Russ Hamilton

Born Ronald Hulme in Liverpool on January 29, 1932, Russ Hamilton worked as a late-1950s singer and songwriter whose modest chart impact arrived via the opposing sides of one single in Britain and America. He launched his stage career as a Butlins Redcoat and joined fellow employees in forming a skiffle ensemble. After completing national service, he issued his debut recording, the teen ballad “We Will Make Love,” which rose to number two in the summer of 1957. Across the Atlantic the B-side “Rainbow” found stronger favor, obliging him to promote two separate tracks simultaneously in different markets. Because few British performers reached the U.S. charts in that era, Hamilton divided his schedule between the two countries and sustained his holiday-camp ties by alternating live appearances one week with returns to Butlins the next. In Britain he followed “We Will Make Love” with the comparable “Wedding Ring,” yet the single produced no further chart entries. The same proved true in America, where “Rainbow” remained his solitary hit. By 1960 he had moved to MGM Records in Nashville, but none of those releases reached the charts.