Richard Perry, my friend, was probably the most successful record producer of the 70s, 80s, 2000s. His work included classic records by Ringo Starr, Carly Simon, the Pointer Sisters, Rod Stewart, and on and on.
This week, Ringo’s two biggest albums, “Ringo!” and “Goodnight Vienna” are being relaunched in beautiful, heavy vinyl. Ringo and Richard had a lot of hits off those albums including “Photograph,” “You’re Sixteen,” “Oh My My,” “The No No Song,” and “I’m the Greatest.”
“Ringo!” was the first album after the Beatles’ breakup to feature all of the Fab Four. Paul McCartney contributed a song called “Six O’Clock.” John Lennon and George Harrison also wrote songs and sang and played on the album.
To celebrate the vinyl, I’ve dug up some of Richard’s memories from his memoir, “Cloud Nine,” which you can buy on amazon.com. Richard passed away on Christmas Eve 2024 but his legacy is heard every day around the clock on radio stations all over the world.
Here’s a taste of Richard’s book. For the rest, download it or buy it on Amazon.
“For over a year [1972], I tried to convince Ringo to make a different kind of solo album, one that would fully reflect the personality and charm of his voice—like a Beatles record with Ringo singing lead on every track. I was insistent but he was resistant, not wanting to devote five months to making a record (that’s how long it took to make the last few Beatles’ albums).
The idea remained on the shelf for a year until, one day, I got a call from the producer of the upcoming Grammy awards show asking me if I could persuade Harry Nilsson to be a presenter, as our album, Nilsson Schmilsson, was nominated in nearly every major category. Since Nilsson had never appeared live in his entirecareer, I told them I seriously doubted that he would comply.
But suddenly a light bulb went off in my head! Knowing that Harry and Ringo had become very good friends, I told the Grammy people if they could get Ringo to do it with him I was sure Nilsson would agree, even though they would have to travel to Nashville, as that is where the awards were being held for the first and last time. My hunch was right on the money. A few days later, I got a call from Ringo. “Hey Rich, I’m not going to come all that way there just to present a f*-cking Grammy award. You know how you’ve been talking about doing an album? Well why don’t we go into the studio in Nashville and see what happens.”
I said, “Great idea Ring (my nickname for him), but I would strongly recommend that we go back to LA and do the sessions there. All our friends that we would want to play on the album are already there. It’s just a better environment for the record we want to make.” It made a lot of sense, and he agreed. Little did I know that my idea of asking Ringo to co-present the Grammy with Nilsson would open the door to making my dream come true.
Two weeks later, we all arrived in Nashville and met in Ringo’s hotel suite to play some song ideas for the proposed album. First, he played me a song he had written with George Harrison called “Photograph.” It had a haunting yet romantic melody very symbolic of George’s best songs with a simple yet penetrating lyric.”
“Just before we left for the weekend break [from recording], Ringo told me that he had heard from John Lennon who had gotten the buzz on the album in New York and had written a song especially for it. He was coming to LA over the weekend, and would be at the studio Monday night. Ringo was psyched and so was I.
John had a very electric presence. He walked into the studio with May Pang, Yoko’s former assistant, whom she’d handpicked as her replacement for John, as they had just separated. She felt that this was better than John carousing around looking for chicks. I think this says a lot about Yoko’s love for John. I played him the tracks we had cut, and he responded with the enthusiasm of a teenager. When “You’re Sixteen” started playing, he thrust his fist in the air and started screaming. He predicted it would be a big hit.
Finally, it was time to hear John’s song. It was called “I’m The Greatest” and he wrote it as a chronology of Ringo’s life and career with the Beatles. We all went out to the studio, eager to hear it for the first time. John sat down at the piano and started singing and playing the song in his unique percussive piano style. He rarely played piano on a Beatles record, so it had a very fresh and very ‘Beatle-esque’ sound.”
The sessions for “Ringo!” went so well that Perry was able to convince Ringo, John, and George to appear at a tented fundraiser where Barbra Streisand — whom Richard also produced — was scheduled to sing.
He recalls:
“The next afternoon I called Ringo. He was in a good mood, so I thought I’d give it a shot. I said, “Ring, forgive me for even bringing this up, but there’s this Hollywood fundraising event tonight, etc., etc.” He said he would mention it to John. No more than five minutes later, he called back. He said that John, ever the fan, not only would like to go, but he would be there with bells on, eager to meet Burt [Lancaster and Kirk [Douglas].
That evening, I picked up John, George, and Ringo in my 1961 Bentley, which once belonged to the famous film producer, Mervin LeRoy. I even had his original license plates: MLR 400. They only made fifty of these cars. As we were riding down Sunset heading towards Bel-Air, what song should come on the radio? “Walk On The Wild Side” by Lou Reed. Talk about the perfect song for the perfect moment! Totally surreal! When we arrived at the house everyone was already seated for dinner in the tent.
There were two women sitting at a desk in the entry hall to check people in as they arrived. John blew past them and bellowed out, “RICHARD PERRY AND FRIENDS HAVE ARRIVED!” As they entered the tent, you could hear a pin drop. The crème de la crème of Hollywood couldn’t believe that the Beatles had just entered the room!”
