Conway was born in Bristol, England. He had no formal piano training and sp… Read Full Bio ↴Conway was born in Bristol, England. He had no formal piano training and spent his early adulthood in the Navy. Conway was talent-spotted while playing in a London club, signed to Columbia Records and spent the mid 1950s providing backing for their artists including Gracie Fields and Joan Regan. However, the commercial potential of Conway's unique percussive piano style (which he attributed to a missing fingertip he had severed many years previously with a bread slicer) was too great for him to remain in the background for long. Conway recorded his first solo single in 1957, a novelty instrumental medley of pop standards.

1959 was Conway's annus mirabilis, with a cumulative total of 83 weeks on the UK Singles Chart. This included two self-penned number one instrumentals, "Side Saddle" and "Roulette", the latter deposing 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. For some years 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 in major theatre's charity gala shows that raised thousands of pounds and was donated to numerous cancer charities. Russ, who never married, died on 2000-11-16 [1]. Richard Hope Hawkins gave the main address at Russ's funeral held at the historic St Mary Redcliffe Church, Bristol. Elton John sent a wreath. In 2001 Richard devised, staged and directed a tribute to Russ at the Colston Hall, Bristol with an all-star cast. The money raised which was £18,000 was donated to St Peter's Hospice, Bristol.

Snow Coach
Russ Conway Lyrics

We have lyrics for these tracks by Russ Conway:

All My Loving Close your eyes and I'll kiss you Tomorrow I'll miss you R…
Come Softly To Me I remember a road that's called to me Since I was…
Elusive Butterfly You might wake up some mornin' To the sound of something…
Embraceable You Embrace me, my sweet embraceable you! Embrace me, you irrep…
Hi-Lili-Hi-Lo On every tree there sits a bird, singing a song…
I Wish You Love Goodbye, No use leading with our chins, This is where our…
If Ever I Would Leave You If ever I would leave you, it wouldn't be in…
It's Not Goodbye It's not unusual to be loved by anyone It's not unusual…
leaves If ever I would leave you, it wouldn't be in…

Our Waltz Our waltz is music fashioned in heaven, Angels composed it …
Ruby They say, Ruby you're like a dream Not always what…
Strangers In The Night Strangers in the night, Exchanging glances Wandering the ni…
The More I See You Each time I look at you is like the first…
The World Outside The world outside Belongs to me Since you are mine…
Toy Balloons There's a man who sells balloons Pretty coloured toy balloon…
when When the midnight choo choo leaves for Alabam' I'll be right…

You Stepped Out Of A Dream You stepped out of a dream You are too wonderful to…

The lyrics are frequently found in the comments by searching or by filtering for lyric videos

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Comments from YouTube:

Brian Parker

5y↑6

I adored this record as a three year old in 1960 - gave me a lifelong love of just pure tune. Conway's technique is remarkable and I especially admire the way his left hand motifs slightly prefigure the direction the tune will go in. Some later re-recordings aren't quite as satisfying (as Marcus commented) but this is great.