Alice Russell
LABEL: Six Degrees ||| PHOTOGRAPHY: Digby Oldridge at PR Eye Bespoke Photography
One listen to Alice Russell’s voice will send shivers down your spine and leave goose bumps on your neck. Alice’s lavishly soulful voice is both timeless and up to the minute modern. Live or on record, she always performs with her trademark self assurance and sass. Listening to Alice, you’d naturally think she grew up on the streets of Detroit, just around the corner from Motown’s legendary recording studios, but surprisingly enough the blue-eyed, blonde-haired lass hails from Brighton, U.K. Her singing career began as a young girl singing in her church choir. “Our singing was more of the traditional SATB [soprano, alto, tenor, bass] parts you hear in the great classical halls and cathedrals.
Although her style is predominantly bluesy and soul lament it also encompasses everything from funk to gospel to jazz and beyond. “Growing up, I was surrounded by different types of music and you know, you just get taken by something, don’t you? It hits you in the right place and you think, ”˜Yeah, Baby, I like that!’ That gospel stuff is wicked, isn’t it? And artists like Stevie Wonder and Aretha Franklin ”¦ I was really small, playing with my Lego, taping this stuff off of the radio. I just fell in love with soul music, quite honestly. Just hearing that music hit the spot.” She comes from a musical family, her father was a classical music teacher, and her sisters were classically trained. It wasn’t until Alice was around nine that she began formal music lessons on the cello for a few years. But the only training she ever had with her voice was “with my ears” and just “by picking things up.”
Today Alice has developed a burgeoning career as one of the hottest UK soul singers with growing audiences around the world. While comparisons have been made to other popular British vocalists like Joss Stone, Amy Winehouse, Duffy and Adele, one listen and look at Alice and you can immediately tell she's in a class all by herself. She has performed alongside well respected company that includes Roy Ayres, The Roots, Lonnie Liston Smith, De La Soul, Quantic, and The Quantic Soul Orchestra to name a few.
WEBSITES
www.allicerussell.com
www.myspace.com/alicerusselluk
