Ringo Starr a Liverpool equipment manufacturer. While working at the facility Starkey befriended Roy Trafford, and the two bonded over their shared interest in music. Trafford introduced Starkey to skiffle, and he quickly became a fervent admirer. Starr is the only Beatle who did not have any Irish heritage. Soon after Trafford piqued Starkey's interest in skiffle, the two began rehearsing songs in the manufacturing plant's cellar during their lunch breaks. Trafford recalled: "I played a guitar, and [Ritchie] just made a noise on a box ... Sometimes, he just slapped a biscuit tin with some keys, or banged on the backs
Sunshine Life for Me (Sail Away Raymond) Sixteen". In his book "The Beatles Solo on Apple Records", Bruce Spizer describes the first five tracks on "Ringo" as "one of the strongest album sides produced by any ex-Beatle". The album cover consisted of a painting by Tim Bruckner in which Harrison, the four members of the Band and all the other musicians on the recording appear, alongside Starr. The song was published by the Material World Charitable Foundation, which Harrison had set up in April 1973. Comparing "Sunshine Life for Me" with the devout lyrical content of "Living in the Material World", Beatles biographer Nicholas Schaffner opined that