Geno Washington

Few singers arrived in British clubs by a stranger route than Geno Washington. Born William Francis Washington in Evansville, Indiana, he was an American R&B vocalist stationed in England with the US Air Force in the early 1960s, and he became a frequent stand-in at gigs around London. That led guitarist Pete Gage to ask him to join his new group in 1965, which became Geno Washington & the Ram Jam Band, named after a coaching inn on the Great North Road at Stretton, near Oakham.

Their commercial peak came on stage. Two of the biggest-selling UK albums of the 1960s were live recordings, and the best of them, Hand Clappin, Foot Stompin, Funky-Butt... Live!, stayed on the chart for 38 weeks across 1966 and 1967, reaching number 5. Their Pye singles, among them "Water" and "Michael (The Lover)", charted lower, but the band won a loyal mod following. They split in autumn 1969, and Washington continued solo before a later comeback, prompted in 1980 by the Dexys Midnight Runners hit "Geno". In 2009 he released "I'm Doing 99 Years", with proceeds going to victims of crime and child abuse.