The son of famed drummer Ringo Starr, it only seemed natural that Zak Starkey would follow in his footsteps. And that is exactly what he did. Having played alongside Johnny Marr, The Lightning Seeds, and the Semantics, the drummer eventually found his home with The Who. For nearly three decades, Starkey took the stage with the group to entertain millions of fans all over the world. But over the last few weeks, the Who was surrounded by controversy after Starkey was fired, hired, and retired, leaving fans completely confused.
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With Starkey carefully navigating his way through the absurd situation, he decided to share the whole story when speaking with BBC Breakfast. Making sure fans knew exactly what happened, he started by insisting, “I didn’t leave, I never left. We did a gig and there’s a song that’s called The Song is Over that they’ve never played live. It’s on Who’s Next, which is their biggest record, and I suggested it.”
While no harm in suggesting a song to perform, once the Who hit the stage, disaster struck. “We played it at the gig and it went wrong. I’m not going to name names, but it went wrong. It went four bars wrong.” He added, “We stopped it again and it was all about the drums being too loud, but my drums are electric – if you stand in front of them, you can’t hear them, they’re just in my ears. The next thing I know I’m getting the sack.”
Zak Starkey Goes From Fired, To Hired, To Retired
Trying his best to understand the thought process behind such a decision, Starkey found his career spiraling out of control. “Sack the drummer, everybody’s called me. I posted something about it, and three days later I got my job back. Then two days later, I secretly didn’t get my job back and it’s all gone haywire since then.”
According to claims by Pete Townshend, the band decided to “retire” Starkey to allow him to pursue other projects. Although sounding like a good deed, the drummer didn’t want to retire. “I found out the other day I wasn’t fired, I was retired because I was too busy but I’ve actually got nothing on besides this single [Mantra of the Cosmos’ Domino Bones] – and half the band are in Oasis, half the band are in Happy Mondays so they can’t work, I’m totally free.”
With Starkey and fans still trying to comprehend what went wrong, it appeared to all surround one bad performance of “The Song is Over.” And just like the song, the drummer’s time with the Who was also over.
(Photo by Rick Kern/Getty Images for The Who)
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