The Who have parted ways with Zak Starkey, son of Ringo Starr and the band’s drummer since 1996, in what appears to be a dispute over his playing at the band’s concert last month at London’s Royal Albert Hall.
“The band made a collective decision to part ways with Zak after this round of shows at the Royal Albert Hall,” a representative for the band said in a statement to the Guardian. “They have nothing but admiration for him and wish him the very best for his future.” A rep for the band’s management did not immediately respond to Variety‘s request for further comment.
Frontman Roger Daltrey seemed displeased with Starkey’s playing during the concert last month, which was a benefit for the Teenage Cancer Trust. According to a report in the U.K.’s Metro, Daltrey, 81, paused the group’s final song, “The Song Is Over,” saying, “To sing that song I do need to hear the key, and I can’t. All I’ve got is drums going boom, boom, boom. I can’t sing to that. I’m sorry, guys.”
Starkey, 59, hinted at the move in a pun-filled Instagram post over the weekend, in which he used his first name in place of the verb “sack,” British slang for being fired. In a caption a photo of himself with Daltrey, he wrote in all-caps: “Heard today from inside source within whose horses nose that Toger Daktrey lead singer and principal songwriter of the group unhappy with Zak the drummer’s performance at the Albert Hall a few weeks ago is bringing formal charges of overplaying and is literally going to zak the drummer and bring on a reserve from ‘the burwash carwash skiffle ‘n’ tickle glee club harmony without empathy allstars’ this has been confirmed by whose long time manager willya youwontyouknow.”
The songwriter comment was presumably a dig at Daltrey, who has contributed writing to just a handful of songs over the Who’s six-decade-plus career, with Pete Townshend famously writing the overwhelming majority of the band’s legendary material.
Starkey, whose father was close friends with original Who drummer Keith Moon and grew up with him as a mentor, became the band’s full-time drummer in 1996, nearly 20 years after Moon’s death.
Daltrey also had a contentious relationship with Moon’s replacement, former Faces and Small Faces drummer Kenney Jones, who performed with the group in the years after Moon’s death in 1978. He played with the group on its first “Farewell” tour in 1982 but did not return when it reunited seven years later.
Over the years Starkey has also played with Oasis — and conceivably could join that group on its upcoming reunion tour, as the lineup has not been announced — former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr, reggae legends Sly and Robbie, as well as Ringo. He recently performed with a group called Mantra of the Cosmos with ‘90s British indie veterans Shaun Ryder and Bez of the Happy Mondays and Andy Bell of Oasis and Ride.
