The band consisted of Bill Bartlett, Howie Arthur Blauvelt, Pete Charles, and Myke Scavone. 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, 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 and Bob Nave from the Lemon Pipers. Walmsley left the band and was replaced by David Goldflies. 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, Tom Kurtz, David Goldflies, and David Fleeman. 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., 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.
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 are moved to the end on The Very Best Of Ram Jam. A remix of "Black Betty" by Ben Liebrand reached number 13 in the UKSingles 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-woogiepiano 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. 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. Ram Jam also released a third album entitled Thank You Mam in 1994, on Bud Music in Germany. It contains yet another re-make of "Black Betty" entitled "Black Betty '95", with a more dance-oriented style. Howie Blauvelt died in 1993 at age 44 from a heart attack, and Pete Charles 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
Myke Scavone – lead and backing vocals
Bill Bartlett – backing and lead vocals, lead and rhythm guitar
