**Before the Beatlemania: Ringo Starr and Maureen Cox’s Forbidden First Love**
Long before the world knew him as Ringo Starr—the drummer of the most famous band in history—he was Richard Starkey, a wiry, ambitious kid from Liverpool with a dream and a drum kit. In the early 1960s, he fell head over heels for Maureen Cox, a striking teenage hairdresser with eyeliner sharp enough to cut glass and a spirit to match. Their chemistry was undeniable—but their path was anything but smooth.
Maureen, still in school when they met, was raised in a strict Irish Catholic household. Her parents, especially her mother, saw Richie as trouble. He had no stable job, played in dive bars with a scrappy band, and came from the Dingle, one of Liverpool’s tougher neighborhoods. In their eyes, he wasn’t a future son-in-law—he was a phase to outgrow.
But to Maureen, he was everything.
She would sneak out of the house to meet him, sometimes slipping through bedroom windows or pretending she was working late. Ringo, equally smitten, would stand outside the salon where she worked, hands jammed in his coat pockets, just to catch a glimpse of her between clients. Friends remember those early days as both electric and tense—two young lovers caught between family expectations and rock ’n’ roll dreams.
Their connection only deepened as The Beatles rose to fame. Despite the growing chaos around them, Ringo and Maureen clung to the bond forged before the spotlight. In 1965, to the surprise of many (and likely the dismay of some), they married in a quiet ceremony.
While their story would later take complicated turns, those early years were pure, rebellious, and deeply human. Before the private jets and screaming fans, it was just Richie and Maureen—two kids in love, trying to outrun the world
’s judgment.
