2005 10- Hemel Hempstead Russell Churney

Russell Churney (10 September 1964 – 27 February 2007) was an English composer, pianist,

arranger In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orches ...

and

musical director A music(al) director or director of music is the person responsible for the musical aspects of a performance, production, or organization. This would include the artistic director and usually chief conductor of an orchestra or concert band, the ...

. He was also a member of the comedy/

cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or d ...

group,

Fascinating Aïda Fascinating Aïda is a British comedy singing group and satirical cabaret act founded in March 1983. The line-up consists of founder member Dillie Keane; Adèle Anderson, who joined in 1984; and Liza Pulman, who first joined in 2004. The group ...

. His sister is

Ooberman Ooberman are an English band with strong indie, folk and progressive influences first formed in 1997. They split up in 2003, shortly after the release of their second album ''Hey Petrunko'', but announced their reformation in April 2006 and ...

keyboardist and vocalist

Sophia Churney Sophia Churney is an English singer-songwriter and musician, She is best known for her work with the band Ooberman, as well as their side acts Symphonika, The Magic Theatre, and Ooberon. Her brother was the late musical performer Russell Chur ...

Biography

Born as Lindsay Russell Churney in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

, Churney was educated at Merchant Taylors' School in

Great Crosby Great Crosby is an area of the town of Crosby, in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England and is historically, part of Lancashire. Location In 1907, the Victoria County History described Great Crosby's location thus: 'The anci ...

and

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...

. He studied Law. He spent seven years working with the comedian

Julian Clary Julian Peter McDonald Clary (born 25 May 1959) is an English actor, comedian, novelist and presenter. He began appearing on television in the mid-1980s. Since then he has also acted in films, television and stage productions, numerous pantomim ...

, touring extensively with Clary and singer

Barb Jungr Barb Jungr (born 9 May 1954) is an English singer, songwriter and theatre writer, who has recorded versions of songs by Bob Dylan, Sting, Elvis Presley, Bruce Springsteen and Leonard Cohen. Career Barb Jungr was born in Rochdale, Lancashire ...

, and appearing with Jungr on Clary's

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

TV series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed betw ...

'' Sticky Moments with Julian Clary''. Together with Jungr, he devised and performed in shows including ''Bare'', ''Killing Me Softly'', ''Songs From The Heart'', ''Chanson: The Space in Between'', ''Barb, Bob and Brel'', and the musical ''The Ballad of Norah's Ark''. He recorded the album ''Durga Rising'' (1997) with Jungr and

percussionist A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

Kuljit Bhamra Kuljit Bhamra MBE Hon DMus (born 1959) is a British composer, record producer and musician whose main instrument is the tabla. He is best known as one of the record producers who pioneered the British Bhangra sound and for his many collaborati ...

, and he performs on Jungr's albums '' Bare'' (1999), '' Chanson: The Space in Between'' (2000), and '' Every Grain of Sand: Barb Jungr Sings Bob Dylan'' (2002). With

Des de Moor Des de Moor (born 20 April 1961 in Ipswich, Suffolk, England) is a writer, singer, musician and songwriter. His first performance in front of a paying audience was in Hertford, Hertfordshire, England in June 1976. He worked with local bands an ...

(like Jungr, a chansonnier, or singer of

chanson A (, , french: chanson française, link=no, ; ) is generally any lyric-driven French song, though it most often refers to the secular polyphonic French songs of late medieval and Renaissance music. The genre had origins in the monophonic s ...

s), he devised and performed in ''Darkness and Disgrace: Travels with a Wild-Eyed Alien from Bromley'', a show directed by Jungr and based around songs by

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

. Churney and de Moor also recorded an accompanying album ''Darkness and Disgrace: Des de Moor and Russell Churney Perform the Songs of David Bowie'' (2003), featuring Jungr. Other musical shows on which Churney worked as musical director and pianist include ''Portraits in Song'' (with

Elizabeth Mansfield Paula Schwartz (1925-2003) was an American playwright and novelist. Schwartz was the author of 36 Regency romance novels under the pen name Elizabeth Mansfield and of mainstream fiction under the name Paula Reibel, Paula Jonas, and Paula Reid. ...

), ''The Lonely Fate of the Femme Fatale'' (with Sandra Lawrence), ''Back With You'' (with

Dillie Keane Louise Miriam "Dillie" Keane (born 23 May 1952) is an Olivier Award-nominated actress, singer and comedian. She has been a member of the comedy cabaret trio Fascinating Aïda since its 1983 inception, and has also pursued a solo career. Early ...

), ''Cabaret Whores'' (with Howard Samuels), ''Straker Sings Brel'' (with

Peter Straker Peter Straker (born 7 November 1943) is a Jamaican-born British singer and actor Life and career Straker was born in Jamaica, and moved to London in his early childhood. He first became known in 1968, when he starred as Hud in the original L ...

), and ''Big Night Out at the Little Palace Theatre'' (with

Sandi Toksvig Sandra Birgitte Toksvig (; ; born 3 May 1958) is a Danish-British writer, comedian and broadcaster on British radio, stage and television. She is also a political activist, having co-founded the Women's Equality Party in 2015. She has written ...

and

). He also recorded the albums ''One Last Flutter'' with Fascinating Aida and ''Back With You'' with

. He composed original scores for films including ''One Minute Past Midnight'' (directed by Celia Galan Julve, 2004) and the Channel 4 documentaries ''Return Trip'' (dir

Carol Morley Carol Anne Morley (born 14 January 1966) is an English film director, screenwriter and producer. She is best known for her semi-documentary ''Dreams of a Life'', released in 2011, about Joyce Carol Vincent, who died in her North London bedsit i ...

) and ''The Alcohol Years'' (directed by Carol Morley, 2000). Churney died of

pancreatic cancer Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of t ...

, aged 42. A memorial concert was held in his honour on 29 June 2008. It was entitled ''The Lovely Russell'', and featured such performers as

and many others. All were friends or associates of Russell, with the exception of

Sylvester McCoy Percy James Patrick Kent-Smith (born 20 August 1943), known professionally as Sylvester McCoy, is a Scottish actor. Gaining prominence as a physical comedian, he became best known for playing the seventh incarnation of the Doctor in the lon ...

, who donated one of his prop hats from his character in ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...

''. The proceeds of the concert went to Russell's favourite charities.">Playbill News: "The Lovely Russell" Churney Will Be Remembered in London Charity Gala

References

External links

episode discussing Russel Churney with Fascinating Aïda's Adele Anderson *Russell Churney section of th
Fascinating Aïda website

Obituary
''The Times'', 13 March 2007 *Des de Moor'

{{DEFAULTSORT:Churney, Russell 1964 births 2007 deaths Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge English pianists English composers People educated at Merchant Taylors' Boys' School, Crosby Deaths from pancreatic cancer Musicians from Liverpool 20th-century British pianists 20th-century English musicians