starr-beatles-look-up/682115/)
Ringo splits his stage time between frontman duties and the drum kit, and typically plays in tandem with a second drummer, a feature that dates to the very first tour.[7](https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2025/05/ringo-starr-beatles-look-up/682115/) • [1](https://allstarrbandtickets.com/all-starr-band-history/) The emphasis stays on shared songs: reviewers note that the setlist spans more than half a century of pop and rock, with Beatles material kept to a handful of songs rather than dominating the night.[12](https://relix.com/reviews/detail/ringo-starr-his-all-starr-band-at-the-american-music-theater) • [13](https://www.startribune.com/ringo-starr-brings-beatles-mystic-lake-toto-steve-lukather-edgar-winter-colin-hay-hamish-stuart/600309093)
## Lineups over the decades
Because the roster changes, fans who have seen the band in different years have heard a different set of guest hits each time, while Starr's own Beatles and solo songs stay at the heart of the night.[1](https://allstarrbandtickets.com/all-starr-band-history/) The sixth lineup toured in 2000 with [Jack Bruce](https://www.edgepedia.org/jack-bruce), Eric Carmen, Dave Edmunds, Simon Kirke, and Mark Rivera, and the seventh, assembled in 2001, featured the first female All Starr, Sheila E., alongside [Greg Lake](https://www.edgepedia.org/greg-lake), Roger Hodgson, Ian Hunter, Howard Jones, and Rivera.[8](https://cityclerk.lacity.org/onlinedocs/2010/10-0077_rpt_boe_1-12-10.pdf) Alumni across the years have included members of the [E Street Band](https://www.edgepedia.org/e-street-band), the Band, the Eagles, John Entwistle of the Who, and Billy Preston.[14](https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/music/2012/06/14/ringo-good-company-with-his-all-starr-band/uJ3QOLXCne3rUvwm6wDChL/story.html) Some members have returned after gaps: Colin Hay first played with Starr in 2003, came back in 2008, and has been a regular since 2018, while Hamish Stuart was in the band from 2006 to 2008 and rejoined in 2019.[1](https://allstarrbandtickets.com/all-starr-band-history/)
The current seven-piece lineup, unchanged since 2024, consists of Starr plus [Steve Lukather](https://www.edgepedia.org/steve-lukather) (Toto), [Colin Hay](https://www.edgepedia.org/colin-hay) (Men at Work), Warren Ham, Hamish Stuart ([Average White Band](https://www.edgepedia.org/average-white-band)), drummer Gregg Bissonette, and keyboardist Buck Johnson.[2](https://www.ringostarr.com/ringo-starr-and-his-all-starr-band-announce-fall-tour-dates-3/) Counting lineups is an imperfect exercise; fan tallies such as setlist.fm put the current group as the sixteenth All Starr Band.[6](https://allstarrbandtickets.com/) Tenure varies widely: Lukather joined in 2012 and, as of 2025, only Bissonette had been in the lineup longer.[15](https://www.wusf.org/text/arts-culture/2025-06-22/all-starr-steve-lukather-talks-rockin-with-ringo) Starr has repeatedly announced retirement and returned; Lukather has described him as a failed retiree many times over, saying Starr declares each tour the last and then accepts the next offer of ten gigs.[7](https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2025/05/ringo-starr-beatles-look-up/682115/)
## Recent touring (2024 to 2026)
The band has stayed unusually stable in recent years. Announcing a June 2025 tour in December 2024, Starr said he had kept the same All Starrs for a while because he wanted to keep the lineup going.[16](https://www.ringostarr.com/ringo-starr-and-his-all-starr-band-announce-spring-tour-including-shows-in-new-york-city-and-philadelphia/) In 2026 the band played a twelve-city spring leg beginning May 28 at Pechanga Resort Casino in [Temecula, California](https://www.edgepedia.org/temecula-california), and ending with a sold-out show at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles on June 14.[17](https://www.ringostarr.com/ringo-starr-and-his-all-starr-band-launch-their-spring-tour-today/)
On July 6, 2026, Starr announced ten fall dates from September 24 in Easton, Pennsylvania, to October 7 at the Palace Theatre in Albany, New York, all in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. The October 1 stop at Forest Hills Stadium in Queens is his first performance there since the Beatles played two sold-out shows on August 28 and 29, 1964, the group's first stadium shows.[2](https://www.ringostarr.com/ringo-starr-and-his-all-starr-band-announce-fall-tour-dates-3/) Reviews of the fall run describe an eighty-six-year-old Starr jogging on stage, drumming, and closing with "With a Little Help From My Friends," supported by a setlist drawn largely from his bandmates' catalogs rather than from his 2026 album *Long Long Road*, of which the band played just one cut.[12](https://relix.com/reviews/detail/ringo-starr-his-all-starr-band-at-the-american-music-theater)
