contacts, including John Shepherd, who worked on the television show Ready Steady Go!. Through Shepherd, she met Kenny Lynch, and then appeared as an extra in Michelangelo Antonioni's film Blow-Up. Hunt has said that in London in the 1960s "anything seemed possible." She briefly lived in Edinburgh, Scotland, before returning to London where she became a backing singer with Alexis Korner's trio "Free at Last". She then met and began a short relationship with musician John Mayall, inspiring Mayall's songs "Marsha's Mood" and "Brown Sugar". Although Hunt indicates that she had no great musical talent, she worked as a singer for 18 months after arriving in England, intending to earn her fare back home. Marriage to Mike Ratledge In late 1966, Hunt met Mike Ratledge of Soft Machine. Hunt was having trouble getting a visa extension to stay in England and proposed to Ratledge. Ratledge and Hunt were married on April 15, 1967. The Soft Machine were heavily booked and there was no time for a honeymoon, but Ratledge and Hunt were able to spend two months together before the band headed for France later that year. Hunt said in 1991 that she and Ratledge never held hands and never kissed, though "...he comes for Easter. But that's what we called 'married'." While the two have remained good friends, Hunt says the secret to a happy marriage is to "separate immediately." When Hunt and Ratledge reached their 40th wedding anniversary, Hunt called Ratledge up and said, jokingly, "We should renew our vows." Music career After her marriage in 1967, Hunt took a singing job with Long John Baldry's band Bluesology, alongside keyboard player Reg Dwight, soon to be known as Elton John. She also auditioned for Ratledge's band Soft Machine, and in 1968, briefly joined the group The Ferris Wheel. That same year, Hunt achieved national fame in England when she appeared as "Dionne" in the rock musical Hair, a box-office smash on the London stage. Hunt only had two lines of dialogue in Hair, but she attracted a lot of media attention and her photo appeared in many newspapers and magazines. Her photograph was used on the poster and playbill of the original London production, photographed by Justin de Villeneuve. Her 1968 photo also replaced the original LP artwork when Reader's Digest re-issued the LP in Europe in 1976. Hunt says that the role was a perfect fit for