Andy Russell (singer)

In his book Rock the Nation: Latin/o Identities and the Latin Rock Diaspora (2010), Professor Roberto Avant-Mier points out on pp. 58–59 that Russell did not embrace his Mexican heritage and Spanish language as a youngster. He also indicates that at the urging of bandleader Gus Arnheim, Russell accepted to change his original name of "Andrés Rábago" to the anglicized "Andy Russell". He seems to imply, then, that Russell simply gave up his name and cultural identity in exchange for musical and economic opportunities otherwise reserved for Anglo-American musicians. Furthermore, Avant-Mier contends, Russell acquiesced because, from an early age, he seemed to be more comfortable with his American rather than Mexican culture.

His fifth wife, to whom he was married to the time of his death in 1992, was Doris E. Russell.

In February 1992, he suffered a paralyzing stroke followed by another stroke on April 12, 1992. He died from complications at St. Joseph's Hospital in Sun City, Phoenix, Arizona, on April 16, 1992, at the age of 72. A public memorial service was held at St. Juliana's Catholic Church in Fullerton, California, on April 22, 1992. He was interred in Loma Vista Memorial Park in Fullerton, California.

A couple of his songs have been part of the soundtracks of motion pictures: "Soy un Extraño" ("I am a Stranger") in the 1990 Spanish movie Boom-Boom and "Amor" in the American movie Lolita (1997) directed by Adrian Lyne.

In 1989, he retired to live in Sun City, Arizona, with his fifth wife, Dora.

During the 1980s, he continued to record and perform. He signed with Kim Records and released the LP "Yesterday, Now, and Forever" (1982). He was a frequent guest on television programs. In 1983, he could be seen on "Family Feud" with Richard Dawson. He performed on big band television specials for PBS to raise funds for public television. He was interviewed on Spanish radio programs and heard on radio commercials in the Los Angeles area.

In 1973, he recorded the "International/Internacional" LP for the Discos Latin International label, which included his Spanish cover version of Albert Hammond's "It Never Rains in Southern California", "Nunca llueve en el Sur de California". In addition to the United States, this album was sold in South America and Europe. In Spain, the album received a rave review, and Russell was described as "The Latino Sinatra" and his singing style as "timeless, universal, and as valid today as when he began." Lastly, during this period, he appeared on various television programs, such as "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson", "The Today Show" and "The Merv Griffin Show".

Russell is mentioned in the Chicano seminal work The Autobiography of a Brown Buffalo (1972) by Oscar Zeta Acosta on p. 73:

In the decade of the 1970s, he worked consistently, making appearances at home and abroad. From 1970 to 1971, he had personal appearances in Scottsdale, Arizona; Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo in Brazil; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Mexico; and Venezuela.

Upon returning to the United States, Russell continued to record. His 1967 single "It's Such a Pretty World Today" reached #1 on Billboard Magazine's Easy Listening Chart. In the ensuing years, Russell continued to perform in the United States and around the world, occasionally recording new records and making television appearances. Although well received, he did not achieve his previous level of success.

Later in the same year of 1967, Capitol released his follow-up album called "... Such a Pretty World Today", and it produced a #1 single called "It's Such a Pretty World Today" that stayed on top of Billboard's Easy Listening Chart for nine weeks. His next single from the same album "I'm Still Not Through Missing You" also cracked the Top Ten. He also made some LP's for the Argentine market that were well received.

Needless to say, regardless of what was written on the back cover and his situation in Mexico, Russell did not have the same success in 1967 in the United States as he had had in 1944 for a plethora of reasons, many dealing with issues other than identity – he was older, musical tastes had changed, he had been effectively gone for 11 years, the milieu was certainly different, as the country was caught up in the social and political turmoil of the 1960s, etc. Yet, the notes on the back cover are a fascinating testament to where Russell believed he was in terms of his public persona in 1967, after having been out of the country for 11 years.

That same year another album followed: "... Such a Pretty World Today" (Capitol, 1967), this time with all songs sung in English, except for "Lady", the last chorus of which he sings in his "flawless Spanish". This was followed by a single, "I'm Not Through Missing You". (Capitol 45 rpm, 1967). This approach seemed to work better as both songs charted in the top ten of Billboard's Easy Listening Chart.

