The 10 Best Richard Perry Productions

Hot 100 peak: No. 10

Songwriter: Burton Cummings

Notes: This elegant power ballad was the first and biggest solo hit by the former lead singer of The Guess Who.

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Hot 100 peak: No. 18

Songwriters:  Al Dubin, Harry Warren

Notes: Perry was 17 when The Flamingos’ classic doo-wop version of this song was a No. 11 hit on the Hot 100 in 1959, but the song goes back much further than that. It was first a hit in 1934 for bandleaders Ben Selvin and Eddy Duchin. Garfunkel’s hypnotic and immaculate record was Perry’s valentine to the music of his youth (just as this list is mine).

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Hot 100 peak: No. 17

Songwriters: Barry Mann, Leo Sayer

Notes: This frisky, disco-accented track was Sayer’s follow-up to “When I Need You,” and helped brighten the mood after that rather somber ballad. It was the third top 20 hit from Sayer’s Endless Flight album, which made the top 10 on the Billboard 200 in June 1977. A lot of fans at the time thought “How Much Love” was by Elton John. It does have that EJ spark.

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Hot 100 peak: No. 5

Songwriters: Vini Poncia, Ringo Starr

Notes: This was the third consecutive top five hit on the Hot 100 from the Ringo album, following “Photograph” and “You’re Sixteen,” at a time when landing three top five hits from an album was a rarity. Martha Reeves and Merry Clayton sang backing vocals on the track. Billy Preston (piano and organ) and Tom Scott (sax) played on it.

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Hot 100 peak: No. 30 in 1982; No. 9 in 1984

Songwriters: Trevor Lawrence; Anita, June and Ruth Pointer

Notes: This exhilarating record “only” reached No. 30 when it was first released in 1982, but after a new mix was released in 1984, it finally earned the top 10 ranking it had deserved all along.

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Hot 100 peak: No. 1 (four weeks)

Songwriters: Tom Evans, Pete Ham

Notes: This power ballad was Perry’s longest-running No. 1 hit on the Hot 100 (though Carly Simon’s “You’re So Vain” logged more weeks in the top 10). “Without You” held off the Carpenters’ “Hurting Each Other,” keeping it to a No. 2 peak. Mariah Carey took the song to No. 3 in 1994.

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Hot 100 peak: No. 2

Songwriters: Marvin Hamlisch, Carole Bayer Sager

Notes: Were it not for Debby Boone’s “You Light Up My Life,” the longest-running No. 1 hit of the 1970s, this sexy, sophisticated song would have become Simon’s second No. 1 produced by Perry. Instead, it had to settle for three weeks at No. 2 behind a record whose massive success was a mystery, then and now. Here’s a consolation prize: This will always be at or near the top of just about everyone’s list of all-time favorite James Bond songs.

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Hot 100 peak: No. 3

Songwriters: Steve Mitchell, Marti Sharron, Gary Skardina

Notes: This catchy smash brought the group a Grammy for best pop performance by a duo or group with vocal. It later soundtracked one of the cleverest scenes in Love Actually, where the prime minister played by Hugh Grant is caught dancing to the beat. The subtitle “For My Love” was added to the title after Van Halen’s “Jump” became a No. 1 smash on the Hot 100 in early 1984.

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Hot 100 peak: No. 6

Songwriter: Laura Nyro

Notes: Streisand was a superstar when this record was released, but she wasn’t much of a pop hitmaker. This was her first top 10 hit on the Hot 100 since the exquisite “People” in 1964. Streisand was just 28 at the time, but she wasn’t really in touch with contemporary pop music. Enter Richard Perry, who brought her this Laura Nyro song and opened a new phase in Streisand’s career. Kudos to Streisand for having the courage (and talent) to pull this off and to Perry for pushing her in a new direction. By the end of the decade, Streisand ranked with Donna Summer and Linda Ronstadt as the hottest female singers in contemporary pop.

Fun Fact: Peggy Lipton, then one of the co-stars of ABC’s The Mod Squad, had bubbled under the Hot 100 with this song in 1968.

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Hot 100 peak: No. 1 (three weeks)

Songwriter: Carly Simon

Notes: It’s hard to believe this record is 52 years old. It still sounds hot and fresh today, from the opening bass notes and whispered “son of a gun” to Mick Jagger’s backing vocals. The record, a ferocious take-down of an unworthy lover, paved the way the way for such other take-downs as Linda Ronstadt’s “You’re No Good” and Alanis Morissette’s “You Oughta Know.” Janet Jackson interpolated the song in her 2001 hit “Son of a Gun (I Betcha Think This Song Is About You).” The long-running mystery of who the song is about (Warren Beatty, by most accounts) has grown tedious, but the record itself is a smash for the ages.

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