So how did Janita “Jenny” Haan, who graduated with the 1971 class of Fairfield High School and never sang with a band before, a year later find herself the lead singer of British progressive hard rock group Babe Ruth, recording at famed Abbey Road Studios and releasing their first album, which included “The Mexican,” a track that later became instrumental in the birth of hip-hop?
It’s a long story.
Haan was born in England and her family moved to America when she was around 12. Her stepfather was Frank Burkdoll, who, with Dr. N.R. Zabel and G. Ben Huber, founded Explosive Technology, which was located off Highway 12.
At then-new Fairfield High School, Haan was the freshman Homecoming attendant, a pom-pom girl, a member of the drill team and was involved in theatrical productions.
She describes herself as “music mad” in the late 1960s.
“My best friend at that time was Mindy Seybold and she lived near me and went to Fairfield High, too,” she said. “Her brother Steve had their garage done out in black light and when new albums by artists like Paul McCartney or Blue Cheer or Quicksilver Messenger Service came out, we would put headphones on and have a ‘high time.’”
Her family’s house on Whitehall Circle was next to the Suisun Fairfield Cemetery on Union Avenue. “That’s where I used to practice singing. I was super shy back then and I wanted to practice privately.”
Haan recalls hanging out at West Texas Street Park (now Allan Witt Park) where local rock bands would play free concerts. A frequent musician there whom she recalled fondly was Johnny Colla (later of Huey Lewis and the News). “He was a great guy, really friendly and sweet and kind. I was going through a hard time and his kindness was appreciated.”
After graduation, Haan returned to England and, in short order, found herself auditioning to be the lead singer of a band called Shacklock featuring guitarist Alan Shacklock, David Hewitt on bass, Dave Punshon on keyboards and Dick Powell on drums. There were about 40 young men and she was the only female.
"It came down to me and this really sexy guy from New York who had an album he had done under his arm. I got the gig, but the joke we have told for years was they were only getting 12 pounds a week and they were too embarrassed to offer it to the other guy!” (laughs).
Roger Dean was an artist and school chum of Blacklock’s who introduced him to Nick Mobbs, vice president of A&R (artists and repertoire), who signed the band to the EMI Harvest label. Mobbs would sign the Sex Pistols five years later.
Shacklock was rechristened Babe Ruth after the legendary baseball player and began rehearsing and recording their inaugural album, "First Base," at Abbey Road Studios. Haan remembers being extremely excited about the process and recalls details like the Abbey Road tea lady Little Doris taking no nonsense from anyone.
“She even made Linda McCartney wait in the queue!” (laughs).
In a nearby studio at Abbey Road, fellow Brits Pink Floyd were working on the classic album "Dark Side of the Moon.”
"First Base" was released in November 1972, sold well in the United States and went gold in Canada. The cover, featuring aliens playing baseball, was designed by Shacklock’s friend Roger Dean, who is now best known for designing the logo, album covers and live stage sets of the band Yes.
Pigeonholing Babe Ruth’s sound is not an easy task and Haan’s description is on the intro on the group’s Facebook page: “A progressive hard rock band with Spanish guitar, jazz piano, rock vocals using Western themes.”
Shacklock, who produced the album with Mobb, had a fascination for so-called Spaghetti Westerns and that influence was felt on several songs, including the lead-off track “Wells Fargo.”
Musically muscular and confident, the album featured a cover of the Frank Zappa instrumental “King Kong” that was recorded in one take with no overdubs, as well as a version of singer/songwriter Jesse Winchester's 1970 song "Black Dog,” which they made their own. Other tunes included the rollicking album closer “Joker” and the plaintive “The Runaways.”
But the song that they are best known for is “The Mexican.” It features an infectious rhythm, throbbing bass, Spanish guitar flourishes and lyrics about Sam Houston and Davy Crockett.
For her part, Haan was compared to Janis Joplin, which may be accurate in attitude and authenticity, but not so much in timbre and tone of her voice. The comparison was more about how she invested herself in each song, living and dying in every word and every phrase. Her frenetic stage presence was a staple of Babe Ruth's live shows, even though performing barefoot as she often did she was barely 5 feet tall.
"The boys were brilliant musicians and my job was to put it all together and help the audience lose themselves in the music. I was belting a lot and I got some classical voice training and that helped a lot with my core muscle technique."
In a turn that none of the British musicians could have predicted in 1972 when they recorded it, "First Base" and specifically the song "The Mexican," became an in-demand album by pioneering hip-hop DJs in New York like DJ Kool Herc. They would use two turntables to create breakbeats by stopping between two copies of the same record, which allowed them to create an indefinitely looping drum solo.
"The Mexican" has been covered and remixed numerous times, including a new version by DJ Silver Nail that was just released in June. The Prodigy, GZA of the Wu-Tang Clan, R. Kelly and numerous others have paid homage to the influential song. The most popular remake was done in 1984 by John "Jellybean" Benitez with vocals added by Haan.
After several albums and personel changes, the members of Babe Ruth pursued other life opportunities. The ongoing popularity of "The Mexican" sparked a reunion in 2002 and they released the album “Que Pasa” in 2009. It stayed true to their hard-rock roots while also acknowledging the role that dance music helped in keeping their legacy alive.
Haan is still in touch with her bandmates and is open to recording, but has traded in the rock ’n’ roll lifestyle for something much simpler. She resides in Hay-on-Wye, a small town in Wales that has more than 20 bookshops, and is the site of The Hay Festival of Literature & Arts, an annual literature festival that former President Bill Clinton once called “The Woodstock of the mind.”
Haaan has fond memories of Fairfield and of her time in Babe Ruth and is appreciative of how “The Mexican” continues to live on 52 years later and counting. Now that breakdancing is an official Olympic event, she is hopeful that some of the competitors in Paris uses their signature song.
Phoenix, Arizona-based Renaissance Records, US, a record label specializing in the re-release of classic rock, country, and indie music, recently added several vinyl Babe Ruth albums to their catalog. https://bit.ly/BabeRuthRRUS
Special thanks Sto Douglas Moon for wearing a vintage Babe Ruth shirt to a book-signing last year and telling me about them and Jenny Haan.
Fairfield freelance humor columnist and accidental local historian Tony Wade writes two weekly columns: “The Last Laugh” on Wednesdays and “Back in the Day” on Sundays. Wade is also the author of The History Press books “Growing Up In Fairfield, California,” “Lost Restaurants of Fairfield, California,” “Armijo High School: Fairfield, California,” and "Growing Up In Vacaville." He also hosts the Channel 26 government access TV show “Local Legends." Reach Tony at