Ringo Starr's 3 Children: All About Zak, Jason and Lee

Ringo Starr loves his family very much.

The former Beatle is the father of three grown-up children – Zak, 59, Jason, 57, and Lee, 53 – who he welcomed with his late ex-wife Maureen Cox. The two were together from 1962 to 1975, but separated after Starr’s affair with American model Nancy Lee Adams and Cox’s affair with George Harrison.

In 1981, Starr (born Richard Starkey) married actress and model Barbara Bach. These days, the famous drummer considers his children, Bach and grandchildren, the greatest blessing in his life.

“I have many blessings, family blessings, my children are blessings. Now I have eight grandchildren and a great-grandchild. They are all blessings. I am the only child, I look around the table and go what? All these people are far away from me, and Barbara is in my life, that is another blessing,” he said Manila Bulletin.

However, fatherhood was not always easy for him. “I learned when I was a father that I could have been a better father,” he told the paper, admitting he’s a better grandfather: “And I love being a grandfather because you can have fun and just give back.”

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In addition to having families of their own, Starr’s children also achieved successful careers of their own, with some of them following in their father’s footsteps and pursuing music.

When it comes to how the large Starr clan keeps in touch, the music legend told PEOPLE that they have an active text thread, filled with photos and lots and lots of emojis. “We have a family message. It’s so great. We are such a family in the modern age,” he said.

Keep reading for everything you can know about Ringo Starr’s children.

Zak Starkey, 59

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Starr’s eldest child, Zak Richard Starkey, was born on September 13, 1965. Like his father, he is a talented musician. The Grammy-winning drummer has been playing and recording with the legendary rock band The Who since 1996.

A hugely successful musician and co-founder of the record label Trojan Jamaica, Zak has also performed with Oasis, Johnny Marr, Paul Weller, Yoko Ono and Steven Van Zandt, among many others. He started playing in English pubs aged 13 with a drum kit given to him by The Who’s Keith Moon, who he says “was like an uncle” to him due to Moon’s close friendship with his father.

Zak and his father are very close, and their shared love of music is perhaps what binds them above all else. “When I was very young, music was all around me in my parents’ house,” he told Modern Drummer. “You’d go into the living room and find stacks and stacks of LPs. I’d spend my days listening to records.” Zak also credits his father with sparking his interest in becoming a professional musician, recalling a T. Rex concert the two attended in 1971 as the defining moment that solidified his dream. “That was it for me,” he told the paper.

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Over the years, the father-son duo has collaborated and performed together several times. In 1985, both participated in the protest song “Sun City” by the group Artists United Against Against. Zak then joined Starr and the All-Starr Band on tour in 1992 and 1995.

When he was 19, Zak married his teenage sweetheart Sarah Menikides in a secret ceremony, according to Los Angeles Times. Although the two separated in 2006, they have a daughter, Tatia Jayne Starkey. Her birth in 1985 officially made Starr the first Beatle to become a grandfather, and at the time he said he was “absolutely delighted” and that “the baby was a little beauty”.

Zak and his current partner, Sharna “Sshh” Liguz, have been together for nearly two decades and have a young daughter, Luna Lee Lightnin Starkey. Luna was born on March 21, 2021, and her parents got married exactly one year after her birth. “After 18 years together, Luna’s umbilical cord has kind of tied,” the couple joked in a statement to PEOPLE, “but we wanted to make it official and share it with our friends and family in the US, before doing the same in Jamaica and the UK .”

Zak was given as a gift by his father, while Eddie Vedder from Pearl Jam was his godfather. “It’s great to be solid with the best girl in the world,” he wrote on Instagram. “And to celebrate Luna’s #1 birthday. Thank you to everyone who came from near and far, in short and online. Our dearest friends in the US – I’m glad to see you at our wedding and have a real party. It feels great to be married to the woman you We have been loving ourselves for 18 years.”

Jason Starkey, 57

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Born on August 19, 1967, Jason followed in his father’s and older brother’s musical footsteps. As a drummer, he performed with various indie bands and even briefly founded his own group Musty Jack Sponge and the Exploding Nudists with his brother Zak. He later retired his drum kit in favor of a road manager and then a photographer.

Jason married his longtime girlfriend Flora Evans in 2010. Evans is a fashion and floral designer and co-founder of denim brand Superfine, which counts celebrities such as Kylie Minogue, Kate Moss, Kim Kardashian, Victoria Beckham and Drew Barrymore among its fans. The two share four sons: Louis, born in 1999; Sonny, born in 2002; Rock, born in 2009; and Budy, born in 2011. Louis is an actor, with credits in Billie Piper Rare Beasts, Worse than family and Ringo Starr’s Big Birthday Show!.

Jason prefers to stay out of the limelight, and he and his family rarely appear in public, nor do they have public profiles on social media.

Lee Starkey, 53

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Starr’s only daughter, Lee Starkey, was born on November 11, 1970, just months after the Beatles broke up.

In 1990, Lee appeared alongside Starr in an Oldsmobile commercial, in which she played herself and said the single line: “Hi, Dad.” She also sang backing vocals on “La De Da”, a song on Starr’s 1998 album. Dizzy man. She currently works as a makeup artist and fashion designer, and co-founded a short-lived retail boutique in Los Angeles called Planet Alice, which honored her father’s legacy and featured 60s-inspired fashion.

Lee has been in a relationship with musician Jay Mehler, who plays bass for English rock bands Kasabian and Beady Eye, since 2006. The two live in London, and in 2009 they had triplets Smokey Mehler, Jakam Mehler and Ruby Tiger Mehler, according to the Daily Mail.

Lee and Mehler like to keep their personal lives pretty private. But it seems the triplets are already following in their dad’s and grandpa’s musical footsteps; they even took lessons from ex-Beatles.

“Everybody’s looking for a dad in the music department,” Lee said Daily Mail 2017. “They started learning a few years ago. Jakamo plays drums, Smokey plays drums and guitar, and Ruby plays piano.”

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Source: HIS Education