Maureen Starkey

Maureen Starkey Tigrett
Still of Maureen from the "Something" promotional video
Born	Mary Cox (1946-08-04)4 August 1946 Liverpool, UK
Died	30 December 1994(1994-12-30) (aged 48) Seattle, Washington, US
Cause of death	Leukaemia
Nationality	British
Other names	Mo Starkey
Occupation	Hairdresser
Spouse(s)	Ringo Starr (m. 1965–75) Isaac Tigrett (m. 1989–94)
Children	Zak Starkey Jason Starkey Lee Starkey Augusta Tigrett
Parent(s)	Joseph Cox Florence Barrett

Maureen "Mo" Starkey Tigrett (born Mary Cox; 4 August 1946 – 30 December 1994) was a hairdresser from Liverpool, England, best known as the first wife of the Beatles' drummer, Ringo Starr. She met Starr at The Cavern Club, where the Beatles were playing, when she was a trainee hairdresser in Liverpool. Starr proposed marriage at the Ad-Lib Club in London, on 20 January 1965. They married at the Caxton Hall Register Office, London, in 1965, and divorced in 1975.

First living at 34 Montagu Square, Marylebone, the Starrs bought Sunny Heights, in St George's Hill, Weybridge. In 1973, they bought Tittenhurst Park from John Lennon. They had three children together: Zak, Jason, and a daughter, Lee. As a favour to Starr, Frank Sinatra taped a special version of "The Lady Is a Tramp" re-written by Sammy Cahn for Maureen's 22nd birthday in 1968.

Maureen died at home of leukemia on 30 December 1994, after receiving treatment at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington. Her four children, mother, then-husband and ex-husband Starr were at her bedside when she died.

Mary Cox was born on 4 August 1946, in Liverpool, England. She was the only child of Joseph Cox, a ship's steward, and Florence Cox (née Barrett). As a teenager, she remembered turning her school uniform around to make it look like a frock, and paying a school friend ten cigarettes a day to teach her how to "smoke properly". She left convent school when she was 14 years old, changing her name to Maureen when she began her career as a trainee manicurist/hairdresser at Ashley du Pre, in Liverpool, but was known as "Mo" to her friends.

At 15, Cox became a regular at The Cavern Club, and remembered the long queues and violent competition for access to the Beatles. Although she got a kiss from Ringo, whom she called ‘Ritchie’ (for Richard), he did not immediately notice her among his numerous fans. All the Beatles were supposed to be officially unattached, for image purposes, and when Ringo started dating Cox, she was often threatened, and once scratched in the face by a vicious rival. She even had to stop working as a hairdresser because of the threats. In September 1963, with her parents' permission, she travelled to Greece with Starr, McCartney and Jane Asher.