Ram Jam
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| Ram Jam | |
|---|---|
| Origin | New York City, United States |
| Genres | Hard rock[1] |
| Years active | 1977–1978 |
| Labels | Epic, Rock Candy |
| Associated acts | The Lemon Pipers |
| Past members |
|
Ram Jam was an American rock band formed in New York in 1977, prominently known for their hit single "Black Betty" in 1977.
Contents
Overview
The band consisted of Bill Bartlett (guitar), Howie Arthur Blauvelt (bass), Pete Charles (drums), and Myke Scavone (lead vocals). Also, Jimmy Santoro, who toured with the band in support of their debut album, joined on guitar for the follow-up album. Bartlett was formerly lead guitarist for bubblegum group The Lemon Pipers, while Blauvelt played with Billy Joel in several bands: The Echoes (also renamed The Lost Souls and then The Commandos), The Hassles and El Primo. Maxx Mann, one time singer with Trans-Siberian Orchestra and Kings of Christmas, was recruited by producers Kasenetz/Katz to front a version of the group in the 1990s.
Career
Early days
Bill Bartlett went on from the Lemon Pipers to form a group called Starstruck. Starstruck originally including Steve Walmsley (bass) and Bob Nave (organ) from the Lemon Pipers. Walmsley left the band and was replaced by David Goldflies (who later played for years with Dickey Betts and Great Southern, and the Allman Brothers). While in Starstruck, Bartlett took Lead Belly's 59 second long "Black Betty" and arranged, recorded and released it on the group's own TruckStar label. "Black Betty" became a regional hit, then was picked up by producers in New York who formed a group around Bartlett called Ram Jam. They re-released the song, and it became a hit nationally. The Ram Jam "recording" was actually the same one originally recorded by Starstruck, the band at that time composed of Bartlett, lead guitar and vocals, Tom Kurtz, rhythm guitar and vocals, David Goldflies, bass, David Fleeman on drums. The rest of the tracks on the first studio album containing "Black Betty" was played by the Ram Jam lineup. The song caused a stir with the NAACP and Congress of Racial Equality calling for a boycott due to the lyrics.[2][3]
Despite the controversy, the song reached number 18 on the singles chart in 1977 in the U.S. and Top Ten in the United Kingdom and Australia, while the Ram Jam album reached the U.S. Top 40. It was also a hit in the Netherlands, reaching number 4.
Later
Their subsequent album Portrait of the Artist as a Young Ram achieved little success, despite the addition of Long Island, New York lead guitarist Jimmy Santoro.[citation needed] The Portrait album was re-issued on Rock Candy Records from England in 2006. It is listed in the Top 100 lists in Martin Popoff’s book The Collector’s Guide to Heavy Metal Volume 1: The Seventies. The album's heaviness was attributed to Santoro’s guitar and Scavone’s vocal power. Bartlett had left the group by then and did not play on the album.[citation needed]
Post hits
In the 1990s both studio releases by Ram Jam were packaged together as a German import record entitled The Very Best Of Ram Jam.[citation needed] However, the cover of the album features the same artwork as their self-titled debut, and The Very Best Of Ram Jam album starts with the ten titles from Ram Jam.[citation needed] This is followed by all the ten titles from Portrait of the Artist as a Young Ram. The titles from Portrait of the Artist as a Young Ram are slightly re-ordered. The first two songs ("Gone Wild", "Pretty Poison") are moved to the end on The Very Best Of Ram Jam release. The song "Black Betty" has been a Boston Bruins stadium staple for years.[citation needed] Local radio stations continue to use it as a background music when promoting the Bruins games.[citation needed]
A remix of "Black Betty" by Ben Liebrand reached number 13 in the UK Singles Chart in 1990.[4]
Bill Bartlett still plays guitar, but in the early 1990s transformed himself into a boogie-woogie piano player. He also plays banjo, harmonica, slide guitar, and has written dozens of songs. Santoro still plays professionally in various bands in New York, and teaches music in a public school on Long Island. Scavone, who now resides in New Jersey, after many years detached from the music industry, recorded a CD of 12 songs, both originals and cover versions with his former teenage garage rock band called The Doughboys. It was featured at the 40th Reunion of John Zacherle's Disc-O-Teen in 2004, which coincided with Zacherle's 84th birthday. The CD, entitled Is It Now, included liner notes by John Hawkins, the original keyboard and piano player for The Nashville Teens.
In 1991, Kasenetz and Katz, who produced the group's original two albums, revived the band name for a hip-house single called "Rock the Mansion". In 1994, a rock album called Ram Jam, recorded by a group of session musicians and featuring vocalist Don Chaffin (some sources attribute vocals to Trans-Siberian Orchestra vocalist Max Mann), was released in France, featuring a cover of Black Betty based on the 1990 remix.
Howie Blauvelt died in 1993,[5] whilst Pete Charles (full name Peter Charles Picardio) died in 2002.[6] Scavone continues to write and record original music with The Doughboys. In 2015, Scavone joined famed band The Yardbirds.
Members
- Bill Bartlett - lead guitar (1977-1978)
- Howard Arthur Blauvelt - bass guitar (1977-1978; died 1993)
- Pete Charles - drums (1977-1978; died 2002)
- Myke Scavone - lead vocals (1977-1978)
Touring members
- Sherwin Ace Ross - vocals (1978-1979)
- Greg Hoffman - guitar (1978-1979)
- Glenn Dove - drums (1978-1979)
- Dennis Feldman - bass guitar (1978-1979)
- David E. Eicher - keyboards (1978-1979)
- Jimmy Santoro - lead guitar (1977-1978)
Discography
- Ram Jam (1977)
- Portrait of the Artist as a Young Ram (1978)
- The Very Best of Ram Jam (1990)
- Thank You Mam (1994)
References
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- ↑ Thedeadrockstarsclub.com - accessed April 2009
