Former The Who drummer Zak Starkey has claimed the band’s frontman, Roger Daltrey, told him he was being “retired,” rather than “fired”.
The 59-year-old musician, who is the son of legendary Beatles drummer Ringo Starr, made headlines on Friday when it was reported The Who had let him go for a second time in a matter of weeks.
He has since been replaced by Scott Devours, who drums in Daltrey’s solo band.
On Instagram, Starkey attempted to clear up the confusion around his departure from the veteran rock band.
“NOISE&CONFUSION!!!!” he wrote. “I had a great phone chat with Roger at the end of last week which truly confused both of us!!!
“Rog said I hadn’t been ‘fired’…I had been ‘retired’ to work n my own projects. I explained to Rog that I have just spent nearly 8 weeks at my studio in Jamaica completing these projects, that my group Mantra Of The Cosmos was releasing one single at the beginning of June and after that had run its course ( usually 5/6 weeks ) I was completely available for the foreseeable future…. Rog said ‘Oh!’ and we kind of left it there.”
Starkey concluded the post: “On good terms and great friends as we have always been . Gotta love these guys. As my mum used to say ‘The mind boggles!!!’”
He was first fired in March after an apparent row over his performance at the rock band’s Royal Albert Hall concert, then reinstated shortly after he made his firing public. The band put the dispute down to “communication issues”.
Two weeks later, it was again announced he had been fired.
The news was made public first by guitarist Pete Townshend, who shared it with his followers on social media, and then confirmed by Starkey, who made his feelings about the decision clear. Starkey said he had been asked to claim that this time, he was quitting of his own accord.
“This would be a lie,” he wrote. “I love The Who and would never have quit.”
Townshend had said, in text written over a photo: “After many years of great work on drums from Zak the time has come for a change. A poignant time. Zak has lots of new projects in hand and I wish him the best.”
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Devours, who will now join The Who on their farewell US tour, shared an Instagram post in which he said Daltrey and Townshend had “once again changed my life forever”.
“It’s hard to express the tsunami of emotions that I’m processing since that incredible news, but there are a couple of things I feel compelled to say,” he wrote.
“The first is that I need to thank all the family, friends and fans for the countless messages, texts and emails congratulating me and sharing their excitement… The amount of positivity thrown my way has been overwhelming, I truly thank you all from the bottom of my heart. Also, please don’t ask me for tickets, lol.”
Devours, 58, then addressed the fans who he expected would not accept him “or anyone” as The Who drummer other than Starkey.
“I know that this will be the case for some and I acknowledge that,” he said. “For others, perhaps the jury is still out. Maybe I’ll need to let the music do the talking?
“In my world, there are no bigger shoes to fill than those behind Pete and Roger. The weight of this responsibility is enormous and I am feeling every ounce of it.”
He continued: “What I want to say to all of the fans is that I will do everything I can to honor the legacy of The Who, Zak, Kenney Jones, Simon Phillips and the memory of the great Keith Moon.
“For my name to even be mentioned in a sentence like that literally sends shivers down my spine and I know I need to earn this honour.”
Starkey first joined The Who in 1996 for their Quadrophenia tour. He was introduced to drumming by the band’s former drummer Keith Moon, who died in 1978. Moon was a family friend who gifted Starkey a drum kit as a child.
