Brenda Russell

A soul singer, composer, and keyboardist who entered the world as Brenda Gordon, Russell saw her family relocate to Toronto upon her reaching the age of 12. Along with her husband Brian Russell she later co-hosted the Canadian television program Music Machine before the pair relocated to Los Angeles in 1973 and established themselves as session musicians. The couple issued recordings as Brian & Brenda in 1978, yet the material met with limited enthusiasm. Following their divorce, Russell launched a solo path, securing a deal with A&M that yielded the albums Brenda Russell in 1979 and Love Life in 1981. She next moved to Warner Bros. for the 1983 release Two Eyes, then returned to A&M to deliver her most widely embraced album, Get Here, in 1988. That project included the Top Ten single “Piano in the Dark,” performed with Joe Esposito of Brooklyn Dreams. The same year brought Grammy nominations for Song of the Year and Best Pop Duo Performance for the duet, plus Best Pop Female Vocal for the album itself. Her final A&M effort, Kiss Me With the Wind, appeared in 1990; she then joined EMI and issued Soul Talkin’ in 1993. That partnership produced only one album, leaving her without a recording contract for the ensuing seven years until she resurfaced in July 2000 with Paris Rain on Hidden Beach. Over the years she contributed session performances to projects by Barbra Streisand, Elton John, and Bette Midler, while her compositions found interpreters that included Streisand, Luther Vandross, and Donna Summer among many others.