Mike Portnoy, the great drummer and the member of several supergroups, celebrated the birthday of the legendary musician Ringo Starr, who turned 80 this year and shared the huge admiration he felt for him with an Instagram post.
As the advocate of peace and love, and the iconic name of The Beatles, Ringo Starr has now turned to his new age, many artists and musicians congratulated him through the most sincere memories they shared.
Mike Portnoy, who grew up as a fan of The Beatles and Ringo Starr, recalled the time when he first met Starr and experienced an unfortunate photograph memory at that moment. In his post, he also emphasized the fact that he sees Starr as one of his biggest heroes in the music industry.
Here is what Portnoy said on his Instagram post:
“Happy 80th Birthday to one of my biggest heroes on earth: Mr. Ringo Starr. Peace & Love. ✌️❤️
Funny story about the pic on the right of when I met him: My friend Mark Snyder was teaching for Peter Frampton at the time (who was in Ringo’s band – this was around 1997), and he arranged the meeting…
He introduced me to Ringo as “Modern Drummer’s Drummer of the Year” and Ringo said, “I thought *I* was Drummer of the year??” (Picture his accent!)… And I told him, “No, you’re Drummer of the Century!” 😂
For about a while before meeting him, I went up and played his kit, took some pics at his kit, etc and my dad took this pic of us talking…moments after this pic, Ringo put his arm around me and said “let’s take a proper photo” and my heart sank as I heard the film in the camera rewinding as we were out of film!!! 😫 (yes the days before digital cameras!!!!)
I never lost patience with a fan waiting to take a picture with me after that moment…
This is the only pic I have of our meeting but I still cherish it. 🙏
Seems today would be a great day to rewatch my tribute to him with our video for ‘It Don’t Come Easy.”
You can see Mike Portnoy’s Instagram post below.
