Russ was born in Berwick-upon-Tweed, and ended up in Leicestershire in the early '70s having studied Mechanical Engineering at Loughborough University.
He first started playing in a band at school in Rinnington, and later played in a 6 piece band called Danjo in 1972 with Malcolm Allured and Rod Deas, followed by a 4 piece, The Golden Hammers in 1973. The Hammers, joined forces with Choise during 1973 and consequently Russ became a member of Showaddywaddy.
Russ was the lead guitarist and played most of the main guitar solos in Showaddywaddy's songs. Russ also played bass on some Showaddywaddy recordings (“I could often learn them quicker than Rod and Geoff”), notably Dancin’ Party and King Of The Jive.
Russ was generally considered to be the shiest member of the band, rarely taking part in interviews or on stage routines.
He was an avid collector of guitars in the seventies and had one of the biggest collections in the country. He still has many guitars that he used during Showaddywaddy days.
He is very proud of the band’s achievements, and is particularly pleased with the band’s track, I Don’t Like Rock ’n’ Roll No More which featured on the band’s 1981 album ‘Good Times’. He found touring enjoyable, particularly in the earlier days, “but seven night stints in cabaret clubs, before moving on to the next town and doing it all again was hard work”.
Russ left the band in the summer of 1985, although he doesn’t remember his last gig (“I had stopped enjoying touring by that time”) - his last gig was at Hillsbrough Park on 20th July. Russ ultimately left after a disagreement with the rest of the band relating to outstanding fees from a tour of Ireland in 1984, (“I doubt very much the band would have got the fees owed when they went back, and they wouldn’t have known how much they were owed because I had the books - I’ve probably still got them somewhere!”).
He played in a duo around the East Midlands for a couple of years which he enjoyed “due to there being no pressure”. He moved from living near Ashby-de-la-Zouch back to Beadnell in 1989, where he ran a guest house for many years until 2017.
During 2001, Russ played an enjoyable guest spot with The Teddys at a live gig in Berwick-upon-Tweed (featuring Malcolm Allured and Bill Gask), joining the band on stage to play Three Steps To Heaven.
Currently, Russ plays in Alnwick based band ‘Before The Mast’, who perform songs from the ‘50s to ‘70s, as well as original material, and also occasionally plays in a local church.
