Russ Hamilton

More than half a decade before the world had heard of The Beatles, Russ Hamilton had already put Liverpool on the map. Ask Paul McCartney, he once owned the rights to Russ' music. Ed Sullivan knew of him, he invited Russ to play on his TV show. Chet Atkins knew him, he played on some of Russ' sessions in Nashville. Elvis knew who he was also, he gave Russ a phone call & congratulated him on his hits & hoped to meet him in America. In 1957 the world changed quite a bit for a young man from Liverpool whose name was Ronnie Hulme. For a few years Ronnie had been doing impersonations of Frankie Laine, Al Jolson, James Cagney etc. It was these formative years that enabled Ronnie to get signed to Butlins as a "Redcoat". Here he would continue performing doing impressions, play some skiffle, showtunes & comedy routines. One day when Ronnie was feeling down due to a conflict with his girlfriend, he began singing to the sky of his woes & dreams. A friend with a good ear stated "I think you've got something there". He was right. Within weeks of hearing the demo Oriole Records had changed Ronnie's name to Russ Hamilton & placed him in a recording studio in London to be backed up by Johnny Gregory & His Orchestra. Released in September of 1957 "We Will Make Love" climbed to the top of the charts in Britain turning Russ Hamilton into a singing superstar. Kapp Records in the USA had a different idea. They used the flipside of the hit & "Rainbow" became the smash hit in the America's. Suddenly he was a far cry from hanging out on the street corners of Liverpool with his friend Lonnie Donegan. Combined sales on both sides of the Atlantic were over a million copies. Russ was the first performer from Britain to have a double sided hit & was awarded a Gold Record as a momento of his triumph. A full album was recorded & released in the UK as "We Will Make Love" & as "Rainbows" in North America. Around the globe Russ Hamilton records were released. Sparton Records in Canada, Galaxy Records in Australia, Prestige Records in New Zealand as well as other European countries & Africa. Russ began to perform on the 6.5 Special as a regular & was also featured in the movie of the same name playing "I Had A Dream". Shows were performed in the major cities of Britain including London, Manchester, & Liverpool were it is said some future members of a band called The Beatles were in the audience. Russ was flown over to New York City & performed on the Patti Page show. He also appeared on "The Big Record", a televison show in Philadelphia. An offer to appear on the Ed Sullivan show had to be turned down as Russ had a previous engagement booked back in England. An Ivor Novello award was presented to Russ in 1958 for his songwriting accomplishments. Other singles were released on Oriole up until 1960 including "Strange Are The Ways Of Love" which can be heard on the soundtrack of the 1958 film "The Young Land". In 1960 Russ signed with MGM records & did some sessions in Nashville with Chet Atkins & the Jordanaires. Now in the style of a pop/country, a few singles were released up until 1962. In 1963 Ember Records signed Russ to a deal & placed him in the studio with the Arthur Greensdale Orchestra. "Valley Of Love" released in 1963 featured a big drum sound & horn section. In 1964 a re-recorded & speeded up version of "We Will Make Love" also included horns & swinging drum beat. Enter The Beatles, whose records were conquering the world. It was around this time Russ found himself on a television show with The Rolling Stones. After this, Russ decided it was time to sit back & enjoy life as he figured "There are some new kings in Liverpool". Looking back on his career it is always easy to say "if I only knew then, what I know now". Being young & naive to a career & how it is handled, Russ became another victim of "bad" management & greedy song publishers due to the fact that he could write his own songs. Like many of his contemporaries back then, Russ' career generated millions of dollars but saw little of it & then was cast to the side to be forgotten. Over the years the only available product to buy of Russ Hamilton has been the odd reissue of "We Will Make Love" and/or "Rainbow". There have been several "pirated" cd collections available through "auction" internet sites. This should be an indication to the record companies that there is still an interest in Russ Hamilton's music & it may be time for someone to release a "50th Anniversary Collection". Russ Hamilton passed away on October 11, 2008.