Al Russell
Allen Wilbert "Al" Russell (also Stomp Russell , born October 8, 1921 in Columbia (South Carolina) ; † December 24, 2011 in Wynnewood , Pennsylvania ) was an American jazz and rhythm and blues musician (piano , Vocals) and songwriter .
Live and act
Russell attended Booker T. Washington High School in Columbia and began performing as a youth as a pianist and singer on radio shows on the local station WCOS. With two other singers, Joel Cowan (vocals and guitar) and William "Doc Basso" Joseph (vocals and bass fiddle), he formed the Al Russell Trio , which toured and settled in Los Angeles. In 1944, his Art Tatum interpretations received an honorable mention on the Billboard . In June 1945, Coast Records released the trio 's first single, It's So / Solid Mr. Kelly with the Jelly . The trio got into trouble with the Ku Klux Klan in 1945 because of the song Dig, Mister K. Kay Kay ; Disc jockeys refused to play the song for fear of repression. From 1946 he lived in West Philadelphia.
In 1947 he founded the doo-wop ensemble The Do Ray Me Trio , which (with numerous name variants such as Do Ray and Me ) existed until the 1970s and also recorded numerous songs by Russell, u. a. for the labels Commodore ( Wrapped Up in a Dream 1947), Ivory, Columbia / Okeh ( I Want to Be With You Always , 1951), Brunswick ( I'm Only Human , 1953) and StereoCraft ( I Can't Get You Off My Mind , 1959). The group's impresario was Joe Davis between 1948 and 1951 . The trio, which consisted of Buddy Hawkins, Al Moore, Joel Cowan, Doc Basso, Curtis Wilder and Joe Davis, performed mainly in the Philadelphia area and Wildwood (New Jersey) in nightclubs, theaters and restaurants; In 1948 it had a hit with Russell's song Wrapped Up in a Dream , which rose to # 2 on the R&B charts and stayed there for 19 weeks. There were also joint appearances with Harry James in Las Vegas in 1959 and with Louis Armstrong .
After the death of his bandmates, Al Russell performed at Vincent's Restaurant in West Chester, Pennsylvania until 2009 , when the place had to close. He died on Christmas Eve 2011 at the age of 90.
Russell was also successful as a songwriter; his ABC Boogie was released in 1954 by Bill Haley and the Comets as the B-side of the hit Shake, Rattle, and Roll . Other songs like It's Like Taking Candy from a Baby, If I Told You Once, There's a Man at the Door or Just Plain Love interpreted Rosemary Clooney , Johnny Desmond , Big John Greer , Tony Pastor and Claude Thornhill .
Discographic notes
- The Do-Ray-Mi Trio (Stereocraft / Hi-Life, 1959)
- The Exciting Do-Ray-Me Trio (Melbourne, 1966)
Web links
- Marv Goldberg and Rick Whitesell: The Al Russell Trio / Do Ray Me Trio - Based on interviews with Al Russell, Buddy Hawkins, and Al Moore
- Al Russell at Discogs (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Obituary in Philly.com
- ^ Colin Larkin: The Virgin encyclopedia of R&B and soul
- ^ Billboard 1944
- ↑ Al Russell at Allmusic (English)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Russell, Al |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Russell, Allen Wilbert (full name); Russell, Stomp |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American R&B musician and songwriter |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 8, 1921 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Columbia, South Carolina |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 24, 2011 |
| Place of death | Wynnewood, Pennsylvania |