Andy Russell

Born Andres Rabajos, sometimes spelled Rabago, in Los Angeles, California, in 1920, Andy Russell died in Phoenix, Arizona, on 16 April 1992. Of Mexican-Spanish parentage, he cultivated a romantic persona and specialized in Latin American material that made him a favorite American vocalist throughout the 1940s. During the first years of that decade he sang and occasionally played drums with ensembles led by Sonny Dunham, Gus Arnheim and Johnny Richards. In 1942 he joined Alvino Rey’s orchestra as one of its seven vocalists, yet the American Federation of Musicians’ recording ban imposed by James Caesar Petrillo prevented him from cutting any sides with the group.

Russell’s own Capitol Records successes commenced in 1944 with the paired releases “Besame Mucho” and “Amor,” then extended through 1948 via a string of romantic ballads that included “What A Diff’rence A Day Made,” “I Dream Of You,” “I Can’t Begin To Tell You,” “Laughing On The Outside (Crying On The Inside),” “They Say It’s Wonderful,” “Pretending” and “Anniversary Song.” He also interpreted Billy Reid’s “I’ll Close My Eyes” and Bud Flanagan’s “Underneath The Arches,” the latter backed by the Pied Pipers, formerly associated with Tommy Dorsey.

Further acclaim arrived with “Je Vous Aime,” featured in the Groucho Marx vehicle Copacabana. Additional screen appearances encompassed The Stork Club, where he duetted with Betty Hutton on “If I Had A Dozen Hearts,” the Walt Disney anthology Make Mine Music, to which he contributed “Without You,” and Breakfast In Hollywood, adapted from the radio program and showcasing Spike Jones And His City Slickers alongside the Nat ‘King’ Cole Trio. Mid-to-late-forties listeners encountered him regularly on the Old Gold Show and Lucky Strike Hit Parade, while live engagements took him to prestigious stages such as New York’s Paramount Theatre.

At the 1947 Academy Awards in Los Angeles he substituted for Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby, both of whom had declined to perform a nominated number. Russell later relocated to Mexico City, where radio, television and film engagements sustained his popularity. Returning to the United States in the late 1960s, he resumed concert work and television appearances.