RINGO JOINS BEATLES

It was 50 years ago today that Ringo Starr joined The Beatles, adding the last crucial ingredient to the band's alchemy and cementing their historic journey. Before becoming a Beatle, Ringo played in one of the top bands in Liverpool, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. A rare 1960 live recording of the band with Ringo on drums has been unearthed and will be released soon on CD by Rockstar Records. Beatles historian, Spencer Leigh, will play some tracks from the the concert on his radio show tonight, BBC's On the Beat, starting at 1800 London time. Fans can then hear the show streaming on Listen Again. Leigh told the Examiner, “It's a live concert professionally recorded in March 1960, so (it's) quite a find,” he says. “The band is ragged but they sound really exciting.” The CD cover photo of the Hurricanes below shows a bearded Ringo playing guitar at Rory's left.