Babe Ruth

Babe Ruth, primarily active through the 1970s, from Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England. Their characteristically 'heavy' sound is marked by powerful vocals from Janita (Jenny) Haan and full arrangements by Alan Shacklock. They enjoyed moderate commercial success in Britain, Canada, and the States, but were plagued by personnel problems, and lack of radio airplay.

When the group was first formed in 1971, they were called Shacklock after their guitarist Alan Shacklock. Shacklock founded this classic rock band.

They had a rhythmic, bluesy, guitar orientated sound capped off by the blistering vocals of Janita Haan. Rounded out by Chris Holmes (keyboards and organ), Dave Punshon (piano), Dave Hewitt, (bass) and Dick Powell, (drums) this British band always put on a great live show. The first release was their single "Elusive"; their first album, First Base, went gold in Canada. In 1973, Ed Spevock replaced Powell and Chris Holmes replaced Punshon on the second album. In 1975, Steve Gurl, keyboardist from Glenn Cornick's Wild Turkey replaced Holmes for the third album. The same year, Shacklock exited and Bernie Marsden (Wild Turkey) joined the team for the fourth album. After this, Haan and Hewitt left.

Jenny Haan's raw powerful vocals, along with Alan Shacklock's magnificent guitar work made for their true signature sound. With very varied eclectic tastes they covered songs like Frank Zappa's "King Kong", and Curtis Mayfield's "We People Darker Than Blue".

Though no original member remained, the group incorporated Ellie Hope and Ray Knott for the fifth album in 1976. Shortly before Babe Ruth disbanded, they were joined by the young 17 year old Birmingham born Simon Lambeth who made a few appearances on their last tour. Lambeth's hauntingly naive sound on rhythm guitar, behind the lead of Marsden, promised much but sadly it was too late; Marsden moved on to bigger things and joined Whitesnake. Simon changed careers and left the music scene.

Between late 2005 and early 2006, Haan (now Janita Haan Morris), Shacklock, Punshon, and Hewitt recorded new material together in Nashville, with Spevock recording his drums in London. The album, titled Que Pasa, was completed September 2006, and the entire band is reunited on this album. Janita Haan sounds amazing and the band is as tight and funky as ever. After being made available in digital form via the band's official web site, Que Pasa was released on Revolver Records in 2009.

Source : Wikipedia, Babe Ruth official site, and, Bobby Shred's Babe Ruth Tribute Page (Unfortunately "Bobby Shred" has passed away, but his web site lives on)