Ringo Starr might have been the last Beatle to be inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo act, but according to one close associate, he was the "most influential" member of the group. The author of those words? Yoko Ono, John Lennon's widow.

Speaking to Rolling Stone, she admitted that "[n]o one is probably going to believe it," but she backed up her claim by citing his perpetually easy-going manner as the reason for his enduring popularity. "John would go up and down and all that," she said, "but Ringo was always just very gentle [...] He just sort of embodies peace and love."

Ono was thrilled for Starr to be honored so many years after the others were inducted as solo acts, adding that "means so much to all of us in the Beatle family" and that "[i]t would have been better if George [Harrison] and John were here, too."

But like many others, she was surprised that it took so long. "For some reason John got it, then George got it, then Paul [McCartney] got it," she continued. "So why didn’t they think about Ringo?"

Starr entered the hall last night (April 18), with Paul McCartney speaking about what it was like when Starr replaced Pete Best on the eve of their first session with Parlophone in 1962. “I remember the moment, standing there and looking at John and looking at George and the look on our faces was … f—ing … what is this? And that was the moment, really, that was the beginning of the Beatles.”

See the Beatles and Other Rockers in the Top 100 Albums of the '60s

You Think You Know the Beatles?

More From Ultimate Classic Rock