It’s become an annual event: Ringo Starr will once again spread a message of peace and love on his birthday – his 76th (!) – July 7 with a little help from his A-List friends. And he says he wants the message from the #peaceandlove salute to hit home even harder this year in the wake of the Orlando shooting.
Starr said in a June 13 interview with the Associated Press: “I don’t understand that mindset that you could decide to injure and kill a lot of innocent people. I’m really not a supporter of wars either, but you can understand there are two sides having a go at each other. But this is so random.”
The former Beatle says that’s why this year’s peace and love message is so important. So at noon on July 7, Ringo and his wife Barbara will join family, friends and fans in front of the Capitol Records Tower in Hollywood, CA and share a “Peace & Love” salute at noon. The A-Listers joining him include Joe Walsh, Edgar Winter, Richard Lewis, Eric Burdon, Benmont Tench of the Heartbreakers, Jim Keltner and more. Prior to the salute, Vandaveer, Alberta Cross and Dave Stewart of Eurythmics along with Jon Stevens will each give acoustic performances of Ringo’s songs.
And you don’t have to be in Hollywood to participate in the salute. The dream is that a wave of Peace & Love traverses the planet starting at Noon in New Zealand to Noon in Hawaii and everywhere in between. He’s been holding the event since 2008 and has celebrated in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Nashville, Tennessee, Hamburg, Germany and other places. The last 3 years, including his 75th Birthday celebration, have been held in Los Angeles.
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The Peace & Love celebration is open to the public and Ringo invites everyone everywhere to think or say Peace & Love or share #PeaceandLove, at Noon their local time, on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. It will also be streamed live on Ringo’s Facebook page.
Starr got the idea when someone simply asked him what he wanted for his birthday one year. “And out of the blue I thought, ‘You know what would be great if everybody at noon on the 7th of July went ‘peace and love,'” he has said. “Wherever you are, on the bus, down the mine, wherever. You could just go ‘peace and love.’ That would be a great gift to me.”
Starr is finishing his U.S. tour with his All-Starr band, which wraps on July 2 in Los Angeles. Click here for tickets.
Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band’s 2016 North American Tour:
July 1 – San Diego, CA – Humphreys Concerts by the Bay
July 2 – Los Angeles, CA – Greek Theatre
