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Bad Boy (Ringo Starr album)

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Bad Boy
Studio album by
Ringo Starr
Released21 April 1978 (1978-04-21)
RecordedNovember 1977
Studios
  • Redwing Studios, Tarzana
  • Elite, Bahamas
  • Can-Base, Vancouver
  • Soundstage, Toronto
GenreRock
Length34:27
LabelPolydor
ProducerVini Poncia
Ringo Starr chronology
Ringo the 4th
(1977)		 Bad Boy
(1978)		 Stop and Smell the Roses
(1981)
Singles from Bad Boy
  1. "Lipstick Traces (On a Cigarette)"
    Released: 18 April 1978 (US)
  2. "Heart on My Sleeve"
    Released: 6 July 1978 (US)
  3. "Tonight"
    Released: 21 July 1978 (UK)

Bad Boy (sometimes referred to as Ringo "Bad Boy" Starr by Starr in interviews[1]) is the seventh studio album by the English rock musician Ringo Starr, released in 1978 by Polydor Records. The album was released at a time of diminishing success for Starr, failing to chart in the UK and reaching only No. 129 in the US and No. 98 in Australia, with none of its singles charting in either the UK or US. Prior to its release in the US, it was cross-promoted with the TV special Ringo, which was poorly received, and a planned follow-up special never came to fruition. Bad Boy would ultimately be Starr's final album release for Polydor.

Background and recording

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After Starr's previous album, Ringo the 4th (1977), was not well received critically or commercially, Starr and his musical partner, Vini Poncia, decided to move away from that album's dance-oriented sound and in a more streamlined direction.[2] With Poncia taking over production duties, Starr mostly relied on covering other artists' songs.[2] In November 1977, the album was recorded, for tax purposes,[2] at Can-Base Studio[3] in Vancouver, Toronto,[2] and Elite Recording Studio in the Bahamas.[2][3] According to saxophonist Tom Saviano, other sessions that took place at Redwing Studios in Tarzana, California. This was also confirmed by Tom Seufert, who owned the studio.[4] It was completed within ten days in November 1977, with the exception of some orchestral overdubs done on 8 March 1978 under the direction of James Newton Howard.[2]

Release and reception

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Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusicStarStar[5]
The Encyclopedia of Popular MusicStarStar[6]
The Essential Rock Discography4/10[7]
Galeria MusicalStarStarStar[8]
MusicHound RockStarHalf star[9]
Rolling Stone(not rated)[10]
The Rolling Stone Album GuideStarStar[11]

The album's first single in the US, "Lipstick Traces (On a Cigarette)", was released by Portrait on 18 April 1978, with "Old Time Relovin'" as the B-side,[nb 1][13][14] preceding the album's US release date.[14] A planned release of the single in the UK, for issue in June by Polydor, was shelved.[nb 2][13]

Bad Boy was released on 21 April 1978 in the UK,[nb 3] while in the US it was released on 16 June.[nb 4][15] The album only reached number 129 in the US, despite the airing of a prime time TV special entitled Ringo,[13] on 26 April.[14] The special was recorded in 10 days in Hollywood, starting on 11 February,[14] and finished in 53rd place out of 65 network prime-time programs during the week it aired.[16] Starr performed three songs from Bad Boy in the special: "Heart on My Sleeve", "Hard Times" and "A Man Like Me".[13] It would air in the UK, on 2 January 1983.[13][17]

A second US single, "Heart on My Sleeve" backed with "Who Needs a Heart", was released on 6 July.[nb 5][13][18] Out of the singles released from Bad Boy in the US, neither "Lipstick Traces (On a Cigarette)"[12] nor "Heart on My Sleeve" charted.[18] In the UK, the lone single was "Tonight", backed with "Heart on My Sleeve", on 21 July,[13] which also failed to chart.[nb 6] On the same day, production began on another special to promote the album,[14] directed by Christian Topps,[13] but the special was never completed.[14] "A Man Like Me" is simply Scouse the Mouse's "A Mouse Like Me", with all appearances of the word "Mouse" in the lyrics changed to "Man".

Polydor, after three consecutive non-charters in the UK, promptly dropped Starr, while his new US label, Portrait (who had picked him up after Atlantic had dropped him),[3] would cancel his contract in 1981 during the making of his next album, Stop and Smell the Roses.

