Russ Conway

Russ Conway, 1962

Russ Conway (born September 2, 1925 in Bristol , England , † November 16, 2000 in Eastbourne , England) was a British pianist , composer and singer . He had from 1957 to 1962. It brought two of his shots up to its great commercial success number one position in the UK Singles - Charts . Conway was actually called Trevor Herbert Stanford , the name he also used as a composer ( Trevor Stanford or Trevor H. Stanford ) until his death. Conway was never married (the English language Wikipedia lists him in the list of homosexual musicians) and led a very secluded personal life.

Childhood and youth

Trevor Stanford was the youngest of three sons of a salesman from southern England; his mother was a talented piano player. He must have inherited his talent from her; allegedly, except for an hour at the age of four, he never had piano lessons. He preferred to spend his pocket money on cinema tickets. At 14 he left school; his father got him a job in a law firm, but that was over quickly - Trevor stole money and was sent to a juvenile detention center for three years.

Since he always wanted to go to sea, his father sent him to a merchant navy school after serving his sentence . A little later he went to the Royal Navy . During this time he met the singer Norman Milne, with whom he performed together. Milne later also became a star as Michael Holliday . The Second World War was in full swing, Trevor was trained as a radio operator and found himself on a minesweeper in the Aegean Sea . For his achievements during the war he was awarded the later Merit Distinguished Service Medal . During this time he lost the fingertip of his little finger in an accident on a bread slicer. Russ later attributed his unique keystroke to this.

After the war he was back in the merchant navy until 1948. Since he had to quit because of stomach problems, he worked as a salesman, machinist, plumber's assistant and bartender, among other things.

Entry into the music business

Eventually Trevor ended up in London and an old friend asked him to fill in for a bar pianist who was on vacation. One evening he was seen by the choreographer Irving Davies, who got him work as an accompanist for Music Hall performances by young emerging artists. This led to a meeting with Norman Newell , an A&R manager at EMI , who signed him for Columbia Records .

So he soon got around to accompanying great record stars of the time on the piano: Gracie Fields , Dennis Lotis , Joan Regan , his special friend Rosemary Squires and the like. v. a. m. 1956 wrote Trevor and Norman together the music for a television production of The Beauty and the Beast (, Beauty and the Beast '). Norman gave Trevor his new name, and from then on there was Russ Conway.

In 1957 Russ worked in the (then not so famous) Abbey Road Studios and produced successful records with Geoff Love , Bert Weedon and others. He also appeared on countless television shows and finally got an engagement in the '' Billy Cotton Band Show '', and he recorded his own record, a medley of old sing- along songs in the honky tonk style, which in Great Britain Winifred Atwell had brought to perfection. The Geoff Love Orchestra accompanied his piano playing.

He called the EP "Party Pops" and it became a hit at Christmas 1957. "What he then played always sounded as if someone had switched to the bar in the second best hotel in the area on the radio," writes Frank Laufenberg . But it was precisely this sound that made him - in addition to his good looks and famous smile - really popular. He even got his own television series soon .

The years at the top

At the age of 33 Russ experienced the high point of his career: it began with his composition “Side Saddle”. The record was barely released when it ousted the Platters from number one on the British charts on February 21, 1959 . It stayed at the top for four weeks and on the charts for a total of 30 weeks . Only a few weeks later, the successor single "Roulette" climbed to number one (and displaced Elvis Presley from the top on June 19, 1959 ). This song also became the first in the UK to receive a silver record for 250,000 copies sold.

His fame and popularity rose immeasurably. Sold-out concerts across the country, radio and television appearances came one after the other. The two number one hits were followed by the top ten singles "China Tea", "Snow Coach" and "More and More Party Pops".

He appeared several times as the star of the evening at the London Palladium . And he was still active in the studio: from the beginning of 1960 to the end of 1962 he brought another eleven singles or EPs into the charts, of which only one, "Toy Balloons", made it into the top 10. Of course, he also recorded many albums on the side, on which he could show his true skills on the piano in the slower pieces. He never sang much, but his voice can be heard on his latest hit single, "Always You and Me", but he speaks more than just sings.

