Starr Duets With Mccartney On New Album

The former Fab Four stars team up for Walk With You, a duet all about friendship, on Starr's latest project Y Not, which will hit stores in January (10).

Starr recalls, "Paul was doing the Grammys, so he came over to the house and I played him this track and Paul said, 'Give me the headphones. Give me a pair of cans.’ And he went to the mic and he just invented that part where he follows on my vocal. That was all Paul MCCartney, and there could be nothing better... He's a genius."

The new album marks the first time Starr has produced himself and he insists he was ready for the studio challenge: "I looked in the mirror and I was looking real groovy that day."

However, he accepts many fans will be surprised to learn he's the man twiddling the knobs on the project: "I was the least involved in the production of the Beatles records. And then, with my solo records, I worked with some other great producers like Richard Perry, Arif Mardin, and Don Was. So it just seemed like that’s the way that it goes.

"Then suddenly, it’s another point in your life, and you say, 'I’m going to do this now.' So I’ll be producing anything I make from now on. That’s the good news. It’s a confidence thing, I suppose. And Y Not is really another way of me saying, 'Yes, I can'."

As well as MCCartney, the guests on the album include Starr's former brother-in-law Joe Walsh, Dave Stewart, Joss Stone, Ben Harper and Van Dyke Parks, who co-wrote the song Starr sings with MCCartney.

MCCartney also played bass on his old bandmate's latest peace track, Peace Dream.