Dave Russell

This is what a judge for the Nationally seen show Nashville Star said about Dave after seeing his audition. you have a great stage presence he went on to say. Comments like these can be heard all over the place as Dave has spent most of his life working on being not only a singer, but an Country Music ENTERTAINER.
There will always be fantastic singers in the world, Dave says, and a lot of times when you see them that is all they have to offer, a great vocal talent. I want people to see and feel, that there is an energy at my shows, and me. I want to try and be the total package of singers. Fun, energetic, accessible, and relatable, that is who I am. I want that to be how I am seen. To have people see one of my shows and come away saying how much fun they had, will always be my goal. That is not easy to do as a singer but I sure work as hard as I can to make it happen.
Dave grew up in rural North Carolina, right outside of the tobacco town of Winston-Salem. The youngest of seven, he always had a love for music. His older siblings all had tried their hand at musical instruments but after tiring of them, luckily they were left to for Dave to play around with.
I never really was able to really learn the instruments but I was able to pick out melodies and short songs. Unfortunately Daves parents were not in a position to pay for lessons so that was pretty much the extent of his endeavors with playing an instrument.
But he still was able to sing. And sing he did. Any chance he got, Dave would be singing. His father allowed him to play with a tape recorder and Dave would record himself singing and trying to sound like the singers he would listen to on the radio. It was this type of playing that help forge Daves ability to impersonate many singers, as he often does in his shows today.
Dave grew up listening and singing many types of music. Having such a large family, the different genres were pretty much evenly represented. My brothers and sisters listened to anything from Jim Croce, Bread, The Who, Queen, BTO, and even down to David Cassidy. This is luckily where I was exposed to all types of music. But of them all, it was Johnny Cash, Hank Williams, George Jones, and others that really influenced Dave the most.
In high school, Dave sang in the school chorus, where even though he could not read music, he was asked to be a student director. He also sang in a band with his best friend, and also dabbled in the dramatic arts as he was the lead in several of his schools productions. Dave really started to get a solid feel for the lights and love for the reaction of a crowd.
After a severe motorcycle accident put Dave out of work, he really started looking at what he wanted to do with his life. He was working at UPS as a supervisor but he still longed to be on stage. The chances to do so in Winston-Salem were very few and far between. He started singing in local talent contests and even dreamed of being on the show Star Search. Well, a friend of his sent in a tape that Dave had made and sure enough, the show called and asked Dave to be part of the televised talent competition.
Dave won 2 championships that season and finally felt that was what he was really meant to do. Be an entertainer!! So he packed up, auditioned for Opryland, and was asked to do the show that they had in San Antonio. From there it was off to Nashville, Branson, Biloxi, and Reno. Each show Dave did he tried to make sure he worked on becoming better and better on stage. Dave spent hours watching not only his performances on tape but the performances of others he worked with. Being able to headline along such vastly different performers, he studied hard their every move. Magicians, singers, comedians, and others, Dave watched how each one had a way of connecting with an audience. He started using those things he learned on stage and soon the two loves he had always had, began to merge on stage. Music and being in front of people, that was where Dave wanted to be most.
It is this ability to work on stage and connect with people, which separates Dave from many singers. To him, it is all about the show. He knows people want to be entertained if they pay good money to see a concert. The rarely want to sit back and be sung at. They want to feel the energy of the singer and those around them. The want to be made to feel that they are there to have a good time. It are the artists like Garth, Travis Tritt, Marty Stewart and Tim McGraw that know how to work an audience, they inspire me the most. Along with Daves choices as to the songs he sings, (he strives to keep everything as up tempo as possible), Daves willingness to put his everything into each performance will always be his main goal.