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Russ Conway
Russ Conway DSM (born Trevor Herbert Stanford; 2 September 1925 – 16 November 2000) was an English popular music pianist and composer. Conway had 20 piano instrumentals in the UK Singles Chart between 1957 and 1963, including two number one hits.
Trevor Herbert Stanford was born on 2 September 1925 in Bristol, England. His mother, Patara Mallia (née Green) was an amateur pianist and contralto, and his father, Herbert Stanford, a clerical worker. Stanford won a scholarship to Bristol Cathedral Choir School.
After leaving school, aged 14, he attended secretarial college before working as a solicitor's clerk. The employment ended when, on his fifteen birthday, Stanford was sent to a Borstal detention centre for a three-year term after stealing some money he found in a packet. It was in borstal that he taught himself the piano. A few months later, in January 1941, his mother died.
Following his release from borstal, his father sent him to a Merchant Navy Training School. During the Second World War, in 1942, he was conscripted into the Royal Navy and was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal as signalman in a minesweeping flotilla "for distinguished service, efficiency and zeal" in clearance of mines in the Aegean and operations during the relief of Greece 1944–45. During his Navy service, he lost the tip of the ring finger of his right hand while using a bread slicer. At the end of the war, he chose to remain in the Navy, but was discharged in 1948 because of a stomach ulcer. He joined the Merchant Navy as a baggage steward with P&O, but left after a recurrence of the complaint.
In 1955, Stanford was talent-spotted while playing in a London club, and was signed to EMI's Columbia label. At Columbia, he worked with Norman Newell, who suggested he adopt the stage name of Russ Conway ('Conway' from Newell's early recording association with the singer Steve Conway, and 'Russ' from the Russ Henderson Steel Band). Conway spent the mid-1950s providing backing for artists including Gracie Fields and Joan Regan. He recorded his first solo single, "Roll The Carpet Up" (coupled with "The Westminster Waltz") in 1957, and later that year had his first hit with "Party Pops", a piano medley of well known songs.
In 1956, Conway (credited as 'Terry Stanford') composed the music for a BBC Television production of Beauty and the Beast.
Between 1957 and 1963, Conway had 20 UK chart hits, and in 1959 alone he achieved a cumulative total of 83 weeks on the UK Singles Chart. This included two self-penned number one instrumentals, "Side Saddle" and "Roulette", the latter deposing Elvis Presley's "A Fool Such As I". Conway appeared frequently on light entertainment television shows and radio for many years afterwards, performing at the London Palladium on a number of occasions and becoming a regular on the Billy Cotton Band Show for several series. He also made recordings as a vocalist. Many of his hits featured accompaniment directed by Geoff Love.
In 1958, Conway (as "Trevor H. Stanford") composed, with Norman Newell, the music for the flop musical Mister Venus, which starred Frankie Howerd and Anton Diffring, The show, with book by Ray Galton and Johnny Speight, opened at the Prince of Wales Theatre on 23 October 1958, but closed after just sixteen performances.
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Russ Conway
Russ Conway DSM (born Trevor Herbert Stanford; 2 September 1925 – 16 November 2000) was an English popular music pianist and composer. Conway had 20 piano instrumentals in the UK Singles Chart between 1957 and 1963, including two number one hits.
Trevor Herbert Stanford was born on 2 September 1925 in Bristol, England. His mother, Patara Mallia (née Green) was an amateur pianist and contralto, and his father, Herbert Stanford, a clerical worker. Stanford won a scholarship to Bristol Cathedral Choir School.
After leaving school, aged 14, he attended secretarial college before working as a solicitor's clerk. The employment ended when, on his fifteen birthday, Stanford was sent to a Borstal detention centre for a three-year term after stealing some money he found in a packet. It was in borstal that he taught himself the piano. A few months later, in January 1941, his mother died.
Following his release from borstal, his father sent him to a Merchant Navy Training School. During the Second World War, in 1942, he was conscripted into the Royal Navy and was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal as signalman in a minesweeping flotilla "for distinguished service, efficiency and zeal" in clearance of mines in the Aegean and operations during the relief of Greece 1944–45. During his Navy service, he lost the tip of the ring finger of his right hand while using a bread slicer. At the end of the war, he chose to remain in the Navy, but was discharged in 1948 because of a stomach ulcer. He joined the Merchant Navy as a baggage steward with P&O, but left after a recurrence of the complaint.
In 1955, Stanford was talent-spotted while playing in a London club, and was signed to EMI's Columbia label. At Columbia, he worked with Norman Newell, who suggested he adopt the stage name of Russ Conway ('Conway' from Newell's early recording association with the singer Steve Conway, and 'Russ' from the Russ Henderson Steel Band). Conway spent the mid-1950s providing backing for artists including Gracie Fields and Joan Regan. He recorded his first solo single, "Roll The Carpet Up" (coupled with "The Westminster Waltz") in 1957, and later that year had his first hit with "Party Pops", a piano medley of well known songs.
In 1956, Conway (credited as 'Terry Stanford') composed the music for a BBC Television production of Beauty and the Beast.
Between 1957 and 1963, Conway had 20 UK chart hits, and in 1959 alone he achieved a cumulative total of 83 weeks on the UK Singles Chart. This included two self-penned number one instrumentals, "Side Saddle" and "Roulette", the latter deposing Elvis Presley's "A Fool Such As I". Conway appeared frequently on light entertainment television shows and radio for many years afterwards, performing at the London Palladium on a number of occasions and becoming a regular on the Billy Cotton Band Show for several series. He also made recordings as a vocalist. Many of his hits featured accompaniment directed by Geoff Love.
In 1958, Conway (as "Trevor H. Stanford") composed, with Norman Newell, the music for the flop musical Mister Venus, which starred Frankie Howerd and Anton Diffring, The show, with book by Ray Galton and Johnny Speight, opened at the Prince of Wales Theatre on 23 October 1958, but closed after just sixteen performances.