Russ Conway was one of the UK's best-selling pre- Beatles artists , with a total of 30 million records sold. From 1957 to 1962 he had more than 40 singles, around 20 EPs and around a dozen albums. “It wasn't just the older generation who raved about him - no, that went through all age groups. In his day, Russ must have simply been the man who drove away the worries of everyday life by simply grinning. "

Fight against decline, disease and addiction

With the arrival of the Beatles, Russ Conway's career as a single hit maker was over. He tried to jump on the beat music bandwagon again with a record and in 1963 brought out a medley with Merseybeat hits called “ Liverpool Pops”. But the singles buyers were no longer the parents, but the children, the teenagers of the Beat generation , and it was not well received by them. Conway's star began to decline.

The career also eroded Russ Conway's health, and while working for the BBC in 1965, he suddenly suffered a stroke .

Not yet fully recovered, he was soon playing another season at the London Palladium and promptly fell ill again during the summer. Realizing that show business wanted to ruin his health, he concentrated on composing and writing songs. He himself admitted that he was “a difficult work colleague” in the early 1970s. He drank a lot and took antidepressants . This, and his illness, meant that his fortune melted and he almost slipped into bankruptcy .

With the help of friends from show business, Conway fought against this and came back to television, radio and studio in the 70s - and soon back to the concert stages, albeit no longer at the top addresses. Over the years he has remained a star for most Britons.

The last few years and cancer

In 1989, doctors diagnosed Russ with stomach cancer . With successful operations and radiation treatments , he seemed to have overcome the disease and was back to work by the end of the year. Shortly thereafter, he founded the Russ Conway Cancer Fund as a charitable organization, and donations for the organization have supported various projects. Russ Conway's first charity gala was held at the Bristol Hippodrome on his 65th birthday and was sold out.

Over the next decade, Russ hosted many such galas with hundreds of show business friends who sacrificed their time to support his cause. Russ and his helpers were able to finance a bus for poor children in Bristol, on which his name was then immortalized. Russ was very proud of that.

In August 2000 Russ Conway released another CD on which he combined old and new music. On his 75th birthday in September 2000 he gave a concert in Eastbourne, Sussex, where he spent the last 14 years of his life. Joan Regan and many other musical companions from the old days were there. The Congress Theater was sold out and many fans had to be turned away at the door.

On November 16, 2000, Russ Conway died of a serious illness at the age of 75.

Discography

Albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)	Remarks
		UK
1958	Pack Up Your Troubles	UK6 (6 weeks) UK
1959	Songs to Sing in Your Bath	UK8 (10 weeks) UK
	Family Favorites	UK3 (16 weeks) UK
	Time to Celebrate	UK3 (7 weeks) UK
1960	My Concerto for You	UK5 (18 weeks) UK
	Party time	UK7 (11 weeks) UK
1977	Russ Conway Presents 24 Piano Greats	UK25 (3 weeks) UK

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)	Remarks
		UK
1957	Party pops	UK24 (5 weeks) UK
1958	Got a match	UK30 (1 week) UK
	More party pops	UK10 (7 weeks) UK
1959	The World Outside	UK24 (4 weeks) UK
	Side saddle	UK1 (30 weeks) UK
	roulette	UK1 (19 weeks) UK
	China Tea	UK5 (13 weeks) UK
	Snow Coach	UK7 (9 weeks) UK
	More And More Party Pops	UK5 (8 weeks) UK
1960	Royal Event	UK15 (9 weeks) UK
	Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'Be	UK47 (1 week) UK
	Lucky Five	UK14 (9 weeks) UK
	Passing Breeze	UK16 (10 weeks) UK
	Even More Party Pops	UK27 (9 weeks) UK
1961	Pepe	UK19 (9 weeks) UK
	Pablo	UK45 (2 weeks) UK
	Say It With Flowers	UK23 (10 weeks) UK	with Dorothy Squires
	Toy balloons	UK7 (11 weeks) UK
1962	Lesson One	UK21 (7 weeks) UK
	Always You And Me	UK33 (7 weeks) UK

Sources and web links

1. ↑ ^{a b} Frank Laufenberg / Ingrid Laufenberg: “Frank Laufenbergs Rock and Pop Lexicon, Volume 1”, © 1995 Econ Taschenbuch Verlag Düsseldorf, 5th edition 2000, p. 343; ISBN 3-612-26206-8
2. ↑ ^{a b} Chart sources: UK

• Russ Conway (English)
• Russ Conway - British pianist (English)
• Rather complete discography of singles and EPs (English)
• Obituary at BBC News (English)