A legendary songwriter who has worked with some of the biggest stars in the world has revealed the moment he thought he'd ruined his first impression with Ringo Starr.
Gary Burr, who has penned hits and performed with the likes of Kenny Loggins, Carole King, Kelly Clarkson, Charles Esten and Reba McEntire, has been close to the former Beatles star for over two decades. However, he admits he feared he had upset the icon just minutes into their first meet.
Opening up exclusively to the Mirror, Gary revealed: "The first time I ever worked with him, the band was on stage and we were working for about three days without him before he got there to make sure we knew all the songs right and properly. Then he showed up and I was on stage with him and had barely said hello to him.
"We were working on Back Off Bugaloo and the musical director, Mark Hudson, had asked me what I was singing in the bridge. I said 'well in the bridge, I sing the third above the first two lines and then the last two lines I double Ring."
It was that moment he thought he was about to be booted off stage. "Ringo looked at me and said, 'I've known him five minutes and I'm Ring'. Needless to say I thought I was going home on the next plane, but we got along pretty well after that."
Shortly after, to calm the nerves, Mark took American Gary to one side to explain that if Ringo - or anyone from Liverpool for that matter - like you, they will "give you s***. But it's something Gary says he still hasn't became accustomed to even after 20 years. He explained he told Mark: "Well I hope he doesn't like me too much, because he's going to give me a heart attack."
Gary gushed that Ringo is one of the "funniest guys" he has ever worked with before labelling him "really sweet and sincere". He also explained the one bit of advice the Liverpudlian - and also Kenny Loggins - gave him that has continued to stick. "I have to learn how to stay being me," he said. "It's very tempting when you write with people like that to just agree with whatever comes out of their mouth.
"You have to have enough confidence in yourself to step in and not just agree with anything that comes out of their mouth, because you'll be doing them - and yourself - a disservice."
It's advice that has continued to work for Gary, who has written on "just about every one of his albums since 2002". "Every time he's doing a record, I go out to his place, and we sit down, and we write a song, and we go into a studio, and he'll play drums, I'll play guitar and sing a rough version of it."
Gary went on to joke that going out in public with the Beatles drummer is like being spotted with a Smurf. He said: "Its so fun seeing people's reactions because it's like they're seeing a Smurf. It's like 'oh my God, I've heard they exist but I've never actually seen one' [a member of The Beatles]. He's very nice about it."
The talented songwriter was speaking after the launch of his book, titled Reunion, which focuses on a fictional reuniting of The Beatles. The publication has quickly landed the top spot on Amazon new releases, much to Gary's delight after changing his writing style.
Explaining the concept of the book, he told us: "It's a 'what if' story. I call it a rock and roll fairytale. It's one of those, there for a little twist of fate. This twist of fate lets John Lennon stay alive and Paul McCartney decide it's time to pick up the phone and call his three oldest friends to see if they can put on a benefit show and be the Beatles once more and one of the worries is that Beatle mania is going to start all over again. Or, what is the whole world think it's just four old guys up on stage.
"It's a will they or won't they kind of thing. It has you on the edge of your seat. From the reviews so far, it has a lot of people laughing and a lot of people crying. [Some people] say they didn't want it to end because they were back there again."
Reunion is available to buy now on Amazon Books.
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