## Recordings and recognition
The All-Starr Band's recorded output consists mainly of live albums and video releases documenting particular tours, beginning with the 1990 Rykodisc live set of the first tour; in 2001 Starr marked more than a decade of All Starr tours with the compilation *Ringo and His All Starr Band The Anthology, So Far*.[8](https://cityclerk.lacity.org/onlinedocs/2010/10-0077_rpt_boe_1-12-10.pdf) Starr's own honors sit outside the band's identity: he received the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's Award for Musical Excellence in 2015, making him a twice-inducted member alongside the Beatles' 1988 induction.[18](https://rockhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Ringo_Starr_2015.pdf)
## References
1. [All Starr Band History: 1989 to 2026, allstarrbandtickets.com](https://allstarrbandtickets.com/all-starr-band-history/)
2. [Ringo Starr And His All Starr Band Announce Fall Tour Dates, ringostarr.com, July 6, 2026](https://www.ringostarr.com/ringo-starr-and-his-all-starr-band-announce-fall-tour-dates-3/)
3. [Sir Ringo Starr Announces Additional Shows for 30th Anniversary All Starr Band Tour (1989-2019), ringostarr.com](https://www.ringostarr.com/sir-ringo-starr-announces-additional-shows-30th-anniversary-all-starr-band-tour-1989-2019/)
4. [M Music & Musicians Magazine: Ringo Starr interview](https://mmusicmag.com/m/2015/07/ringo-starr-3/)
5. [Ringo Starr's Who's Who of All-Starrs, Roanoke Times, June 16, 1995](https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/ROA-Times/issues/1995/rt9506/950616/07120001.htm)
6. [Ringo Starr & His All Starr Band Tickets 2026, allstarrbandtickets.com](https://allstarrbandtickets.com/)
7. [When I'm 84, The Atlantic, March 31, 2025](https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2025/05/ringo-starr-beatles-look-up/682115/)
8. [City of Los Angeles Board of Education report excerpt on Ringo Starr and the All Starr Band](https://cityclerk.lacity.org/onlinedocs/2010/10-0077_rpt_boe_1-12-10.pdf)
9. [From Beatle to boss: Ringo Starr on running his All-Starr Band, Yonkers Observer](https://yonkersobserver.com/ringo-starr-on-the-all-starr-band-and-why-he-likes-being-the-boss/)
10. [Ringo Starr Is Reborn, Rolling Stone, August 24, 1989 (transcript via beatles.ru)](https://www.beatles.ru/books/paper.asp?id=2562)
11. [POP MUSIC REVIEW: All-Starr Show: Ringo's Charm Is Bottom Line, Los Angeles Times, September 4, 1989](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-09-04-ca-1221-story.html)
12. [Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band at the American Music Theater, Relix, October 2026](https://relix.com/reviews/detail/ringo-starr-his-all-starr-band-at-the-american-music-theater)
13. [Review: Ringo Starr brings hits, humor, peace and love to Mystic Lake Casino, Star Tribune, October 2, 2023](https://www.startribune.com/ringo-starr-brings-beatles-mystic-lake-toto-steve-lukather-edgar-winter-colin-hay-hamish-stuart/600309093)
14. [Ringo in good company with his All Starr band, The Boston Globe, June 14, 2012](https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/music/2012/06/14/ringo-good-company-with-his-all-starr-band/uJ3QOLXCne3rUvwm6wDChL/story.html)
15. [All-Starr Steve Lukather talks rockin' with Ringo, WUSF, June 22, 2025](https://www.wusf.org/text/arts-culture/2025-06-22/all-starr-steve-lukather-talks-rockin-with-ringo)
16. [Ringo Starr and His All Starr Band Announce Spring Tour, ringostarr.com, December 9, 2024](https://www.ringostarr.com/ringo-starr-and-his-all-starr-band-announce-spring-tour-including-shows-in-new-york-city-and-philadelphia/)
17. [Ringo Starr And His All Starr Band Launch Their Spring Tour Today, ringostarr.com, May 28, 2026](https://www.ringostarr.com/ringo-starr-and-his-all-starr-band-launch-their-spring-tour-today/)
18. [Ringo Starr, Award for Musical Excellence, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, 2015](https://rockhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Ringo_Starr_2015.pdf)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Music › Musicians and ensembles › Ensembles and groups › Rock, pop, and metal bands › Musical duos, supergroups, and collaborative projects › Rock and metal supergroups*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license