Ringo Starr and John Lennon tried to move to Texas as teenagers | CPT PPP Coverage

Most notably, Lightnin’ Hopkins was from Texas, and he was the musician Ringo Starr aspired to become. The guitarist remains one of Starr’s favourite musicians of all time, and all he wanted to do was perform in the same clubs that turned Hopkins into a star.

“I also love the blues,” Starr once remarked to You and I. “Everybody should know by now. When I was 19, I tried to emigrate to Houston, Texas. I wanted to be where Lightnin’ Hopkins was, my all-time favourite blues player. John and I went down to the embassy and filled in all these forms. You know, we were just teenagers then.”

As there is no freedom of movement agreement between the United Kingdom and the United States, the process of relocating is a lengthy one with many stumbling blocks. With that, Starr and Lennon weren’t particularly qualified in any field or had a well-paid job waiting for them, making it increasingly challenging to make the move.

Starr continued: “We even had a list of factories where we wanted to apply for jobs because I was working in a factory at the time. But then, when we went back to the embassy, we were given more paperwork with more questions. We then turned back into teenagers and just ripped them up. Sod it! That would have been an interesting move if I’d have done that.”

In another life, Starr moved to Texas with Lennon at 19 in 1959, and The Beatles never became the biggest band in the world. While it would have been an eye-opening experience for the pair and would have introduced them to authentic blues musicians, ultimately, staying in Liverpool was the right decision. Shortly after shunning America, Starr started playing with Rory Storm + The Hurricanes before reuniting with Lennon in The Beatles in 1962.