Raymond 'Ray' Russell (born 4 April 1947) is an English session musician who is primarily a guitarist. He is also a

record producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure. Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

and composer. In 1973 he was a member of the band Mouse, which released a

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. In ...

album entitled ''Lady Killer'' for the Sovereign

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

. His TV compositions have included ''

A Touch of Frost A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes' ...

'', '' Bergerac'', ''

Plain Jane Plain Jane may refer to: *''Plain Jane'', a 1922 play by McElbert Moore * ''Plain Jane'' (Wednesday Theatre), an Australian TV movie * ''Plain Jane'' (TV series), a U.S. TV series airing on The CW *Plain Jane (band), an American band from the lat ...

'', ''

A Bit of a Do ''A Bit of a Do'' is a British comedy-drama series based on the books by David Nobbs. The show starred David Jason and Gwen Taylor. It was produced by Yorkshire Television for two series and aired on the ITV network from 13 January to 1 Decembe ...

'', ''

Rich Tea and Sympathy Rich may refer to: Common uses * Rich, an entity possessing wealth * Rich, an intense flavor, color, sound, texture, or feeling ** Rich (wine), a descriptor in wine tasting Places United States * Rich, Mississippi, an unincorporated comm ...

'', ''

The Inspector Alleyn Mysteries ''The Inspector Alleyn Mysteries'' is a British detective television series, broadcast on BBC1, which was adapted from nine of the novels by Dame Ngaio Marsh, featuring the character Chief Inspector Roderick Alleyn. The pilot episode was shown ...

'', '' Dangerfield'' and '' Grafters'', as well as many other

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

and American

television program Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

mes. He also played in the DVD ''Simon Phillips Returns'' with Simon Phillips and Anthony Jackson. With colleagues

Mo Foster Mo Foster (born Michael Ralph Foster, 22 December 1944) is an English multi-instrumentalist, record producer, composer, solo artist, author, and public speaker. Through a career spanning over half a century, Foster has toured, recorded, and perf ...

and Ralph Salmins, Russell gives musical seminars at UK educational establishments. In 2008 Russell, drummer Ralph Salmins, and

sound engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproductio ...

Rik Walton created Made Up Music, a music library that distributes music on its web site and by sending portable hard drives to music editors. The company sells music by Russell, Mo Foster, Steve Donnelly, and Simon Eyre. In March 2020 Russell featured on an episode of the BBC Television programme ''

Antiques Roadshow ''Antiques Roadshow'' is a British television programme broadcast by the BBC in which antiques appraisers travel to various regions of the United Kingdom (and occasionally in other countries) to appraise antiques brought in by local people ( ...

'', in which his fretless six-string electric guitar, made by Bartell and gifted to him by George Harrison, having originally belonged to

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...

, was valued at £300,000-£400,000.

Solo discography

* ''Turn Circle'' (CBS, 1968) * ''Dragon Hill'' (CBS, 1969) * ''June 11, 1971: Live at the ICA'' (RCA Victor, 1971) * ''Rites & Rituals'' (CBS, 1971) * ''Secret Asylum'' (Black Lion, 1973) * ''Ready or Not'' (DJM, 1977) * ''This Side Up'' (B&W, 1989) * ''A Table Near the Band'' (Angel Air, 1990) * ''Guitars from Mars'' (Virgin, 1990) * ''Why Not Now'' (1988) * ''Childscape'' (1990) with

Gil Evans Ian Ernest Gilmore Evans (né Green; May 13, 1912 – March 20, 1988) was a Canadian–American jazz pianist, arranger, composer and bandleader. He is widely recognized as one of the greatest orchestrators in jazz, playing an important role i ...

and

Mark Isham Mark Ware Isham (born September 7, 1951) is an American musician and film composer. A trumpeter and keyboardist, Isham works in a variety of genres, including jazz and electronic. He is also a film composer, having worked on numerous films and ...

* ''June 11th 1971: Live at the ICA / Retrospective'' (Mokai, 2000) * ''A Touch of Frost'' (Universal, 2003) * ''The Composer's Cut'' (Angel Air, 2005) * ''Goodbye Svengali'' (

Cuneiform Cuneiform is a logo-syllabic script that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Middle East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. It is named for the characteristic wedge-sh ...

, 2006) * ''Myths & Legends'' (Strip Sounds, 2007) * ''Now, More Than Ever'' (Abstract Logix, 2013) * ''The Celestial Squid'' with Henry Kaiser (Cuneiform, 2015)

References

External links

* * *
Made Up Music websiteEP Music Licensing websiteBBC Review of ''Goodbye Svengali''''Wire'' magazine (Issue #262, December 2005): Ray Russell track on giveaway CD
{{DEFAULTSORT:Russell, Ray 1947 births Living people People from Islington (district) Musicians from London Cuneiform Records artists English television composers English male composers English jazz guitarists English male guitarists English session musicians Nucleus (band) members British male jazz musicians RMS (band) members Black Lion Records artists