Who was “Billy Shears” referred to the Beatles “Sgt Peppers Lonely Heart Club Band”?
Ringo Starr is introduced on Sgt. Pepper as Billy Shears. Billy Shears is only mentioned in the title song and, implicitly, as the singer of the segued-into “With a Little Help from My Friends”. Billy Shears was later mentioned in Starr’s 1973 hit “I’m the Greatest”, written by John Lennon: “Yes, my name is Billy Shears / You know it has been for so many years.” In the 1978 RSO movie Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, a character called Billy Shears is played by Peter Frampton. In the 1968 animated movie Yellow Submarine, the Lennon character asks Jeremy “Who in the Billy Shears are you?” and the Billy Shears line from the song is played, but referring to Lennon instead.