He returned to the United States in 1966 and to Capitol Records. His comeback album in the United States was "More Amor!" (1967), a collection of English and bilingual English/Spanish songs, most notably the singles "Longin'" and "Enamorado" ("In Love"). Capitol dubbed a version of "Longin'" in Spanish for release to its Latin American affiliates, while it produced a promotional music video for "Enamorado." No song from this album entered the Billboard charts. His comeback show took place at the Sahara Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, to rave reviews.

After releasing the Capitol singles "Longin'" and "Enamorado" in 1966 (neither charted), Russell's comeback album in the United States was "More Amor!" (Capitol Records, 1967). On the back cover, there is a certain awkwardness and palpable confusion in the explanation about why Russell had left the United States for Mexico, and why he had returned.

In his short story Zona Rosa, 1965 (2004), Vicente Leñero envisions this fashionable neighborhood in Mexico City as a female energy "who is well versed in literature; she's chatted with Carlos Fuentes at Café Tirol; she's become a bullfighting buff after seeing Paco Camino leaving Hotel Presidente. She lives at Génova 20 to be neighbors with Emily Cranz and Andy Russell, or at the Londres Residential to be on first-name terms with Gloria Lasso.

Russell appeared on Latin American television in Caracas, Venezuela on the show Renny Presenta with Renny Ottolina (1964), where they sang "Manhattan" in English and exchanged pleasantries in Spanish before a live television audience.

Russell apparently divorced his third wife, Velia Sánchez Belmont, sometime in the early 1960s (a September 7, 1963, newspaper article states that his new romance was the Countess Joaquina de Navas of Madrid). His television show in Argentina ended in 1964. His waning popularity was also evidenced by the popularity of a new wave of younger singers in Mexico, such as César Costa, Enrique Guzmán, and Alberto Vásquez, who in many ways, were his musical heirs. They took up the mantle that he had initially carried into Mexico, and these young singers performed Spanish covers of American and British Invasion hit songs of the 1960s to an enthusiastic, young female fan base, as Russell had once done as a crooner in the 1940s. Furthermore, and most tellingly, these younger singers were Mexican nationals, unlike Russell who was an American of Mexican ancestry.

In 1962, Russell was signed to a recording contract by Belter Records of Spain. The deal was that he would record the songs in Orfeon of Mexico, and the discs would be manufactured and released in Spain. He recorded several albums, which were primarily ballads and up-tempo jazz numbers backed up by a full orchestra band conducted by Chico O'Farrell. He also recorded the two title songs for the soundtracks of popular Spanish movies of the time: Bahía de Palma (1962) and Sol de Verano (1963). The former featured sex symbol Elke Sommer wearing a bikini, the first time a woman was shown wearing a bikini in a Spanish movie. Lastly, in 1966, he sang "Soñarás" ("You Shall Dream") on the soundtrack of the Spanish animated movie El mago de los sueños (The Dream Wizard).

His fourth wife was Virginia "Ginny" Pace, a talk-show hostess and former Mrs. Houston. According to a 1962 newspaper article, Pace was married with five children. In 1967, she divorced her husband and married Russell that same year. Russell considered himself a "real family man" and was dedicated to his six children and grandchildren. The couple divorced in 1987.

According to García Riera, this film was a watershed in that its new formula of combining diverse genres, current events, several performing artists, and different styles of music and dance numbers was a hit with audiences and would influence how Mexican films were produced later in the decade of the 1960s. García Riera noted that the "gringo", middle- and upper-class element in the film, for example, the student body dancing cha-cha-chá and wearing sweaters with big letters with the Ciudad Universitaria (the campus of the National Autonomous University of Mexico) as a backdrop, was reinforced by "the 'pocho' singer Andy Russell, who covered his jalopy with expressions, such as 'Mercedes ven,' in the manner of American college-boys, and heard Michigan instead of Michoacán." He also felt that the film's plot was poorly written, pointed in too many directions, and that it contained too many comedic and musical numbers.

Yet, despite the resistance and conservative leanings of his Latin-American audiences, Russell could observe that by the early to mid-1960s, Mexican musicians and the public were opening up and becoming receptive to combining musical styles as he himself had already done in the 1940s and 1950s. He addressed this issue in a 1967 interview with Billboard magazine:

But after 11 years of living and performing in Mexico and Latin America, Russell once again felt the blade of the double-edged sword when he said he "felt that he was losing his professional identity and also being subtly pressured into becoming a citizen of Mexico," which precipitated his return to the United States in the mid-1960s, and, again, having to resort to a temporary accommodation in terms of his Mexican-American identity. The pendulum now swung the other way, as he sang mainly in English and married a blue-eyed, blond former Mrs. Houston.

