Ram Jam - wikipedia Ram Jam For the 60s English soul group, see Geno Washington & the Ram Jam Band. This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( April 2009 ) Ram Jam Origin New York City, New York, United States Genres Hard rock Years active 1977 -- 1978 Labels Epic, Rock Candy Associated acts The Lemon Pipers Past members Bill Bartlett Howard Arthur Blauvelt Pete Charles John Armata Myke Scavone Ram Jam was an American rock band formed in New York City in 1977, predominantly known for their hit single `` Black Betty '' in 1977. Contents 1 Overview 2 History 2.1 Early days 2.2 Later 2.3 Post-hits 3 Band members 4 Discography 4.1 Albums 4.2 Singles 5 References 6 External links Overview The band consisted of Bill Bartlett ( guitar ), 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. 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. The band was originally known as ' Creekside Killshack '. History Early days Bill Bartlett went on from the Lemon Pipers to form a group called Starstruck. Starstruck originally included 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 ), and David Fleeman ( drums ). The rest of the tracks on the first studio album containing `` Black Betty '' were played by the Ram Jam lineup. Even though the song was credited to Huddie Ledbetter, the NAACP and Congress of Racial Equality called for a boycott due to the lyrics. The boycott failed, however, and `` Black Betty '' 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. 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. 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. 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. This is followed by all 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. The song `` Black Betty '' has been a Boston Bruins stadium staple for years. Local radio stations continue to use it as a background music when promoting the Bruins games. A remix of `` Black Betty '' by Ben Liebrand reached number 13 in the UK Singles Chart in 1990. 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, slide guitar, 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. He is known for his prestigious rendition of ' EGBDF '. 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. Ram Jam also released a third album entitled Thank You Mam in 1994, on Bud Music in Germany ( Catalogue number : CHP 61508 ). It contains yet another re-make of `` Black Betty '' entitled `` Black Betty ' 95 '', now with a more dance - oriented touch. Howie Blauvelt died in 1993, and Pete Charles ( full name Peter Charles Picardio ) died in 2002. 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 line - up Myke Scavone - lead vocals ( 1977 -- 1978 ) Jimmy Santoro - lead guitar ( 1977 -- 1978 ) Bill Bartlett - lead vocals, rhythm guitar ( 1977 -- 1978 ) Howard Arthur Blauvelt - bass guitar ( 1977 -- 1978 ; died 1993 ) Pete Charles - drums ( 1977 -- 1978 ; died 2002 ) 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 ) Discography Albums Ram Jam ( 1977 ) - # 34 US Portrait of the Artist as a Young Ram ( 1978 ) The Very Best of Ram Jam ( 1990 ) Thank You Mam ( 1994 ) Singles `` Black Betty '' / `` I Should Have Known '' ( 1977 ) US # 18 / UK # 7 `` Keep Your Hands On the Wheel '' / `` Right on the Money '' ( 1977 ) `` Pretty Poison '' / `` Runaway Runaway '' ( 1978 ) 1970s portal References Jump up ^ Talevski, Nick ( 2006 ). Rock Obituaries - Knocking On Heaven 's Door. Omnibus Press. p. 5. ISBN 978 - 1846090912. Jump up ^ `` UNH 's ' Black Betty'bam - ba - lams its last ''. Archived from the original on 30 November 2014. Retrieved 29 November 2014. Jump up ^ Crouse, Richard ( 2000 ). Big Bang, Baby : Rock Trivia. Dundurn. p. 187. Jump up ^ Roberts, David ( 2006 ). British Hit Singles & Albums ( 19th ed. ). London : Guinness World Records Limited. p. 449. ISBN 1 - 904994 - 10 - 5. Jump up ^ `` Howie Blauvelt ( 1949 - 1993 ) ''. FindAGrave.com. Retrieved 2012 - 12 - 24. Jump up ^ Thedeadrockstarsclub.com - accessed April 2009 Jump up ^ `` Yardbirds.US : Home ''. Yardbirds. Retrieved 2017 - 09 - 20. External links Ram Jam at AllMusic WorldCat Identities BNF : cb13936969n ( data ) GND : 16038544 - 1 ISNI : 0000 0001 1540 8875 MusicBrainz : f2be3d59 - c508 - 492b - a553 - 056fc8a7e7b0 VIAF : 151444741 Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ram_Jam&oldid=866408828 '' Categories : Epic Records artists Hard rock musical groups from New York ( state ) Hidden categories : Articles needing additional references from April 2009 All articles needing additional references Articles with hCards All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from October 2012 Wikipedia articles with BNF identifiers Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers Wikipedia articles with ISNI identifiers Wikipedia articles with MusicBrainz identifiers Wikipedia articles with VIAF identifiers Talk Contents About Wikipedia Čeština Dansk Deutsch Español Français Italiano Lietuvių Македонски Nederlands Polski Português Русский Slovenčina Suomi Svenska 6 more Edit links This page was last edited on 30 October 2018, at 04 : 02 ( UTC ). 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Question: who was the lead singer of ram jam
Answer: Myke Scavone