Namesakes #139: Ruth

Hi-de-Hi, campers! 

This week on Namesakes, we've got the Ruth, the whole Ruth and nothing but the Ruth.

But can you handle the Ruth?

RUTH #1

We start in a Glasgow charity shop (imagine that!) where the following unreleased song was discovered on an acetate, eventually finding its way onto this compilation. The singer, whose full name could well be Ruth Veldon, released another single on Decca and two on Columbia back in the mid 60s, but very little else is known about her...

Ruth - 87 Sundays

RUTH #2

French synthpop band active in the mid 80s, and then again in the 21st century. It does appear that one of them is called Ruth - Ruth Ellyeri - until you dig a little deeper and discover that it's actually an alias and her real name is Thierry Müller.

This Ruth is clearly a fan of Snapshots...

Ruth - Polaroïd/Roman/Photo

RUTH #3

A Ruth that can read your mind - with added ESP. Sadly, my own ESP won't stretch far enough to see if any of this lot are actually called Ruth.

Belgian House track from 1990, a lot more listenable than much of this stuff, to these aged and prejudiced ears at least. You might love it.

Ruth Featuring ESP - Enigmatic

RUTH #4

The Ruth I remember most affectionately were a short-lived Britpop band from the mid-90s who would later change their name to The 45s. Lead singer Matt Hales would go on to become Aqualung, making the UK Top Ten in 2002 with the song Strange And Beautiful. There were two Matts in this Ruth, along with Hales' brother Ben and Stephen Cousins who had previously been a member of A Tribe of Toffs, responsible for the out and out classic John Kettley Is A Weatherman. There was no Ruth.

This is the Ruth song I loved back in the day - so much so that in the early days of youtube, I uploaded it myself because nobody else had. That upload is long gone, replaced by proper videos like this one... 

Ruth - Valentine's Day

RUTH #5

American Tejano singer (Tex/Mex) from the late 90s - extra marks for actually being called Ruth (Howard).

Ruth - El Toquecito

RUTH #6

American Christian rock band who started writing their sermons back in 2007. They come from the city of Battle Ground in Washington state, which wins today's Best City Name contest by some margin. None of them are named after King David's great grandmother, Bible fans.

Ruth - Back To The Five

RUTH #7

Bulgarian soul singer Ruth Koleva (Рут Колева) who appears to release a lot of her music under her first name only...

Ruth - Blizo

RUTH #8

We'll follow that with a French soul singer Ruth - and it does appear to be her actual name! This is from 2014, although it sounds like it could have come from many years previous...

Ruth & The Adelians – La Nuit M'appartient

RUTH #9

Singapore Screamo Ruth from 2015 with added circumflex. Hear them roar...

Rûth - Tamat

RUTH #10

Russian guitar band, seemingly lacking a singer...

Ruth - Чика

RUTH #11

Dublin-based Ruth (Cronin) from 2016, found on the camp of bands.

Ruth - Who Are You Living For?

RUTH. #12

And finally today, a Ruth who prefers a full stop after her name, from Belgium in 2019...

Ruth. - Butterfly

Which is your Babe Ruth?

And which is your Unpleasant Ruth?