Ringo Starr celebrates another milestone today, Monday, July 7th, his 85th birthday.

And, as he's done the past 17 years, he invited everyone around the world to proclaim "peace and love" at noon local time.

He did it at noon in Beverly Hills Garden Park in Beverly Hills, California, home to his stainless-steel, eight-foot-tall, 800-pound peace sculpture.

His brother-in-law Joe Walsh, plus Ed Begley Junior, Jackson Browne, T Bone Burnett, Colin Hay, Jim Keltner, Steve Lukather, Richard Marx, Linda Perry and others were also there.

Ringo’s message of Peace & Love will again be broadcast to the universe when it's beamed to the Moon and back to Earth, courtesy of Intuitive Machines through their transmission partner Goonhilly Earth Station in the United Kingdom. They will transmit Ringo’s message in intervals to the Moon, where it will bounce off the lunar surface and will return to Earth by Goonhilly’s GHY-3 antenna.

Also at noon PT he gave the command to the mission control team in Houston and his message of Peace and Love was sent to the International Space Station (ISS).

Ringo says, “It's so great how this keeps growing -- we are in 38 countries!!! And we can't forget the guys in the spaceship!..."

Here on Earth, Ringo is...

The oldest of The Beatles. He was born Richard Starkey in the Dingle section of Liverpool on July 7th, 1940.
At 5-feet-6, he's the shortest of the four.
John Lennon was three months and two days younger than him.
He left Rory Storm & The Hurricanes to replace Pete Best as The Beatles' drummer on August 14th, 1962.
George Martin initially underestimated Ringo's skill: on the Beatles' first single, "Love Me Do," he was relegated to playing tambourine while session man Andy White played drums.
"Yellow Submarine" was his most successful vocal performance with The Beatles.
His first two solo albums were the standards collection Sentimental Journey and the country Beaucoups of Blues.
George Harrison produced and co-wrote his first two solo hits: "It Don't Come Easy" and "Back off Boogaloo."
"Photograph" -- also co-written with Harrison -- was his first number-one in 1973.
Ringo played Mister Conductor on the PBS children's show Shining Time Station.
He's been married to his second wife, actress Barbara Bach, since 1981. Her sister Marjorie is married to Joe Walsh.
Ringo's son Zak -- from his first marriage to Maureen -- was The Who's drummer until this past spring.
Ringo is the most active of the two surviving Beatles, with Paul McCartney being the other. He tours with his All-Starr Band every year, and has released five EPs since 2021, and Look Up, a new country album, his 21st studio effort, earlier this year.
He was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame with The Beatles in 1988 and for his solo work in 2015.
He'll be back on the road with his All Starr Band starting September 10th in Chicago.

Bruce Cockburn