In the late 19th and early 20th century, the term "Chicano" was an insulting, disparaging term used by upper class Mexicans who lived in the United States to refer to indigent Mexican immigrants who had just crossed the border. Thus, Russell is not using the term as it was reclaimed and redefined as a source of pride and political power in the 1960s, although he does agree with the principal. In spite of this, Russell meant no offense or disrespect to those people who embraced the term Chicano; he just stated that it was not for him.

His fifth and last Mexican film was Vístete, Cristina (Get dressed, Cristina), a musical-comedy directed by Miguel Morayta with Mexican actress Rosita Arenas. Filming began on 5 May 1958 in Azteca studios, and the premiere was held on 23 April 1959 at the Cinema Olimpia, where it played for two weeks.

In 1958, the name of the show was changed to El Show de IKA (sometimes billed as Desfile de Éxitos IKA) when Argentina's largest automaker, Industrias Kaiser Argentina (IKA) became the sponsor in a bid to sell more automobiles. Soft-drink manufacturer Pepsi Cola would also become a sponsor. At a cost of more than 3,000,000 pesos, it was the most expensive television show produced in that country, and the first to use cameras mounted high above the stage to capture exceptional visual effects.

On the back cover of his album "The Magic of Andy Russell" (1958), RCA described his singing style, "... which stems from his Mexican-American upbringing ..."

During this period, he was a Latin-American star of films, television, radio, and nightclubs. He not only made personal appearances in Mexico, but he traveled abroad to perform in other countries, including Canada and the United States. By November 1956, he was earning $7,000 a week (a far cry from the $2,500 a year he earned in 1940, beating the skins as a drummer in a hotel orchestra). All this good fortune led Russell to exclaim that "Mexico has been wonderful to [me]" and "has made me happier than I ever was in my life."

From 1956 to 1965, Russell traveled back-and-forth from Mexico City to Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he had a television variety show called El Show de Andy Russell on channel 7. The show was produced and broadcast during the summer months over the course of 13 weeks.

On a personal level, just like in the United States, his need to sing and perform were validated in Mexico and Latin America; moreover, he must have surely felt more ethnically Mexican than ever before, when in 1956, he married the daughter of a Mexican diplomat, who gave birth to his only son ...

The following year in 1956, Russell starred in three movies, the first being Mi canción eres tú (You Are My Song), directed again by Roberto Rodríguez and co-starring Mexican actress and singer Evangelina Elizondo. Filming began on April 1, 1955, in the Churubusco Studios, and the premiere was March 28, 1956, at Cinema Orfeón, where it played for two weeks.

His next film was his most popular: ¡Viva la juventud! (Hurrah for the Young People!), a musical-comedy, directed by Fernando Cortés. Filming began on 31 October 1955 in the Tepeyac Studios, and the premiere was on 15 May 1956 at Cinema Orfeón, where it played for 8 weeks.

Primavera en el corazón (Springtime in the Heart) was his last collaboration with director Roberto Rodríguez co-starring Italian actress Irasema Dilián and Spanish actor Enrique Rambal. Filming on this musical-comedy began on 23 June 1955 in the Churubusco Studios, and the premiere was on 20 September 1956 at Cinema Alameda, where it played for 2 weeks.

In 1954, he relocated to Mexico where he became a star of radio, television, motion pictures, records and nightclubs. He toured extensively throughout Latin America, Spain, Portugal and Cuba, and hosted the television variety program El Show de Andy Russell in Argentina from 1956 to 1965.

Music-store owner, Glenn E. Wallichs, a pioneer in the record industry for his attention to foreign markets, and co-founder of Capitol Records, made sure that Russell's records were distributed throughout Latin America, which meant huge sales for Capitol and ever-growing popularity for Russell south of the border. The success of Russell, along with the stable of Capitol recording artists, permitted Capitol to construct the famous thirteen-story "Stack o' Records" Building in 1954. The following year, Capitol was sold for $8.5 million.

After the divorce was finalized in February 1954, Russell was left virtually penniless, despondent, and out-of-work. His friend Charlie Skipsey, wealthy liquor distributor and later co-owner of the popular Mexican restaurant chains, Carlos'n Charlie's and Señor Frog's, advised Russell to go to Mexico.

