Benjamin Russell

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""...his best album yet...full of soul...incredible melodic songs..sublime...moving...rewards its listeners…a great album.""

- Aaron Badgley, Spill Magazine

"PLEASURE CENTER is wonderful and full of surprises. As a long time fan, songs have a new flair. The title track is brilliant..."

- Jeff Burson, Synthscape show

"I always enjoy his ability to take you elsewhere in song... sophisticated... absorbing..."

- Billcs Music Blog

"I love your music Benjamin!"

- Father to Son Show, CHRW 94.9 FM Radio Western

"What a heartbreaking but beautiful song..."

- Baydreamer - Lauren Scott

"I am a big fan of the Benjamin Russell sound...exceptional, captivating songwriting and song craft..."

- Tom Hilton, A B Records E-zine

“.Pleasure Centre is a great listen from start to finish. A very talented cat out of Montreal, Canada!"

- Jimmy C, Middtown Music Radio

“…loaded with talent!”

- The Hamilton Spectator

"I can't tell you how good this album is!" (PLEASURE CENTER)

- Aaron Badgley, Here Today Show, CFRU 93.3 FM

“…one of our better singer-songwriters.”

- The Montreal Star

“…a wide and expressive vocal range…a talented multi-instrumentalist.”

- Ralph Angelillo, Muzik Etc.

“…experience this uber-talented, charming, and endearing musician..”

- Miss Parker, Rave and Roll Blog

“His style, voice and playing are right on the money.”

- Fanfare Magazine

“The vocals are expressive and strong, carrying a melody mingling energy and shadowy feeling as drums thunder and bass growls.”

- Karl Magi, Freelance Blogger

“A sound and persona of his own.”

- Share

“Combining elements from his punk era with his better remembered electronic Miracle ‘80s pop career…prolific...”

- David Farrell, FYI Music News

“I love this (ROCKHILL) CD. It brings elements from the exciting times of the late sixties and early seventies and makes it fresh and new again, sounding totally modern.”

- Duke Eatmon, CBC Radio One Homerun Show

“…a fantastic show. The interaction was almost unbelievable.”

- The Plant

“…a very special talent.”

- Sunday Express

“An impressive display of staccato, claw hammer style of guitar playing... His voice is smooth and tuneful, evocative of Ian McCulloch from Echo & The Bunnymen.”

- noisography

“…excellent new album is an amalgam of avant-garde modernity, earthy tradition, and Brian Eno-like eccentricity.”

- zoot aloors, canadaisamusicmec.ca

Benjamin Russell is a cross-genre singer-songwriter, producer, videographer, painter, writer, poet, photographer and graphic artist (he designs all his own album covers). Originally from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, a prairie province in western Canada, he now lives in Montreal with Elyce, his partner in life and art.
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He has released many albums, singles and videos, and has shown his paintings in exhibitions. Nominated, "Most Promising Male Vocalist", in the 80s for his hit single, "MIRACLE (Miracle of Love)", he has released many albums, singles and videos. His newest album, WAVES, releasing in 2025 is his 20th.

His songs are wide-ranging in style and hard to pin down, combining electronic and acoustic instruments and production. He comes from an era when it was normal for artists to go where their creativity led them, so he offers no excuse. He may not be as famous as some of his influences, but he believes he deserves the creative latitude allowed The Clash, Bob Dylan, Sparks, David Bowie and The Beatles.

He is an artist. He creates. It's as essential as breathing for him. Music, painting, videos and photography, he can't help it. He even creates in his dreams, often waking up with a song or a painting completely planned out. Best known for music, he has recorded 20 albums including
WAVES, releasing February 2025.
RENAISSANCE
Having taken a hiatus to focus on painting and deal with health issues, Benjamin Russell and Elyce, returned to the music scene at the end of 2019 with the release of their "rock opera" album, SHIKASTA SUITE. Since then, there has been a growing crescendo of recognition for their projects, including their award-winning albums, FRONTIER (2023) and PLEASURE CENTER (2024).

Meanwhile there have been collaborations with producer,
Rob Stuart, on SOMETHING IN F MINOR (album) and BRIGHTER LIGHT (EP), and others including Greg Fraser, an EP, GHOST PARTICLES (Messages From Rude Van Steenes). All award-winning.

The new album,
WAVES, looks to expand his reach even further as Benjamin Russell rides the waves of praise for his most recent recordings.

Early Years
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Benjamin started playing guitar while in high school. The first song he learned was House Of The Rising Sun, on the Silvertone electric guitar he bought from the Sears catalog. It never sounded right because he couldn't afford an amp, so he sold the guitar and got an acoustic. He performed King Crimson's Cadence and Cascade with his sister, Janet, in the high school talent show.

Solo Acoustic "Folk" Singer

After graduation, he started picking up gigs in coffee-houses and bars around town, then set out for New York, hoping to emulate his hero, Bob Dylan. He stopped in Montreal when he met Elyce - they've been together ever since. In the 70's Benjamin played the expanding repertoire of eclectic songs he was writing, in coffee houses, schools and colleges. He toured across Canada, busking to help make ends meet.

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Sharing Music With Inner City Kids
Music has always been a lifeline for Benjamin Russell and Elyce. To give back, they volunteered to set up and run a music club for kids in Montreal’s inner city in the 80s. They lugged guitars, synths and drum machines on the bus (they were too poor to own a car), to share their love of music. They took the kids into a professional studio when they recorded the COOL KIDS album which came out in 1982 on Attic Records in Canada. The cover picture was drawn by one of the kids, a 12 year old.
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Hired as a music specialist in the inner city Montreal schools, Russell taught music and inspired a new generation of songwriters who went on to careers in music, performing, DJing, recording and broadcasting.
Punk
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Punk landed on him like the proverbial ton of bricks! "I had been expressing myself nicely in my songs. I was impressed by the way the punks were saying a lot of the same stuff, but they sort of grabbed you by the collar and made you listen."

He joined his first band called,
The Strokes (no not THAT band!) in 1979 playing The Clash, Ramones, T-Rex and Bowie. That soon morphed into doing originals in Madman where Russell was pumping out songs faster than ever. The MADMAN album was recorded on a rented 4-track Tascam reel to reel tape recorder before the band broke up. "Drugs were a problem and I got fed up with guys showing up coked up enough to think they were playing great, but too much to realize they were starting to stink."
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Post Punk Electro Pop

Benjamin claims MIDI was invented because he needed it. He wanted to program his own beats, and be able to sequence bass so he could play with machines live. His Roland TR-808 and TB-303 could only take him so far. When sequencers and MIDI synths hit, he took off!

TGO records heard the demos he'd made and signed him immediately. In the the pro 24-track Studio Marko, Russell taught the engineers how to lay down a sync tone. He then layered and played all the tracks himself on his 1984 album for which he was nominated, "Most Promising Male Vocalist", in the nationally televised CASBY Awards in 1985.

His music video for
POWER OF LOVE played in high rotation on Much Music and he did TV appearances in support of his album. He performed solo shows at venues like Club Soda, in Montreal, and The Rivoli, in Toronto, backed by racks of synths all synced to his Oberheim DMX drum machine, which had been custom modded to deliver CV and Gate signals to control his Roland equipment. "That really wasn't as much fun as playing with people, but it allowed me to recreate the record live."

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