Trivia

Television pianist who had number 1 UK hits with "Side Saddle" and "Roulette" both in 1959, followed by some lesser hits in the early 60s, but continued his success right into the '70s, especially on television.

His trademark percussive style of playing was a result of losing the tip of one of his fingers in an accident with a bread slicer while he was serving in the Royal Navy during World War II.

Suffered from severe stage fright early in his career.

In 1958 Conway (as "Trevor H. Stanford") composed, with Norman Newell, the music for the flop musical Mister Venus, which starred Frankie Howerd and Anton Diffring, The show, with book by Ray Galton and Johnny Speight, opened at the Prince of Wales Theatre on 23 October 1958 but closed after just sixteen performances.

In the documentary Frankie Howerd: The Lost Tapes, Barry Cryer, commenting on Howerd not coming out as gay, also said that Russ Conway did not, as in 'those days' it would have been career suicide.

Conway could not read music, so the published sheet music of his work is inaccurate and simplified. Pianist Mike Thomson (1946-2018) produced some faithful transcriptions, but they were not able to be fully published due to copyright issues.

His career was blighted by ill health, including a nervous breakdown and subsequently a stroke, which prevented him from performing between 1968 and 1971.

He was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1959, when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews during a recording session at the BBC's Studio 1 at 201 Piccadilly, London.

At Columbia, he worked with Norman Newell, who suggested he adopt the stage name of Russ Conway ('Conway' from Newell's early recording association with the singer Steve Conway, and 'Russ' from the Russ Henderson Steel Band).

Conway was talent-spotted while playing in a London club, signed to EMI's Columbia label and spent the mid-1950s providing backing for artists on their roster, including Gracie Fields and Joan Regan.

Conway, who never married, died on 16 November 2000, just two weeks after his last public performance.

His two brothers quarrelled over the contents of his will.

He was prescribed anti-depressants and had periods of severe self-doubt, but he kept up playing.

He was discharged from his navy service on health grounds because of a stomach ulcer. He joined the Merchant Navy as a baggage steward with P&O, but left after a recurrence of the complaint.

Between 1957 and 1963, Conway had 20 UK chart hits, and in 1959 alone he achieved a cumulative total of 83 weeks on the UK Singles Chart.

He appeared as himself in French and Saunders' 1994 Christmas special, playing "Side Saddle"-or, in an alternative edit, the Gerry and the Pacemakers hit "I Like It"-in their spoof of The Piano.

Conscripted into the Royal Navy during the Second World War in 1942, he served in the Merchant Navy from 1942 to 1948, and was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal as signalman in a mine sweeping flotilla.

He won a scholarship to Bristol Cathedral Choir School and was largely self-taught on piano.

He appeared frequently on light entertainment TV shows and radio for many years afterwards, performing at the London Palladium on a number of occasions and becoming a regular on the Billy Cotton Band Show for several seasons.

He recorded his first solo single "Party Pops" in 1957, a "medley of standard songs" which included "Roll the Carpet Up" and "The Westminster Waltz".

He also at times drank heavily and smoked up to 80 cigarettes a day.

He also made recordings as a vocalist.

He won a scholarship to Bristol Cathedral Choir School and, after leaving school at 14, was largely self-taught on piano during a three-year term in a Borstal detention centre for stealing from his employers.

Many of his hits feature accompaniment directed by Geoff Love.

Having been diagnosed with stomach cancer in the late 1980s, in 1990 he founded the Russ Conway Cancer Fund with his friend, writer and broadcaster Richard Hope-Hawkins, and they staged charity gala shows in major theatres that raised thousands of pounds for cancer charities.

In 2001 Hope-Hawkins devised, staged and directed a tribute to Conway at the Colston Hall, Bristol, with an all-star cast. The £11,000 raised by the event was donated to St Peter's Hospice, Bristol.

On the sheet music chart, three of his own compositions were at number one, in total, for over six consecutive months in 1959.

He recorded a vast number of albums which always contained some slower tracks which demonstrated his true musical talents. In 1960, he made the Top 20 with a slow piece, Passing Breeze.

Richard Hope-Hawkins delivered the main eulogy at the funeral held at the historic St Mary's Church, Redcliffe, Bristol. Elton John sent a wreath.

Conway said in 1995 that he was unsure about his sexuality: "I haven't the faintest idea what it is....I was certainly no angel in my younger days and I have tried everything there is to try.