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November 24, 1973
After an absence of two years, Ringo Starr returned to the Billbaord Hot 100, topping it on this day in ’73 with the song Photograph.
The gap began when Starr pursued an acting career after recording his first two albums Sentimental Journey and Beaucoup Of Blues in 1970 and 1971.
Meanwhile, two hits from those sessions kept Ringo on the singles charts – his first million-seller It Don’t Come Easy (1971 • #4) from the 1970 debut album, and Back Off Boogaloo (1972 • #9) a non-album single recorded in ’71
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Starr returned to the studio in March of 1973 to begin recording his third studio LP – and the drummer’s most productive – called Ringo. It contained his two biggest hits, Photograph and You’re Sixteen (see below) and although only reaching the U.S. Top 10, it topped the album charts in Canada, Spain and Sweden.
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After being issued in the U.S. on September 24, 1973, ‘Photograph’ passed Keep On Truckin’, the solo hit by the former co-lead vocalist of The Temptations, Eddie Kendricks. But the record would spend just one week at #1 – replaced by The Carpenters‘ Top Of The World.
Listen for ex-fellow Beatles‘ member George Harrison playing 12-string guitar and singing back-up vocals on the song.
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PHOTOGRAPH
Ringo Starr
[1973]
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EXTRA STUFF!
YOU’RE SIXTEEN
Ringo Starr
[1973]
Ringo’s second and only other #1, and last of three singles to sell a million copies, was the cover version of a 1960 hit by American rockabilly star Johnny Burnette called You’re Sixteen.
On this one it’s Harry Nilsson on backing vocals and ex-Beatle Paul McCartney, who used his voice to re-create the sound of a kazoo.
A third single followed in 1974, also from the ‘Ringo’ Album, called Oh My My (#5) and after that, only two more tunes would crack Billboard’s uppermost ten: the cover version of The Platters‘ 1955 ballad Only You (1970 • #6) and No No Song (1975 • #3) (#OnThisDay… October 26, 1999) written by the great Hoyt Axton.
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PHOTOGRAPH
Ringo Starr
(Official Video)
[1973]
The official video for Photograph was filmed at a very significant Beatles’ location, the 26-room Georgian mansion Tittenhurst Park, Ascot, Berkshire and the site of the final group photo shoot for their Hey Jude album when the estate had just been purchased by John Lennon and Yoko Ono.
There, Lennon recorded both his album Imagine and its accompanying documentary The Making Of Imagine.
The couple sold the property to Ringo in September of 1973 where Starr then held this video session, where various aspects of the mansion are seen.
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Song Source: The Music Vault of HouseoftheHits, Inc.
Billboard® Chart Data: Joel Whitburn’s Record Research (eBook Editions)
Record Sleeve & Label Graphics: Courtesy of 45cat
