Legendary Rocker Turns 85 — Once Shared Secret to His Longevity

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Legendary Rocker Turns 85 — Once Shared Secret to His Longevity originally appeared on Parade.

Ringo Starr knows a thing or two about longevity.

On July 7, the living legend, and one of the two surviving members of The Beatles, turned 85 years-old— the only band member to achieve that particular birthday to date. But, anyone who's seen him perform in recent years wouldn't know it. Not only does Starr look nearly two decades younger than he is, but he works the stage like it, too.

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"At a recent All-Starr Band performance at Radio City Music Hall, he bounded onstage with the springy energy of a man half his age and spent much of the show behind an elevated drum kit, bopping away," wrote Lindsay Zoladz in a recent profile of Starr for the New York Times.

After seven decades in the spotlight, Starr shows no signs of slowing down. He's active on social media, using his platform to promote peace and love. He's still releasing timely, relevant records— his most recent of which dropped earlier this year.

So, what's his secret to being ageless at 85?

In a 2019 exclusive interview with Parade, Starr shared the daily routines that have kept him feeling his best and defying his age, both on and off-stage.

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"I get up in the morning and I meditate. I go to the gym and I have a trainer, and I work out myself too, when I’m on the road," he said. "I’m a vegetarian. When we’re on tour, to get out of the hotel, I usually go to the local organic shop just to see what they’ve got. But I’m only a vegetarian, not a vegan. I eat goat cheese. A vegan is very hard, and they eat a lot of sugar. I’m careful about sugar."

Starr, who has been a vegetarian since 1965, explained to Parade that his reasons are purely ethical.

"I can’t understand the breeding and killing and eating of all of those animals. In America, there’s got to be a billion chickens being grown. But we know, as a fact, that you can grow more food on an acre of land than you can with some creature walking on it."

But, Starr isn't the only Beatle to eat a vegetarian diet. In an interview with WIRED, Paul McCartney also explained that he is a vegetarian. "I’ll tell you why," he said. "It’s a compassion thing for animals. And it’s the kind of thing that I recognize that a lot of people think it’s dumb…. All the creatures on the planet, that live on this planet, this one little sphere in space, we’ve all got a shot at a life. And so many animals don’t.”

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For Starr, it's the simple things: eating well, exercising and meditating that keep him young. It just goes to show that even for the biggest talents in the world, it really is all about the little things.

Legendary Rocker Turns 85 — Once Shared Secret to His Longevity first appeared on Parade on Jul 7, 2025

This story was originally reported by Parade on Jul 7, 2025, where it first appeared.