Ringo Starr has been called the greatest drummer in rock and roll. The drummer for the biggest band in rock history, The Beatles, may not be able to read music, but his natural feel propelled the band through progressive time changes that Starr made look deceptively easy.

Ringo Starr, born Richard Starkey in the Dingle, Liverpool, England, is in the Hall of Fame as a Beatle. He will now join John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison with a solo spot.

Starr was selected under a "musical excellence" category.

"I talked to Bruce Springsteen and I talked to Dave Grohl, and they both thought he should be in. And I said I'd do the induction. That took care of it," Paul McCartney told Rolling Stone magazine.

"I only knew about it when Paul McCartney called me and said, 'they want to honor you at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I'll be doing the speech for you. Will you accept?'" Starr told Yahoo News. "I said sure, how great is that?"

"I was as surprised as anyone when the phone call came - 'do you want to join?' - and I said sure, because I loved the band," Starr told Yahoo News. "It was not a difficult decision because I just loved to play with those three, not knowing where it was going to go, of course."

After the Beatles split at the end of the sixties, Ringo hit the charts first. "It Don't Come Easy," which he wrote with George Harrison started a string of hits that included ''Back Off Boogaloo," ''Photograph" and the cover of the song "You're Sixteen." In the midst of his own "lost weekend" or drinking and carousing, Starr put out the anti-drug and booze novelty hit "The No No Song," on his "Goodnight Vienna" album.

"I had all these hits and everybody was surprised," Ringo told Yahoo news. "I don't know why they were, but they were."

Starr is still at it at the age of 74. He tours regularly with his All-Star Band, each member having had at least three singles in the top of the charts. Starr's "All Starr Band" currently features Todd Rundgren, Steve Lukather of Toto, Richard Page of Mr. Mister and Gregg Rollie of Santana.

Ringo just released his newest album, "Postcards From Paradise."

Starr will join Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Green Day, Bill Withers, Lou Reed, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Joan Jett, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band and the "5'' Royales.