John Russell

John Russell delivers original music and a pure-powerful vocal performance acclaimed by Grammy-Award winner John Legend. John always brings authentic songs that promise to grip your heart, lift your spirits, and meet you where you are. After a night of John Russell music you'll feel uplifted, inspired, and more than satisfied, all while planning your next event with John.

John, Born in Detroit Michigan, was raised by a single mother who consistently said to him, “If you can dream it, you can do it”. Although his family struggled to get by at the end of every month, music was an outlet and an escape for John and his brothers. John Discovered his vocal talent after losing a bet to a friend in Middle-school, the punishment was auditioning for the school play. The producers and choral directors where astounded at John’s natural vocal ability and prompted him to continue to pursue singing. Shortly after that he was writing love songs for 14-year-old girls, and busking on the street for lunch money. In 2015 John self-produced a single and music video to present before none other than Grammy-Award Winning Artist John Legend, who heard John and flew him to Austin Texas to undergo mentorship and open for him at SXSW. In 2016 things we’re looking up, however tragedy struck when John underwent two mouth surgeries, one of them potentially career-ending as a mass was found in the bottom of his mouth, in the same month his wife was let-go from her job. The medical bills piled up, the bank account was drained and John found himself pawning his guitar to pay rent on time. It was not looking up until, John got the news that he was a finalist for the Guitar Center Singer-Songwriter contest, he flew to Los Angeles, gave a fiery performance on March 23, 2017 at the troubadour and out of 10,000 other singer-songwriters John took the Number One spot, winning him a much needed paycheck as well as everything he needed to start his music career. John now lives in Los Angeles, where he has signed with Grammy-Award winning Producer RedOne who’s produced for monolithic names like Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, and Michael Jackson to name a few. John now looks forward to releasing his first record on the night he performs on Jimmy Kimmel Live! (later this year), as well as a tour up the west coast and performances at NAMM 2018 and the legendary Troubadour on Sunset. Look out for this one, his songs will bring you to the highest highs, and grip you in the depths of your soul. John’s raw vocal ability will be sure to catch anyone’s ear passing by.

John and his band travel with a full PA set up (everything you would need to make some noise). John will always prefer to use the a venues PA system if it is sufficient and a permanent install. John does not provide lighting or stages.