Charles Arthur Russell, Jr. (May 21, 1951 – April 4, 1992)
was an American cellist,composer, singer, and musician whose work spanned the genres ofclassical ,disco ,experimental , rock and folk.
Although he found the most commercial success in the dance music genre, Russell's career bridged New York's downtown, rock, and dance music scenes. His collaborators included Phillip Glass, David Byrne and Nicky Siano. Relatively unknown during his lifetime,
a series of reissues, compilations, books and a biopic have significantly raised his profile in the 2000s. He was heavily involved in the West End Records group Loose Joints, producing the disco classic ' Is It All Over My Face' , and remixing ' Go Bang' for Sleeping Bag Records. Tree house/School Bell came out on Sleeping Bag Records as well, a tribal workout that sounded like nothing else.
Shortly after the release of
World of Echo, a 1986 release on Rough Trade/Mute Records, Russell was diagnosed as HIV-positive. As the virus yielded to the more deleterious side effects of AIDS (including throat cancer, forcing Russell to undergo chemotherapy), he remained prolific, working on voice-and-cello songs for an album to be released by Philip Glass's Point Music (some of which surfaced on the posthumous
Another Thought in 1994) and an electronic pop suite influenced by the likes of 808 State and William Orbit (provisionally titled
1-800-DINOSAUR) for Rough Trade Records. Much of the material intended for this project was included on 2004's
Calling Out of Context.
Russell died of AIDS on April 4, 1992 , at the age of 40.
In an April 28 column, Kyle Gann of The Village Voice wrote: "His recent performances had been so infrequent due to illness, his songs were so personal, that it seems as though he simply vanished into his music."
audio link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZJ9MnXVwaA