Soon, not only was he fully recovered from the woes which had forced him to leave the United States, but he had actually discovered his roots in Mexico. Heartened by his success, he decided to remain there. On July 10, 1954, he married Velia Sánchez Belmont, the daughter of Mexico's former ambassador to the Netherlands. The civil ceremony took place at the bride's parents' home, and the reception and banquet was held at the Paolo, the ballroom at the Hotel Regis. Shortly thereafter, in September 1955, his wife gave birth to their son, Andy Roberto Russell Sánchez.

His film debut in Mexico was ¡Qué bravas son las costeñas! (Coastal women are so temperamental!) (1955), directed by Roberto Rodríguez and co-starring Cuban actress María Antonieta Pons and Mexican actors Joaquín Cordero and Evangelina Elizondo. Filming began on 16 August 1954 in Churubusco Studios in Mexico City and on location in Acapulco. It premiered on 2 June 1955 at Cinema Olympia, where it played for 3 weeks. Around this time, Russell and Elizondo made a live appearance at the historic Million Dollar Theater to promote the film for the United States Latino public in Los Angeles, California.

Russell was romantically linked with different women in his life, such as actress Ariadna Skipsey (née Welter) (1954), the Countess Joaquina de Navas of Madrid (1964), Houston oil heiress Susan Smithford (1966), and Spanish dancer Maria Rosa Marcos (1967).

His third wife was Velia Sánchez Belmont (1929–2002), the daughter of Eduardo Sánchez Torres, former Mexican ambassador to the Netherlands. They wed in Mexico City on July 10, 1954, and had a son, Andy Russell, Jr., the following year. They divorced in 1961.

At this point, Russell began to look elsewhere for a place to perform. On 16 October 1953, he made his debut in Mexico City at the Teatro Lírico alongside such legendary performers as Agustín Lara, Tin Tan, Toña la Negra, and others. He was billed as "the Mexican star of Hollywood and the greatest exponent of romantic Mexican song in the United States".

Then, in November 1953, after returning from his trip to Mexico City, he announced to his wife Della that he no longer loved her, wanted a divorce, and that he would move to Mexico City. The couple was separated for a month, at which point Della initiated divorce proceedings. Russell did not contest.

Russell came up with the idea for the different vocalists and big band musicians to form teams and play annual softball games for the Youth Welfare Fund, a charity. The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce organized the games for such teams as the "Andy Russell Sprouts" and the "Frank Sinatra Swooners" to play at Gilmore Stadium (which was demolished in 1952, when the land was used to build CBS Television City in the Fairfax District of Los Angeles, California). Other stars who participated were crooners Dick Haymes, Nat King Cole, and Mel Tormé; bandleader Harry James; dancer and actor Gene Kelly; and comedians Bob Hope and Mickey Rooney. Actress Jane Russell and Lois Andrews also participated as "Russell Sprouts" bat girls, while Virginia Mayo was a "Frank Sinatra Swooners" bat girl.

Later, Russell began to appear in the new medium of television in the early 1950s on Your Show of Shows with Sid Caesar on NBC, but continued to record, though less frequently. From December 1950 to June 1951, he appeared with his wife on the ABC-TV show Andy and Della Russell. "It was a brief but pleasant musical interlude, which originated live from New York [from 7:00 to 7:05] every weeknight." They also had an act that they would perform together in nightclubs. A review described their act as: "delightfully light, cleverly done and wholly entertaining." In addition to singing and dancing, Russell would perform impressions of celebrities. Lastly, they appeared together in the musical short, House Party (1953).

In Mexico, Russell was criticized for modifying the lyrics, tempo and/or melody of traditional Latin American standards, for example, his jazzy, up-tempo renditions of "Perfidia" and "Cuando vuelva a tu lado" of the mid-1950s. He had already felt somewhat constrained when performing before Mexican audiences, as they often did not appreciate the changes or updates he would make to traditional songs. In general, Mexicans, and Latin Americans, preferred that Russell sing in Spanish and respect the traditional forms of music. If he were performing before a Mexican audience, he could not use special material because they might mock him by saying, "He's getting fancy."

Della and he were close, long-time friends of tenor Mario Lanza and his family. The couples vacationed together at a ranch near Lake Mead, Nevada. In 1950, Russell and his wife Della were asked to be godparents to Lanza's second daughter, Ellisa. In an odd twist, Lanza developed an infatuation with the blond and glamorous Della, which inspired him to record his own romantic – and according to him, better – version of "Bésame Mucho" for her. By 1953, after standing by Lanza through the worst of his troubles, Russell's patience wore thin, and he cooled to the friendship.

