Bob Russell

Bob Russell, a.k.a. Sidney Keith Russell, was born in Passaic, NJ on April 25, 1914. After graduating from Washington University, Russell worked for an advertising company as a copywriter.

His early music career was spent writing special material for vaudeville acts and later for film studios. He wrote complete scores for the films Jack and the Beanstalk and Reach for Glory, the latter of which received the Locarno Film Festival prize in 1962.

Other films that include Russell compositions include That Midnight Kiss, Ticket to Tomahawk, Sound-Off, Affair in Trinidad, Meet Captain Kidd and The Girl Can’t Help It. His compositions “The Girl Most Likely”, “Blue Gardenia” and “Matter of Who” were the title songs for their respective films.

Russell collaborated with several lyricists and composers including Duke Ellington, Harry Warren, Lester Lee, Carl Sigman, Lou Alter, Harold Spina, Peter De Rose and Bronislaw Kaper.

Highlights from the Russell catalog include “Watching the Clock”, “Busy as a Bee”, “Frenesi”, “Maria Elena”, “Time Was”, “Taboo”, “Don’t Get Around Much Any More”, “Brazil”, “Do Nothin’ Till You Hear From Me”, “Ballerina”, “You Came a Long Way from St. Louis”, “I Didn’t Know About You”, “Crazy He Calls Me”, “Would I Love You”, “Once”, “No Other Love”, “It’s the Beast in Me”, “Misirlou”, “Carnival”, “Circus”, “Babalu”, “A Lonesome Cup of Coffee”, “You Go Your Way”, “Interlude”, “No More”, “Just When We’re Falling in Love”, “I Know, I Know, I Know”, “Matinee”, “The Color of Love.”