Russ Hamilton

Russ Hamilton was a singer/songwriter of the late '50s who tasted brief chart success in both the U.K. and the U.S. with different sides of the same record. He was born Ronald Hulme in Liverpool on January 29, 1932, and made his first tentative steps in show business as a Butlins Redcoat entertainer. He and a few other staff put together a skiffle group, and after completing his national service, he cut his first disc, the teen ballad "We Will Make Love," which climbed to number two in the summer of 1957. Surprisingly, it was the B-side, "Rainbow," that proved the more popular song in the U.S., and led to a situation where he was called to promote two different records simultaneously in different countries. Unusual as it was at the time for British performers to crack the U.S. charts, he divided his time between Britain and America and maintained his links with the holiday camp scene, performing live on-stage one week and then back at Butlins the following week. In Britain, he followed "We Will Make Love" with the similar song "Wedding Ring," and never troubled the charts again. Equally the case, he never managed to consolidate his success in the U.S., and "Rainbow" was his one and only hit record. By 1960 he had signed with MGM Records in Nashville, but none of his recordings sold well enough to chart.