Pudding, Ronnie: Left Cheap Dates (later Cheapdate) in 1964 to become the fourth member of the London-based Thamesmen with David, Nigel and drummer John "Stumpy" Pepys. Played first gig with newly formed Spinal Tap in December 1966. Only member of the band who could write and read music. Within a year, following the success of Tap's "(Listen to the) Flower People," which Pudding composed, and "Gimme Some Money," which he co-wrote, the bassist left the group to form the Pudding People. (He also had "a heart blister" at the time, following a breakup with backup singer Lhasa Apso.) His group's debut album on Megaphone, "I Am More Music" (with the single "I Am the Music" b/w a live version of "Rubber Biscuit"), bombed. Tap replaced him with Derek, who had left the all-white Jamaican band Skaface. David: "Ronnie was an excellent musician but he got too big for his hat size, if you know what I mean." (GW) Pudding also had some run-ins with Nigel, who would accuse him later of "theft of material" and "sexual innuendo." (TR) Although there was initially discussion of pulling Pudding's bass playing from a 1992 "Break Like the Wind" remix of "Rainy Day Sun," in the end his work was only "tweaked" by Derek to make it "sound more up to date." See also Apso, Lhasa.