Maureen Cox was born on 4 August 1946 in Liverpool. She first met Ringo Starr at the Cavern Club, and the couple married on 11 February 1965, remaining together until 1975.
Maureen was born Mary Cox, the only child of Joseph (Joe) Cox, a ship steward, and his wife Florence (Flo) Barrett. Upon leaving school at 16, she began as a trainee hairdresser in Liverpool and changed her name to Maureen. To her friends she was also known as Mitch.
A regular at the Cavern Club, Maureen saw The Beatles perform a number of times and soon developed a crush on their drummer Ringo. She had previously gone out with Johnny Guitar from Ringo’s former band the Hurricanes, led by Rory Storm.
Maureen asked Ringo for his autograph in the street one day and wrote down his car number plate, but it was another three weeks before he noticed her attentions. Eventually he asked her to dance in the Cavern and they began dating.
Maureen later described having to be more guarded when watching The Beatles perform, because of the attention the group were beginning to receive from their female fans.
They used to hang around the Cavern all day long, just on the off chance of seeing them. They’d come out of the lunchtime session and just stand outside all afternoon, queuing up for the evening… The object was to get as near the front row as possible, so that they could see the Beatles, and be seen. I never joined the queue till about two or three hours before the Cavern opened. It frightened me. There would be fights and rows among the girls. When the doors opened the first ones would tear in, knocking each other over. Then when it got near the time for the Beatles to come on, if there was a gang of four say, they would go off in turns to the lavatory with their little cases to get changed and made up. So when the Beatles came on they’d look smashing, as if they’d just arrived.
When it became common knowledge that she was in a relationship with Ringo, she was subjected to attacks from the group’s fans. One scratched her on the face on 14 February 1963, as she waited outside Liverpool’s Locarno Ballroom for the group to leave after their performance. Although she feared for her life during the attack, she managed to wind the car window up in time.
As The Beatles’ fame grew, she and Ringo began to see less of each other. Ringo moved to London with the other Beatles, while Maureen stayed in Liverpool with her parents.
In September 1963, however, the couple went on a Greek holiday with Paul McCartney and Jane Asher. They all enjoyed the relative anonymity and lack of press attention, which wasn’t to last.
In May 1964 the four went on another holiday, to the Caribbean. Until that moment Maureen had largely avoided the attentions of the press, but suddenly found her name and picture in all the British newspapers.
It really did not surprise my wife or myself when we learned she was half way across the world. In any case it wouldn’t have made any difference. I would have given her permission anyway. Maureen is a sensible girl and well able to take care of herself.
Maureen had helped out at the Beatles Fan Club since 1962, answering fan mail sent to Ringo. Following their holiday in the Caribbean, Ringo introduced her to the press, jokingly calling her his private secretary.
I like answering the letters. I’ve been doing it for five years now. I get some lovely replies back from the parents.
The Beatles, Hunter Davies
When Ringo collapsed in June 1964 at a photo shoot just prior to The Beatles’ world tour, Maureen stayed at his London flat until he was released from hospital. He was suffering from tonsilitis, and although he rejoined the group during their Australian concerts, in December 1964 he returned to hospital to have his tonsils removed.
Maureen visited him during his convalescence, bringing him ice cream and remaining in London during Christmas. The time spent together strengthened their relationship, and in January 1965, at the Ad Lib club in London, Ringo went down on one knee and asked her to marry him.
They married soon after, on 11 February 1965 at Caxton Hall in Westminster, London. Brian Epstein was the best man, and the parents of the bride and groom attended, as did George Harrison and John and Cynthia Lennon.
Maureen was just 18 years old at the time of the wedding. The couple’s first child, Zak Starkey, was born on 13 September that year. The couple had two other children: Jason, born on 19 August 1967, and a daughter, Lee, on 11 November 1970.
The Starkeys enjoyed a relatively stable family life. Although she was content to avoid the spotlight whenever possible, Maureen did join in on the chorus to The Beatles’ song ‘The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill’.
Maureen also attended the 1969 concert on the roof of Apple, and can be heared cheering at the end of ‘Get Back’ on the Let It Be album. Paul McCartney can be heard acknowledging her enthusiasm, saying “Thanks Mo”.
It seems she was quite a special lady, loved by many people…Her affair with George has always been a Beatles little known tidbit.
Paul relates a funny anecdote about her trip to India with the Beatles in his autobiography.
