Ringo Starr on Paul McCartney: “He’s the brother I never had”

Ringo Starr is on the cover of the December issue of AARP magazine, where he opens up about his relationship with his Beatles bandmates.

"Paul loves me as much as I love him," he says of Paul McCartney. "He's the brother I never had." It sounds like Ringo was equally close to George Harrison and John Lennon, as he notes, "As an only child, suddenly I got three brothers. We looked out for each other."

When the interviewer suggests that Ringo, who never feuded with any of his bandmates, was the person who helped keep the peace within the band, Ringo agrees.

“No, I was the glue,” he jokes. “That’ll be in big letters: I WAS THE GLUE, SAYS RINGO.”

In an accompanying video, Ringo credits McCartney for encouraging the band to constantly record, which resulted in the release of so much music during their career.

“Paul loved to work more than all of us. John and I would be, like, hanging out in the garden and the phone would ring and we knew it was him,” Ringo says, adding, “I’ve always thanked him for being that guy because otherwise we’d have put, like, three albums out and vanished.”

Speaking of The Beatles output, Ringo also discusses the band's recently released new song, “Now and Then," which is being billed as the last new Beatles tune. He notes, “It’s a beautiful song and a nice way to finally close that door.”