Ram Jam was an American rock band formed in New York City and active in 1977 and 1978, mainly known for their hit single, a rock adaptation of the Lead Belly song "Black Betty".
Overview
The band consisted of Bill Bartlett (guitar and lead vocals), Howie Arthur Blauvelt (bass), Pete Charles (drums), and Myke Scavone (lead vocals). 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.
The boycott failed, however, and "Black Betty" reached number 18 on the singles chart in 1977 in the U.S., top ten in the UK Singles Chart and Australia, and number 46 in Canada, while the Ram Jam album reached the U.S. top 40. It was also a hit in the Netherlands, reaching number 4. In Canada, the album reached number 33.
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. 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.
Three of the Ram Jam Touring members; guitarist Gregg Hoffman, bassist Dennis Feldman and drummer Glenn Dove, along with keyboardist Jordan Rudess and vocalist Roy Herring Jr. became the group Speedway Boulevard. Working with producers Jerry Kasenetz and Jeff Katz, they recorded single, "(Think I Better) Hold On and the self-titled album, which were released in 1980.
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.
The cover of the album features the same artwork as the self-titled debut album, and the track list is simply the ten titles from Ram Jam followed by the ten titles from Portrait of the Artist as a Young Ram. While the original Portrait of the Artist as a Young Ram started with the songs "Gone Wild" and "Pretty Poison", these two were moved to the end of The Very Best of Ram Jam.
Cover versions of the song also appear on the 2002 album Mr. Jones by Tom Jones and on the 2004 album Tonight Alright by Australian rock band Spiderbait.
Bill Bartlett still plays guitar, but in the early 1990s transformed himself into a boogie-woogie piano player. He also plays banjo, harmonica, and has written dozens of songs. Santoro still plays professionally in various bands in New York, and teaches music at an elementary school on Long Island. Scavone, who now resides in New Jersey, after many years detached from the music industry, recorded an album 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 album, entitled Is It Now, included liner notes by John Hawkins, the original keyboard and piano player for the Nashville Teens.
Howie Blauvelt died in 1993 at age 44, and Pete Charles (full name Peter Charles Picardio) died in 2002 at age 49 from unknown causes. Scavone continues to write and record original music with the Doughboys. In 2015, Scavone was recruited to play harmonica, percussion and backing vocals with his longtime heroes, the Yardbirds.
Band members
Final lineup
- Myke Scavone – lead vocals, percussion
- Bill Bartlett – guitar, lead vocals
- Jimmy Santoro – guitar
- Howard Arthur Blauvelt – bass, backing vocals
- Pete Charles – drums, percussion
Touring musicians
- Glenn Dove – drums
- David E. Eicher – keyboards
- Dennis Feldman – bass
- Greg Hoffman – guitar
- Sherwin Ace Ross – vocals
Timeline
Discography
Studio albums
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! rowspan="2"| Year
! rowspan="2"| Album
! colspan="3"| Chart positions
! rowspan="2"| Label
|-
! width="40"|<small>US 200</small><br>
! width="40"|<small>AUS</small><br>
! width="40"|<small>CAN</small><br>
! style="width:40px;"| <small>UK</small><br>
|-
| rowspan="2"| 1977
| "Black Betty"
| align=center | 18
| align=center | 3
| align=center | 7
|
- BPI: Platinum
|-
| "Keep Your Hands on the Wheel"
| align=center | ―
| align=center | ―
| align=center | ―
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| 1978
| "Pretty Poison"
| align=center | ―
| align=center | ―
| align=center | ―
|
|-
| "Hurricane Ride"
| align=center | ―
| align=center | ―
| align=center | ―
|
|-
| 1990
| "Black Betty" <small>(Ben Liebrand remix)</small>
| align=center | ―
| align=center | 17
| align=center | 13
|
|-
| colspan="6" style="text-align:center; font-size:85%"| "—" denotes releases that did not chart.
|}
See also
- List of 1970s one-hit wonders in the United States