By October 1948, the big band business was at its lowest ebb in years. Tastes were changing, as the rock 'n roll age was beginning to dawn. Russell lined up a band to back him, and he hit the road to revive business with a series of one-night engagements to meet the people up front again. By 1952, Russell's hits had stopped coming, as the big band era had come to a close. Capitol Records lost interest in him as a hit-making pop star and began to look on with negative feeling.

In 1947, at the peak of his popularity, he appeared in the film Copacabana with Groucho Marx and Carmen Miranda. In this film, Russell good-naturedly plays his dumb-bell nightclub singer role with a mild manner, wide-eyes, and a toothy smile. About his performance, co-star, Gloria Jean said, "[He] was very bland, wishy-washy, but he had a lovely voice."

On March 13, 1947, he was a performer in the 19th Academy Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California, as he sang "You Keep Coming Back Like a Song" from the musical film Blue Skies, one of the songs nominated for the Oscar that year.

In 1946, his next big hit was "I Can't Begin to Tell You" which reached #7, and was from the film The Dolly Sisters. The next big hit came later in 1946: a two-sided hit with "Laughing on the Outside" which reached #4, and "They Say It's Wonderful" which reached #10, (from the Broadway show Annie Get Your Gun). His next hit, "Pretending" which reached #10 was backed with "Who Do You Love?" His final chart-toppers of the 1940s were in 1947: "Anniversary Song" which reached #4, and "I'll Close My Eyes" which reached #15.

Finally, and most notably, starting on April 26, 1946, Russell began to appear as featured vocalist on the pop music radio program Your Hit Parade. This popular program aired on Saturdays, 9:00–9:30 pm on NBC radio and was broadcast out of New York City. He replaced Lawrence Tibbett, an opera singer, who had previously replaced Frank Sinatra.

After five months in New York, he was so popular that Lucky Strike cigarettes, the sponsor of the show, agreed to pay for the show to be broadcast out of its Los Angeles studios in order to appease Russell who was homesick. The shows from Hollywood began on September 21, 1946. He stayed on the program for 2 seasons, which led to huge popularity for the singer.

In 1946, he appeared in the film Breakfast In Hollywood, where he sang "If I Had a Wishing Ring" in English and bilingual renditions of "Magic Is the Moonlight" / "Te quiero dijiste (Muñequita linda)" and "Amor".

In a 1946 article, he was called: "an American Spaniard".

Later, from September 3, 1945, to May 27, 1946, Russell appeared on the CBS radio comedy show, The Joan Davis Show, which originated out of New York City. This program aired on Monday nights from 8:30 – 8:55 p.m. "Popular crooner Andy Russell served as both the variety anchor for The Joan Davis Show as well as Joanie's love interest in the situation comedy series ... [He] delivered as expected to the swoons and cheers of his millions of female fans of the era." In addition to singing, Russell also acted and played straight man to comedian Joan Davis. Paul Weston and his Orchestra provided the music.

As he became more popular, Russell began making personal appearances in different venues in the country. His first personal appearance was on June 28, 1945, at the RKO Boston Theater in Newark, New Jersey, (Frank Sinatra's home town). Later, he made an appearance at the Paramount theater in New York, where he signed on to perform for two weeks, and wound up staying for five weeks. A review of Russell's performance stated: "His way of sliding into a husky chorus in Spanish – after going through the English version – has all the slick chicks swooning like crazy." Russell hoped to perform in Mexico, although he had never been there, despite being of Mexican heritage.

Russell was then invited to Hollywood by Buddy DeSylva, co-founder of Capitol Records, to screen-test for motion pictures. He was contracted to appear in the film The Stork Club (1945). His movie career had an inauspicious start at Paramount Studios. The Mexican-American crooner was told by a security guard that it was a closed set and that he would have to leave. He waited outside the stage door, sitting in the sun until Hal Walker, the director, came looking for him and told him to get to work. Russell asked nervously, "Are you sure it's all right now?" In his motion picture debut, he played himself in everything but name, as he [was] cast as a dance band singer and swing drummer. He sang "If I had a Dozen Hearts" in a duet with Betty Hutton and a solo on "Love Me". He also displayed his percussionist skills on a drum solo of "China Boy".

