1. Russell Norman Morris was born on 31 July 1948 and is an Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist who had five Australian Top 10 singles during the late 1960s and early 1970s.
22 Facts About Russell Morris
1. 2.
Russell Morris' career started in September 1966, when Russell Morris was 18 years old with the formation of the Melbourne group Somebody's Image, together with Kevin Thomas, Phillip Raphael, Eric Cairns and Les Allan.
3.
Russell Morris' debut solo single was a near seven-minute production extravaganza around a song called "The Real Thing", released in March 1969.
4.
The track was co-written by Johnny Young and Russell Morris and arranged by John Farrar.
5.
Russell Morris returned to Australia in December 1969 and performed a concert in Brisbane which was attended by 5,000 people, of which more than 100 were taken off in an ambulance due to 'advanced hysteria'.
6.
Russell Morris recorded English songwriter Raymond Froggatt's "Rachel" which peaked at No 23 in May 1970.
7.
Russell Morris concentrated on his own songwriting and with the cream of Australian musicians including Brian Cadd, Rick Springfield, Beeb Birtles and Marcie Jones, spent almost a year painstakingly recording and re-recording what became the Bloodstone album.
8.
In 1973, Russell Morris moved to London to record an album, only to discover there was no record contract waiting for him.
9.
Russell Morris relocated to New York City and worked on an album there.
10.
Russell Morris released Russell Morris in 1975 on Robie Porter's Wizard label in Australia and on RCA for US release.
11.
Russell Morris fronted The Lonely Boys throughout the 1980s and he branched out onto the musical stage, appearing as 'Riff Raff' in a Melbourne production of The Rocky Horror Show and a few years later taking on the role of Simon Zealotes in the hit 1992 arena production of Jesus Christ Superstar alongside John Farnham, Kate Ceberano, Angry Anderson and Jon Stevens.
12.
In November 1991, Russell Morris released another solo album, A Thousand Suns, which peaked at number 98.
13.
At the Gimme Ted benefit concert on 9 March 2001 Russell Morris performed two songs.
14.
Rouseabout Records released the definitive 2CD Russell Morris anthology, called The Real Thing, covering his entire career.
15.
In May 2007, Russell Morris recorded Fundamentalist an acoustic album of his earlier hits.
16.
In 2007, Russell Morris teamed up with longtime friend Brian Cadd and released a live album titled Live at the Con.
17.
On 1 July 2008, Russell Morris was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame.
18.
Russell Morris was joined on-stage by guest musicians Steve Kilbey, Tim Powles, Jak Housden, Clayton Doley and Lachlan Doley to perform "The Real Thing".
19.
Russell Morris proved to be a revelation on the night, stirring the crowd with a terrific performance.
20.
In October 2012 Russell Morris released the first of his trilogy of Australian story albums.
21.
In February 2019, Russell Morris confirmed the release of his next studio album Black and Blue Heart on 5 April 2019.
22.
In 2021, Russell Morris joined Rick Springfield and formed The Russell Morris Springfield Project.