Russ Conway - 15196

Hugely popular British pianist, with a unique percussive style attributable to a missing finger tip (lost in a bread slicer!)

Conway had no formal piano training and spent his early adulthood in the Merchant Navy. He served in the Royal Navy from 1942 to 1948 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 for the relief of Greece 1944 to 1945. He was talent-spotted while playing in a London club, signed to EMI's Columbia label and spent the mid 1950s providing backing for their artists including Gracie Fields and Joan Regan.

Conway recorded his first solo single in 1957, but it was 1959 that was his annus mirabilis, with a cumulative total of 83 weeks on the UK Singles Chart, with two self-penned number one instrumentals, "Side Saddle" and "Roulette" (the latter deposed Elvis Presley's "A Fool Such As I".)

Conway maintained a chart presence in the early 1960s, and was a fixture on light entertainment TV shows and radio for many years afterwards thanks to his instantly recognisable piano style.

His career was blighted by ill-health, and his later life was notable for charity work. He founded in 1990, along with his friend writer and broadcaster Richard Hope-Hawkins, the Russ Conway Cancer Fund and they staged charity gala shows in major theatres that raised thousands of pounds to be donated to numerous cancer charities..

This is a very fine black and white photograph (8.5" x 10"), nicely signed ("With Best Wishes, Sincerely, Russ Conway") in dark blue ink across clear areas of the image. In very good condition