Leon Russell (born Claude Russell Bridges; April 2, 1942 – November 13, 2016) was an American musician and songwriter, who recorded as a session musician, sideman, and maintained a solo career. He was famed for his gospel-infused southern boogie piano rock, blues, and country music. Russell played anonymously as a studio pianist in the 1960s before his breakthrough in the 1970s. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2011. Elton John had called him his "biggest influence as a piano player, a singer and a songwriter". Russell's had a relatively brief period of stardom in the 70s which was later revived in 2010 with the help of Elton John when the two collaborated on an album called The Union.
Links To Peel[]
Peel would have played many records featuring Leon Russell during the mid-1960s, as Russell had a prolific career as a session musician and played on many hits which were in the playlists of the US radio stations where Peel (or John Raven(s)croft) worked . But the first record to feature Leon Russell under his own name was the 1968 LP Look Inside The Asylum Choir, which featured a group led by Russell and fellow singer-songwriter Marc Benno. It was not a commercial success but gained some attention and a UK release. It was reviewed in International Times and Peel played a few tracks on Top Gear, and more by the group when Russell and Benno reunited for a second Asylum Choir album in the early 1970s.
Leon Russell also became known for his collaborations with Joe Cocker, supplying Cocker with the hit song "Delta Lady", which the singer recorded for his 1969 Peel session. Russell was Cocker's musical director during the singer's 1970 Mad Dogs And Englishmen tour of the US, and Peel played tracks from the ensuing live double LP. In the same year Leon Russell issued his first solo album, and soon became a very fashionable artist, performing live and collaborating with many big names of the era. His records were often featured on Sounds Of The Seventies radio shows, including Peel's. Having lived in Texas and Oklahoma, Peel liked the rootsy, southern country-rock-blues-soul style of Russell and other artists of that time, like J.J. Cale, Delaney and Bonnie and the Allman Brothers Band. But Leon Russell didn't seem to be a lasting Peel favourite, and existing playlists show as many plays for his records with the Asylum Choir as for his better-known solo work. The DJ spoke about a piece Russell wrote with Eric Clapton, the track 'Blues Power', on the 16 August 1976 show, when he described the song as one of the best from Eric's early solo period:
"Obviously, doing a programme on Cream, there are dozens of records which we'd like to play which we can't but we thought we'd play something from Eric's period when he was trying to lose himself in a travelling circus of American groovers, and this is just about the best from that period, a song he co-wrote with Leon Russell."
Shows Played[]
Leon Russell Roll Away The Stone
- 1970
- 25 April 1970: Roll Away The Stone (LP – Leon Russell) A&M
- 1972
- 01 September 1972: Roller Derby (LP - Carney) A&M
- 12 September 1972: Tight Rope (LP - Carney) A&M
- 1973
- 25 December 1973: Slipping Into Christmas (7") A&M
- 1974
- 22 January 1974: A Six Pack To Go (LP - Hank Wilson's Back Vol. I) Shelter
- 05 February 1974: Rollin' My Sweet Baby's Arms, Parts 1 & 2 (LP - Hank Wilson's Back Vol. I) Shelter
- 1975
- 29 March 1975: My Father's Shoes (LP - Will O' The Wisp) Shelter
- Asylum Choir
- 25 February 1972: Straight Brother (LP – 2) Shelter Recording Company Inc. SW-8910
- 29 February 1972: Down On The Base (LP – 2) Shelter Recording Company Inc. SW-8910
- 14 March 1972: Ballad For A Soldier (LP – 2) Shelter Recording Company Inc. SW-8910
- Radio Luxembourg Tracklistings 2: Ballad For A Soldier (LP – 2) Shelter Recording Company Inc. SW-8910