His second wife was Della Norrell (née Adelina Naccarelli) (1921–2006), a New York nightclub singer. They wed at the Little Church of the West, Las Vegas, Nevada, on October 23, 1945. "During the ceremony, Della was crying when the minister asked, 'Do you?' So, Russell just upped and said, 'Yes, she do.'" They would later marry in a Catholic church ceremony because Della felt that they were not really married. Afterwards, she became his singing partner, and they sang together on records, nightclubs, the ABC-TV show Andy and Della Russell (1950–1951), and the musical short House Party (1953). They were considered the ideal, Hollywood couple, and their fans and the public at large were shocked when they divorced on February 3, 1954.

In a 1945 article, he was described as a 'Los Angeles-born Mexican lad'.

"Bésame Mucho" became Russell's first charted hit. It entered the charts on April 15, 1944, and peaked at #10 on the Billboard's Hot 100 Chart in the United States, staying on the charts for 5 weeks. It sold over one million copies. Composer Velázquez heaped huge praise on Russell by stating that the worldwide success of "Bésame Mucho", which would become the most recorded Mexican song in history, effectively began with his rendition and recording of the song. A review of this song stated that the Spanish Mexican influences were obvious, with Russell's Spanish contributing to a soft and effective crooning job.

That same year he also had another huge hit, which became another signature tune: "Amor", music by Mexican composer Gabriel Ruiz, Spanish lyric by Mexican lyricist Ricardo López Méndez, English lyric by Sunny Skylar, and backed by the Al Sack Orchestra. It entered the charts on June 1, 1944, peaked at #5, and stayed on the charts for 10 weeks. The song was featured in the motion picture Broadway Rhythm.

Russell had two more hits that same year: "What a Diff'rence a Day Made", original title "Cuando vuelva a tu lado" (When I Return to You), music and Spanish lyric by Mexican composer María Grever with English lyric by American lyricist Stanley Adams and backed by the Paul Weston Orchestra. It entered the charts on October 21, 1944, peaked at #14, and stayed on the charts for 8 weeks.

His other hit was "I Dream of You," composed by Edna Osser with lyrics by Marjorie Goetschius, and accompanied by the Paul Weston Orchestra. It entered the charts on December 30, 1944, peaked at #5, and stayed on the charts for 5 weeks. It was b/w "Magic Is the Moonlight," another composition by Maria Grever [whose original Spanish title was "Te Quiero, Dijiste (Muñequita Linda)"], with English lyric by Charles Pasquale, backed by the Paul Weston Orchestra, and featured in the MGM musical film Bathing Beauty.

1944 was a banner year for Russell. Such success was unprecedented for a "kid from East Los Angeles", albeit a very talented, hard-working, and cocky kid. He was a part of the era when popular singers, or crooners, were beginning to take the spotlight away from the bands. Crooners such as himself, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Dick Haymes and Perry Como each had his own unique style.

As the youngest of all the crooners in this era, Russell drew his style from those who had come before, especially Haymes. Russell was viewed as the typical crooner, in the Sinatra style, who extended and drew out the words, while adding delightful shades and nuances to the phrases in his songs. He was not considered a bolero singer in the classic sense (of Latin America singers), but his execution of romantic songs had some of the best and most sincere phrasing. Russell's 4 top-ten hits on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart in 1944 sold millions of records, and opened the door later in the decade for touring around the country and appearances on radio programs, motion pictures, and television. By late 1944, he was declared by the Mutual Broadcasting System to be the "idol of the crew-cut and bobby-sox set, and one of the nation's top-ranking romantic balladeers".

Russell had twelve records break into the charts between April 1944 and September 1948, eight of them in the top ten. He was not only an established star of the Big Band era, but recognized as a unique contributor with his bilingual singing style that opened up the international market for Capitol.

By 1944, he had become a well enough regarded pop vocalist to be invited to perform on radio programs.

With regard to his participation on the show, the Billboard 1944 Music Year Book stated that "the talented, handsome ... young singer's commercial appeal [was] tremendous. Starting with one song, audience response demanded his current three singing spots."

In a 1944 newspaper article, he was called: a "talented, 23-year-old Mexican".

In another newspaper article from 1944, he was described as: "... a fellow of Spanish extraction ..."

