Russ Hamilton (born Ronald Hulme; 19 January 1932 – 11 October 2008) was an English singer and songwriter. Hamilton made the Top 10 in the United Kingdom with "We Will Make Love", but in the United States, it was the B-side, "Rainbow", which made the Top 10.

Biography

Early life

Russ Hamilton was born as Ronald Hulme in Everton, Liverpool, Lancashire in 1932. Prior to his fame, he worked as a cost clerk.

Career

He was one of the first singer-songwriters of pop music to have come out of the city, and he was the first Liverpool artist to hit the United States music scene with his song "

Rainbow A rainbow is an optical phenomenon caused by refraction, internal reflection and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a continuous spectrum of light appearing in the sky. The rainbow takes the form of a multicoloured circular ...

", several years before

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

. In 1957,

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphics, graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can repres ...

success in the U.S. was very unusual for a British performer, and Hamilton commuted from one side of the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...

to the other to meet the demands for live performances. A former Redcoat, Hamilton's first

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from ''Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust or HIT, a fictional organization i ...

in the United Kingdom was "We Will Make Love", which he recorded in 1957 for Oriole Records. However, in the U.S., it was the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

, "Rainbow", that became the hit; according to Hamilton himself, it was mistakenly thought to be the

A-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of vinyl records and cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a single usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or ...

of the single. This produced the possibly unique event of a single reaching the Top 10 in the UK, while its flipside achieved the same result across the Atlantic. "We Will Make Love" peaked at No. 2 in the UK Singles Chart, and "Rainbow" reached No. 4 on ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'''s

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), o ...

. The record sold over one million copies, and reached

gold disc Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

status. We Will Make Love was written about a girl from

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

named Patricia Hitchin, who Hamilton had fallen in love with. Hamilton followed this success later that same year with another self-penned item, "Wedding Ring", which reached the Top 20 in the UK. In 1960, he was invited to

Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

, Tennessee and signed up with

MGM Records MGM Records was a record label founded by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio in 1946 for the purpose of releasing soundtrack recordings (later LP albums) of their musical films. It transitioned into a pop music label that continued into the ...

. In Nashville, he recorded " Gonna Find Me a Bluebird" with

the Jordanaires The Jordanaires were an American vocal quartet that formed as a gospel group in 1948. Over the years, they recorded both sacred and secular music for recording companies such as Capitol Records, RCA Victor, Columbia Records, Decca Records, Vo ...

and

Chet Atkins Chester Burton Atkins (June 20, 1924 – June 30, 2001), also known as "Mister Guitar" and "the Country Gentleman", was an American musician who, along with Owen Bradley and Bob Ferguson (musician), Bob Ferguson, helped create the Nash ...

. His success with record releases did not improve, and by the early 1960s he had dropped away from the foreground of the pop music scene. He has written many songs which were popular, especially in Asia. "Little One", a song he wrote for his niece in Canada, was his personal favourite. Other songs such as "I Still Belong to You", "I Had a Dream" and "Reprieve of Tom Dooley" were quite popular. He performed the song "I Had A Dream" on the film spin-off of the TV show ''

Six-Five Special ''Six-Five Special'' is a British television programme launched in February 1957 when both television and rock and roll were in their infancy in Britain. Description ''Six-Five Special'' was the BBC's first attempt at a rock-and-roll programme. ...

''. However, this hit has subsequently received little

airplay Airplay is how frequently a song is being played through broadcasting on radio stations. A song which is being played several times every day (spins) would have a significant amount of airplay. Music which became very popular on jukeboxes, in n ...

Death

Hamilton died on 11 October 2008, at the age of 76, at his home in Buckley,

North Wales North Wales ( ) is a Regions of Wales, region of Wales, encompassing its northernmost areas. It borders mid Wales to the south, England to the east, and the Irish Sea to the north and west. The area is highly mountainous and rural, with Snowdon ...

Discography

Albums

Singles

Extended Plays

Russ Hamilton Oriole EP-7005 We will make love/Rainbow/Wedding ring/I still belong to you.1957

References

External links

Biography at 45-rpm.org.ukRuss Hamilton Biography, photos, news and hear his musicVideo Newsreel of Russ Hamilton in 1957Russ Hamilton at Discogs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamilton, Russ 1932 births 2008 deaths English male singer-songwriters English singer-songwriters Singers from Liverpool Butlins Redcoats Oriole Records (UK) artists 20th-century English singers 20th-century English male singers 20th-century English male writers