Ringo Starr will release a new hardcover coffee table book on February 14. Lifted – Fab Images and Memories in My Life With the Beatles From Across the Universe, which benefits the Lotus Foundation charity, will be available exclusively online at Julien’s Auctions.
“I am not writing this book as a Beatle historian,” the drummer said in a statement. “I’m writing this book as a Beatle — and there’s only a couple of us who can do that.”
Detailing how the project began, Starr noted that he didn’t keep all the photos that appear in the book.
“These fantastic images came back to me in recent years from here, there and everywhere — online and off — and have somehow helped me get back to seeing my life with the Fab Four through fresh eyes,” he explained. “A lot of the photos in this book I spotted on my phone and on my computer, and ‘lifted’ them because they brought back so many fabulous memories. In recent years, I’d gather these Beatles photos that I sometimes barely remembered.”
He started to think it would be a good idea to combine these photos, along with some other personal favorites, in book form. He also decided to include his own reflections, telling “my true tales that they inspire about what the four of us — John, Paul, George and Ringo — went through back in the day.”
Commenting further about the book, Starr said he’s enjoyed revisiting the Beatles era in photographic form. “When people ask me about the Beatles, I often tell them, ‘You better ask Paul,’ because somehow he seems to remember everything,” he said.
“But along with great projects like Get Back, seeing so many of these amazing Beatles images has really brought back those days to me, and all the love and friendship that we four shared back then. So this is a book full of Beatle images that many people haven’t seen and stories that I’m sharing with a little help from my longtime writer friend David Wild. We’ve all been through a pretty tough time for a lot of people who’ve been locked down, and this book has really lifted my spirits and took me back to where I once belonged in a whole new way. And in the end, that’s why this new book is called Lifted. The Beatles changed my life forever. So it’s about getting back and giving back.”
Visit Julien’s Auctions official website for more information.