Ringo Starr Is the Only Ex-Beatle to Achieve These Hot 100 Feats
UMe’s announcement today that it is reissuing Ringo Starr’s first four solo albums on colored vinyl on Oct. 24 puts a spotlight on his celebrated 1973 album Ringo, which enabled him to set a pair of Billboard Hot 100 records that he holds to this day.
Starr is the only ex-Beatle to land two No. 1 singles from one studio album and the only one to release back-to-back singles that both reached No. 1. Starr topped the Hot 100 in November 1973 with “Photograph,” which he co-wrote with his former Beatles bandmate George Harrison. His follow-up, “You’re Sixteen,” a jaunty remake of a 1960 hit by Johnny Burnette, reached No. 1 in January 1974.
Both singles were released from Starr’s third studio album, Ringo, which was produced by Richard Perry, one of the hottest producers of the era. (Perry died last December at age 82.) Starr’s first two studio albums were Sentimental Journey, a 1970 collection drawn from the Great American Songbook, and Beaucoups of Blues, a 1970 country- and folk-shaded album recorded in Nashville. So Ringo was his first contemporary pop/rock album. On the album, Starr collaborated with his Beatles bandmates John Lennon, Paul McCartney and Harrison, as well as Harry Nilsson, Martha Reeves, Billy Preston, Marc Bolan of T. Rex and The Band’s Robbie Robertson, Garth Hudson, Levon Helm and Rick Danko, among others.
Released on Nov. 2, 1973, Ringo reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200. It was Starr’s highest-charting album, which makes him the only ex-Beatle not to top the Billboard 200. Ringo was kept out of the top spot by Elton John’s classic double album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. (There were no hard feelings: John contributed to Starr’s follow-up album, Goodnight Vienna, co-writing “Snookeroo” and playing piano on the track.)
Source: Paul Grein/billboard.com