The album's inner sleeve featured photographs by Starr's then-fiancée Nancy Andrews.[3][19] Bad Boy was reissued on CD in the US by Epic[3] on 26 March 1991.[nb 7][20]

Track listing

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Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Hard Times"Peter Skellern3:31
2."Tonight"
2:56
3."Monkey See – Monkey Do"Michael Franks3:36
4."Old Time Relovin'"
  • Starkey
  • Poncia
4:16
5."A Man Like Me"Ruan O'Lochlainn; adapted by Donald Pleasence3:08

Personnel

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Ringo's Roadside Attraction

Uncredited

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Source:[21]

Technical

  • Vini Poncia – producer
  • Bob Schaper – engineer
  • Ron Hitchcock – mastering (at The Mastering Lab, Hollywood, CA)
  • Richard Starkey – associate producer, back cover photography
  • Tom of the North – horn arrangements
  • Doug Riley – string arrangements, conductor (tracks 5, 10)
  • James Newton Howard – string arrangements, conductor (tracks 4, 7)
  • Annie Streer – production coordinator
  • Nancy Lee Andrews – front cover photography
  • Kosh – design

Charts

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Chart (1978) Peak
position
Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)[22] 98
US Billboard 200[23]129

References

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Footnotes

  1. ↑ US Portrait 6-70015[12]
  2. ↑ UK Polydor 2001-782[13]
  3. ↑ UK Polydor 2310 599[3]
  4. ↑ US Portrait JR-353778[3]
  5. ↑ US Portrait 6-70018[18]
  6. ↑ UK Polydor 2001 795[18]
  7. ↑ US Epic EK 35378[3]

Citations

  1. ↑ RockShorts (19 March 2012). Ringo Starr "Five Minutes with Connie Collins" U.S. TV 1978. Retrieved 9 June 2026 – via YouTube.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Madinger, Chip; Easter, Mark (2000). Eight Arms to Hold You: The Solo Beatles Compendium. Chesterfield, MO: 44.1 Productions. p. 514.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Harry, Bill (2004). The Ringo Starr Encyclopedia. London: Virgin Books. p. 14. ISBN 978-0-7535-0843-5.
  4. ↑ "Facebook". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 9 April 2026.
  5. ↑ Ruhlmann, William. "Bad Boy – Ringo Starr". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 28 April 2021. Retrieved 14 May 2021.
  6. ↑ Larkin, Colin (2011). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th edn). London: Omnibus Press. p. 1984. ISBN 978-0-85712-595-8.
  7. ↑ Strong, Martin C. (2006). The Essential Rock Discography. Edinburgh, UK: Canongate. p. 1028. ISBN 978-1-84195-827-9.
  8. ↑ Galeria Musical review (in Portuguese).
  9. ↑ Gary Graff & Daniel Durchholz (eds), MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide, Visible Ink Press (Farmington Hills, MI, 1999; ISBN 1-57859-061-2), p. 1083.
  10. ↑ Rolling Stone review
  11. ↑ Brackett, Nathan, with Hoard, Christian (eds) (2004). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th edn). New York, NY: Fireside. p. 777. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  12. 1 2 Harry, Bill (2004). The Ringo Starr Encyclopedia. London: Virgin Books. p. 235. ISBN 978-0-7535-0843-5.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Miles, Barry; Badman, Keith, eds. (2001). The Beatles Diary After the Break-Up: 1970–2001 (reprint ed.). London: Music Sales Group. ISBN 978-0-7119-8307-6.
  14. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Harry, Bill (2004). The Ringo Starr Encyclopedia. London: Virgin Books. p. 124. ISBN 978-0-7535-0843-5.
  15. ↑ Harry, Bill (2004). The Ringo Starr Encyclopedia. London: Virgin Books. pp. 184, 185. ISBN 978-0-7535-0843-5.
  16. ↑ Rees, Dafydd; Crampton, Luke (1999). VH1 Rock Stars Encyclopedia (New Revised ed.). New York: DK Publishing, Inc. p. 949. ISBN 0-7894-4613-8.
  17. ↑ Harry, Bill (2004). The Ringo Starr Encyclopedia. London: Virgin Books. p. 129. ISBN 978-0-7535-0843-5.
  18. 1 2 3 4 Harry, Bill (2004). The Ringo Starr Encyclopedia. London: Virgin Books. p. 213. ISBN 978-0-7535-0843-5.
  19. ↑ Harry, Bill (2004). The Ringo Starr Encyclopedia. London: Virgin Books. p. 9. ISBN 978-0-7535-0843-5.
  20. ↑ Harry, Bill (2004). The Ringo Starr Encyclopedia. London: Virgin Books. p. 141. ISBN 978-0-7535-0843-5.
  21. ↑ According to Annie Streer, Vini Poncia's coordiator, and Tom Saviano, saxophonist.
  22. ↑ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  23. ↑ "Ringo Starr Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved July 26, 2025.
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