He is also a veteran impressionist and singer, with a chart album and UK top 10 single to his credit. In the early 1960s, Starr was the lead singer of the Merseybeat pop group The Midniters. The group was promoted by the manager of the Beatles, Brian Epstein, and was recorded on the Decca label by Joe Meek, the producer of the single Telstar. During this period Starr performed in nightclubs in Hamburg and was an acquaintance of the Beatles. In a 1998 Record Collector interview, Ritchie Blackmore, the future Deep Purple and Rainbow guitarist, mentions that Starr's band had supported The Beatles in Liverpool in 1962 and had "blown them off stage." More on Wikipedia…