Benjamin Russell Biography

I was born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. This is one of the ends of the earth. I know, 'cause I read it somewhere. If you were to drill a hole straight down through the center of the world and came out on the other side, you'd end up in Timbuktu, the other end of the earth.

When I moved to Montreal on my way to New York, back in the early 70's, I got kidded a lot about living down THE street, from THE corral, where they kept the buffalo. I got used to it. I also got used to people asking you your last name so they could classify according to your ethnic background. The other thing I learned was that when crossing the street, you have to pay close attention to the taxis -- it's their job to try to run you down. I never made it to New York. I met Elyce and decided to stay...

I evolved as an esoteric folksinger for a couple of years, then hooked up with publisher, Ben Kaye and began writing with an aim to being commercial -- a dirty word in my vocabulary up until then. I experimented with MOR pop music, and wrote a load of songs.

Sparked by a friend who said some of my songs sounded like Rock, I joined up with a Punk band, The Strokes. This phase lasted through a couple of bands, until I got fed up with egos and guys being too stoned to do anything, and I went underground, working like crazy with recording gear, drum boxes, synths and keyboards, as well as guitars.

Meanwhile, I earned my living doing sing-along concerts with kids, mostly in schools. I eventually had a Children's record, "Cool Kids", released on the Attic label.

I continued with my other music, and landed a deal with Montreal dance king, Tony Green. My "Pop Modern(e)" album on the TGO label landed me a nomination as most promising male vocalist in the 1985 CASBY awards (Gowan won, but it was great to be nominated). I had a video on high rotation on Much Music , and even 5 years later, "Miracle" was one of the "Top 100 Songs of All Time", on CFNY, the radio station in Toronto that championed the album.

When that deal went sour, I floundered for quite a while as an artist, but eventually rebuilt and evolved myself through a bunch of albums over the last 25 years.

I've written over 500 songs, recorded over 200 of them in one form or another, and continue to write new ones. Most of the time, I've written by myself, but have collaborated off and on with various people, most notably Kat Dyson, formerly of Tchukon. We co-wrote, "Principle of Emotion", which appeared on their album on the Aquarius label. I've also produced songs and albums for Jose Sierra, Patrick Kearney, Blue Champagne, Will Mein, and Tony Paduano . Check out my recordings page for the scoop on my 14 albums.

Keep your eyes and ears open for my new CD, "ROCKHILL", which is available now online and in stores soon.

The CD Launch on April 10 at Shaika Cafe in Montreal was a blast. Joining me on stage were my friends: Peter Marunzak (formerly of LUBA), Peter Patrick (formerly of NAKED LUNCH), film composer, Sandra Chechick, singer-songwriter, Jose Sierra, and producer/musician, Jean-Francois Dumais.

(photo by Nat Chechik)