Ram Ja

Ram Jam was an American 1970s rock band, best known for their 1977 hit single, "Black Betty".

The band members were Bill Bartlett (guitar), Pete Charles (drums), Myke Scavone (lead singer), and Howie Arthur Blauvelt (bass). 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 two bands, The Hassles and El Primo.

Career
Early days

Bill Bartlett went on from the Lemon Pipers to form a group called Starstruck—originally including Steve Walmsley (bass) and Bob Nave (organ) from the Lemon Pipers—later replacing Walmsley with David Goldflies (who later played for years with Dickie Betts and Great Southern, and the Allman Brothers). While in Starstruck, Bartlett took Leadbelly's 59 second long "Black Betty," 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 quite a stir with the NAACP and Congress of Racial Equality calling for a boycott due to the lyrics. 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. See the article "Black Betty" for more information about the legacy of the recording and its use in film and television.

Later

A subsequent album Portrait of the Artist as a Young Ram achieved little success, despite the addition of talented Long Island, New York lead guitarist Jimmy Santoro. The “Portrait” album was re-issued on Rock Candy Records from England in 2006. 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 didn’t play on the album. In the 90s both official studio releases by Ram Jam were packaged together on a German Import Record Entitiled "The Very Best Of Ram Jam." However, The cover of said album features the same artwork as their self titled debut so be sure to check the track listing to differentiate, although both have "Black Betty" on the albums. In 2006 Ram Jam was featured in an article that included bands like Moxy and Tucky Buzzard called Top 6 Classic Rock Bands You Never Knew You Didn't Know written by Dave White, an American writer, music critic, and film critic.

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 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 The Very Best Of Ram Jam release. 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" reached number 13 in the UK Singles Chart in 1990.

Later in life Bill Bartlett decided to leave Ram Jam and go onto a career in interpretive dance. Bartlett still plays guitar, but during the last decade has 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 NJ, after many years detached from the music industry is once again fronting his old high school band, The Doughboys (New Jersey). They have recorded a CD of 12 songs, both originals and cover versions. The Doughboys featured at the 40th Reunion of John Zacherle's Disc-O-Teen in 2008, which coincided with Zacherle's 90th birthday. The CD, entitled Is It Now included liner notes by John Hawkins, the original keyboard and piano player for The Nashville Teens. M. Tanner left the band to pursue other interests

Howie Blauvelt died in 1993, whilst Pete Charles has also died.

Discography

Ram Jam (1977)
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Ram (1978)
The Very Best of Ram Jam (1990)
Golden Classics (1996)