Leppo Sitoncliff

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Leppo Columbo Cunningham Sitoncliff (born 23 June 1940) is an English musicican who was one of two short-time members (second being Kevin Alright) of the Rutles, and is often referred to as the Fifth Rutle, as he was literally a member of the Rutles when it was a five-piece band. He didn't know how to play a guitar or any instrument properly, but he did know how to have a good time, which was difficult in Hamburg.

Both him and Ron Nasty have been credited with the band name. According to Nasty, Leppo created the name 'The Rutles' because "Leppo just wanted to give Rutland way more attention, I guess."

Hamburg

Leppo was a bassist in the group as they played at Der Rat Keller. While the rest of the Rutles were escaping to Rutland, he disappeared shortly thereafter, and was last seen crawling into a trunk with a small German Fraulein. He was never seen again and was presumed to be living with the rats.

According to 'trustworthy sources,' Leppo taught the rats things such as painting and to live a cleaner lifestyle. Despite this, the rats later on went on to keep the lifestyle that they once had, ignoring Leppo's wishes.

In a 1996 interview Nasty revealed that Leppo's decision to leave the band after Hamburg was an "executive" decision by people who had more power than the musicians. But, he and Nasty stayed in touch. Nasty also confirmed rumors that Leppo played anonymously with the band in the later Rutles recordings, specifically confirming Leppo had involvement with the Archaeology project, saying:

"He is, because he was on the things we found in the shed, these rehearsal tapes. He's on the track We've Arrived, Now She's Left You, and a track called Unfinished Words. This was a backing track in the tapes, none of us could remember what this was, it must have been one I was working on and never finished, so I put a tune to it, and I put some unfinished words on it, the way you do, you know, when you can't think of what you want to say, like "yesterday", you sing "scrambled eggs" or something..."

Trivia

Leppo's presence in existing Rutle material is somewhat debated.

It is known that he was present at the recording of the single "My Ronnie"/"Death Cab for Cutie," but that he only watched. It is also thought that he can be heard on the recording of "Under My Skin" which exists from Der Rat Keller.

He was featured on the cover of Sgt. Rutter's Only Darts Club Band, in the crowd, directly above boxer Sonny Liston.