The best way to sum up Andy Russell's life is to come around full circle and look at how he envisioned his life at the dawn of his career ... as a "Singing Ambassador". These lines are from the inside sleeve of the record jacket of Favoritos, Russell's first album for Capitol Records back in 1943:

"Singing Ambassador ... Andy Russell is more than a singer ... blessed with a voice, a personality, and a sense of showmanship, which, combined, attract the envy of less-gifted performers. He has spectacularly catapulted into the foremost ranks of entertainers since 1943 and accomplished Herculean results in furthering the friendship of the North American peoples with those of Central and South America to the south.

On the inside flap of his debut album "Favoritos" (1943), Capitol described him as: "a handsome young American, born and reared in Los Angeles ..."

However, the 1942–44 musicians' strike threatened to derail Russell's career before it had even begun. Union President James Petrillo had set the date of July 31 where no union musician could record for any record company. This caused record producers to scramble to get vocalists and musicians into recording studios to get the recordings done before the deadline. Russell was able to make a test record with the George Siravo orchestra under the deadline. Mercer paid him $150-$175 for both sides of his first record.

Russell had been emphatic about his Mexican ethnicity, over the course of his career from 1942 to 1989, which spanned almost 50 years. Notwithstanding, his racial ethnicity was described using different terms in newspapers, magazines, and on albums.

His first wife was Evelyn Marie Morse (1919–1993). Date of marriage was June 30, 1940, in Los Angeles, CA. Their divorce was finalized in 1945.

Furthermore, later successful bilingual recording artists do not appear to know – much less credit – Russell for being one of the grand patriarchs of the Latin sound that is so prevalent today. And yet, although he remains underappreciated, his legacy is unquestionable. His enormous popularity from the early 1940s to the early 1960s influenced artists across three continents to be open to different musical influences and to the creation of hybrid musical forms that led to new perspectives, international understanding, and ultimately, whole new categories of music, such as Rock en Español and World Music.

In any case, this time around, the visions of grandeur turned out to be a mirage, as none of the songs on "More Amor!" charted on Billboard. The album followed the same Russell formula: a nice balance of songs, some in English and some in his "bilingual style", which had proven so successful in the decade of the 1940s and in Latin America.

He recalled that his high school experience was positive, and that he did not feel discrimination: "In those days, I was just one of the guys. We had Russian people, we had Jewish kids, we had Mexican kids, we had the blacks, we never noticed things like that ... I'm a very cocky little Mexican kid from the East Side, and I never had those feelings. I always feel that it's up to the person." In 1935, at the age of 16, when Russell discovered that Gus Arnheim, a popular and influential band leader, was looking for a drummer, he left high school the summer before his senior year to try and join his band.

Despite these growing pains, he was determined to follow in the footsteps of his idols. In 1934, as a 15-year-old student in junior high school, he began his career as an up-and-coming teenage idol by singing with a local swing band headed by don Ramón Cruz. This band was composed mainly of Mexican and Mexican American musicians and played primarily in East Los Angeles. He also sang with the Stan Kenton Orchestra, and other groups, until one day he was told that he also would have to play an instrument to stay with the band. Russell recalled how he dealt with this curious dilemma:

Gus Arnheim and his orchestra had been playing the Cocoanut Grove and the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles since the late 1920s and had employed such singers as Bing Crosby, Russ Columbo, and Woody Herman. Russell auditioned for Arnheim and got the job not only as a drummer but vocalist, too. However, since he was underage and could not tour out of state, Arnheim adopted him and became his legal guardian.

Andy Russell (born Andrés Rábago; September 16, 1919 – April 16, 1992) was an American popular vocalist, actor, and entertainer of Mexican descent, specializing in traditional pop and Latin music. He sold 8 million records in the 1940s singing in a romantic, baritone voice and in his trademark bilingual English and Spanish style. He had chart-busters, such as "Bésame Mucho", "Amor", and "What a Diff'rence a Day Made". He made personal appearances and performed on radio programs, most notably Your Hit Parade, in several movies, and on television. During this initial phase of his career, his popularity in the United States rivaled that of crooners Frank Sinatra and Perry Como.

Russell was born September 16, 1919 (Mexican Independence Day) as Andrés Rábago Pérez in Boyle Heights, which, at the time, was an ethnically integrated, middle-class neighborhood in Eastside Los Angeles. He was the second youngest of ten children (eight boys, two girls) born to Mexican immigrant parents, Rafael Rábago and Vicenta (née Pérez), who had emigrated to United States in 1902 from the Mexican states of Durango and Chihuahua, where each had been born, respectively. His father was employed as an extra by Hollywood studios, while his mother was a housewife.