GAIL RUSSELL

I was born Lesley Gail Russell , 27^th August 1949 at  New Plymouth which is on the west coast of the North Island of  New Zealand.

I was raised on a small sheep and dairy farm 25 miles north of New Plymouth and was surrounded by music at a very young age. Both my parents had lovely voices and I remember my father [now passed on] was very good at playing the Piano Accordion and my mother[now passed on] playing the piano. My Mother was the Superintendent of the local Sunday School and along with other children from the farming community she taught us traditional songs like ‘Tell Me The Old   Old   Story’  and Shall We Gather At The River’. I also have fond memories  of my  father playing his Piano Accordion on the front porch of our house on warm summer evenings after the cows had been milked [no television in those days].We also had an old gramophone that took pride of place in the lounge of the house and often my sisters and I with our parents would listen to Hank Snow, Rosemary Clooney, and other American singers from that era. My first singing solo performance was at a Primary School end of year school concert when I was eleven years old and I can even remember the songs that I sang, they were ‘San Antonio Rose’ and ‘Blue Hawai’i I tried to get out of performing at the concert but my teacher made me perform and from that time on, I knew that I wanted to make music a big part of my life. At High  School I took voice  lessons, performed in school productions and competed in School Competitions, then continued with voice training at Teacher’s College.

My intention was to become an Opera singer, unfortunately I never got that far , instead ended up as a country singer. After a few years away from my home town I   returned to New Plymouth in 1983 and decided to join a local Country   Music Club as I wanted to sing again.

I was lucky enough to be able to purchase a good Ovation Guitar off a   good   friend , learnt how to strum a few basic chords and started learning  some country songs. In   those  days , Emmy Lou Harris, Billie Jo Spiers,  Dolly Parton  were very popular so I sang a lot of their songs.

After gaining confidence with singing I decided to form a band with two excellent musicians from Iceland [GUTTI AND ROSI] both married to New Zealand Girls and living in Taranaki..

A lot of my  weekends   were spent entertaining at Country dances, RSA’S, Weddings and the Working Man’s Club In New Plymouth. The band   The Isonics’ were very popular and I will always be grateful to Gutti and Rosi for giving me the opportunity to perform with them and for helping me to start my music career.

             In 1991 I moved to Wellington and performed with other  bands in the same sort of venues and at this time I started to compete in Country Music Awards with success.

2002 was the year that my duo partner Rewa MacGregor[Levin] and I won the Overall Award at the Gourmet Paradise Awards in Blenheim and we also won the Overall for the first Veteran Awards to be held in Wellington . It was to be a good year and there were quite few other placings in the awards that I competed in .

In 2003 I wanted to do something special for my mother so I wrote a  song called ‘ My Mother’s Love is More Precious Than Gold’ and this song led me on to writing more original songs. Within a couple of years I had won a songwriting competition with ‘This Is Our Special Wedding Day’,   a song that I wrote for my niece’s wedding. That was a great thrill and gave me the incentive to record my original songs, hence my album ‘I’m  Just  A Country Girl At Heart’ being released in May 2006..There were to be other songwriting awards where my songs received awards .Some of those songs were 'My Mummy Has Gone To Heaven ' 'Sosefina ' , 'Give Your Heart To Jesus' and  'Reach Out To Hold Him ' .

In May 2009 I released my second album 'Where The Roses Never Fade'this album has four of my own original  gospel songs .I don't call myself a good writer by any means but it is rewarding when someone appreciates what you have created .I have also been thrilled the way that my music has been received around the world  and is being played in many countries .

                   I am presently living in Titahi Bay, Wellington and work part time as an Occupational Therapist Assistant in mental health. In my spare time I enjoy writing songs , singing at country music clubs,  festivals,  going to the movies, cooking , reading , walking , doing   guest spots on  shows, competing  in   Country Music  Awards and visiting  other family members on the family farm in North Taranaki, I have three grown up children[two sons and a daughter] and one granddaughter who I hope will one day follow in my footsteps .

                 YOURS IN COUNTRY       GAIL RUSSELL

TO CONTACT ME PLEASE EMAIL lesleygail@xtra.co.nz