Hi, I don’t know much about Maureen, but I’m sure many people do. This might sound like a silly question, but was she nice? In pictures, she always looks sort of angry. I’m not implying she is, but I was just wondering if anyone knew. 🙂
She left her husband and little children to be with George, so doesn’t seem like a very nice lady
She did NOT leave her husband and little children to be with George. First of all, at the very most, it was an affair that she had with George, and secondly, it was only a RUMOR that the affair happened. If there was an affair, it was VERY brief and it did not involve her leaving her family.
Actually in Pattie Boyd’ s autobiography, “Wonderful Tonight” she writes about George’s affair with Maureen and it actually lasted for a long time saying she sometimes even stayed days at their house the house was a big mansion with lots of rooms so it was hard to find her and kicked her out, but sometimes Pattie will find them in one of the rooms in the bed. That’s when she got tired and went to Eric Clapton.
As neither of you knew her perhaps you should keep your opinions to yourself!
But Penelope is right on target! It’s true
Scouse girl from boundary street kirkdale Liverpool just a few streets from where I lived .Good scouser nice girl sorry for what happened to her she was too good for him
I really think she was a good person but, we don’t know her, right?
Yes, she had an affair with George, but Ringo, at his own admission was an active alcoholic. Her four children, her Mother, Ringo and her husband at the time of her death, Ian Triggett were all at her bedside when she died. We should all be so loved.
Ringo was a drunk every picture he holds a drink. Good drummer but not a good husband until him and Barb got sober
Mo was a good person and mother to all her children affairs with George no friendship yes she needed to talk to someone.Mo was related to my wife.
We are all so fast to judge others. I always say that there are two sides to EVERY story. I am not condoning anyone having an affair while married. It isn’t morally right, but that is only my opinion. Maureen is gone. Let us all try to have something nice to say or nothing at all. I did not know her so I cannot say if she was a good or bad person. It doesn’t even matter at this point. She was a Beatles’ wife and I’m sure that she had enough crosses to bear being one. Rest in eternal peace, Maureen.
But that escalated quickly, never knew that coming.
Just finished reading Chris O Dells book. She was friends with Mo and wrote about the George affair. Mo claimed it was not a physical affair I don’t think George ever spoke publicly about it.
Like all of us Mo was human some times good sometimes bad.
I enjoyed the write-up: there’s a ton of facts there about her marriage to Richard I didn’t know. Dying of leukemia is something NO ONE should have to endure . . .
I just started reading about her lately…she had to have been a wonderful woman; she married Ringo, had 3 of their kids, all of the Beatles & their wives loved her. Depite what happened between her & George, nobody is a perfect human being & I’m sure she had her faults just like everyone else does. I’m sure besides the one BAD thing we heard about here, there a million good things about her as well. May her sould rest in peace.
my apologies for all of the typos… may her soul rest in peace.
I think she was a young girl who had too many babies too fast. Missed out on her youth and eventually found happiness. Bless her soul x
Personally, I think you’re all too fast to judge Maureen. And, not that I promote affairs within marriage, but Ringo cheated on Maureen in the first place. Aside from that he was also an alcoholic. She made a mistake like all of us do on weekly basis, and if you’re all too incautious to see that, just stay off her page.
To the people asking if she was mean; No, Maureen wasn’t mean at any point. Cynthia has described her as a lovely girl, very talkaktive and a good friend. And I’m sure if you ask Ringo, Maureen smiled loads off camera. In fact, she wasn’t too keen about the press as stated in the article, which is perhaps why she may have no expression on the photos.
Now, let’s all just grant this lovely little willow peace and love.
Josephine, people have a right to their opinions and these blogs are for expressing those – accurate or not.
If you can’t handle them, perhaps it is you who should stay away.
Well aren’t you a little ray of blackness 🙂
Look, it is well-known that Ringo had extramarital affairs and was an alcoholic, something that can bring out the worst in people, and he himself acknowledges that he was a drunk.
I personally think that even if he had never cheated on Maureen, let alone became an alcoholic, it’s possible that the marriage may still have disintegrated anyway, and you must note that Maureen was only 18 when she married Ringo, who was 24 at the time they married in 1965, so they were both relatively young.
I know that Maureen’s birth name was Mary Cox, but does anybody know if she ever changed her first name by deed poll to Maureen or was that just a nickname that she used all her life?