Why Billy Squier Won’t Tour With Ringo Starr

Billy Squier looked back at the time when he declined an offer to tour with Ringo Starr‘s All-Starr Band and he was told he would never be hired again.

In a recent conversation with Eddie Trunk, Squier revealed that it was not the first time he got invited to the former Beatles’ touring band, whom he’s currently touring with. He said:

“Ringo actually asked me to go out with him around 2000, and I didn’t.

“I felt that it was incredibly flattering just to be asked to do it. But I had two little godchildren in my life, and I really wanted to spend the summer with them. So I thanked him and didn’t do it.”

He added:

“It was quite interesting because the guy who’d left him at that time told my agent, ‘Billy will never work in this industry again.’ It’s one of those lines – you go, ‘What? OK, well, that’s the way it goes!’ I know why I’m doing what I’m doing.”

Starr then took it back and called him again and that’s when he said yes. Squier explained:

“I thought, ‘Yeah, why not? It could be fun.’ You know, they take care of you, you play with some great musicians, you play with a Beatle – how bad can it be? It was great – I had a great time. I did a couple of years with him and that sorta got me going again.”

Years after quitting the band, Squier wrote and recorded his first songs however, he didn’t formally release them and only briefly made them available on his website. Now that he’s back in the game with the recent release of a new song, “Harder on a Woman,” he mentioned that the recordings he made back then will eventually be made available for the public.