Russ North

Russ North, born 22 July 1965 in Benchill, Greater Manchester, England is a rock vocalist. His Father was a singer around the North of England who worked under the stage name Dave Thorne from the 1950s up till his death in 2000, Russ' brother Dale North is also a singer, songwriter and a film maker. North is best known for his role in the heavy metal band Cloven Hoof.^[1] North had several stints with Cloven Hoof, from 1987 to 1990, and again from 2006 to 2009.In 2011 Russ was asked back with the band only to leave for the final time in 2012 under bizarre circumstances.

Career

Tredegar

North formed his first band at the age of 18 when he and his family were living in Caernarfon in North Wales, the band were called Monza, and recorded around five songs and played live venues and festivals throughout the UK. After the demise of Monza, North was in the process of putting his next band together when he was asked to join Tredegar, (pronounced tradeegar) Tredegar was a band from the South Wales village of the same name, and was largely a reformation of the legendary Welsh rock band Budgie. Both Tony Bourge and Ray Phillips of Tredegar were former members of Budgie. North joined and began touring with the band and also added a vocals to a couple of songs on the already almost completed self-titled album Tredegar. The band appeared on a Welsh television music show singing two songs, one "Duma" from the album, and another song "The Dealer" with lyrics written by North's father. When Tredegar toured Russ was often mobbed, frequently being mistaken for Kiss frontman Paul Stanley.

Cloven Hoof

After the unfortunate 1986 departures of Rob Kendrick (vocals), along with both original band members Stephen Rounds (guitar) and Kevin Pountey (drums), only original member Lee Payne had remained active.

Prior to leaving the band Tredegar, Russ North was already aware of Cloven Hoof's first album, that when the band needed a new singer, guitarist Andy Wood (another ex-member of Tredegar) who had joined Lee Payne's band, referred North to joining. Before North's audition, the band met up at Payne’s parents' pub. He joined the band immediately, and along with drummer Jon Brown.

In 1988, the line-up was complete for the new look Cloven Hoof, and so they set out to work on their first full-length studio album, Dominator. The album featured songs that perfectly showed off North's amazing and ear splitting vocal ability, quickly establishing him as one of the greatest rock voices to emerge from the UK. The band Toured the UK with the new material.

The band went on to record the second Cloven Hoof album to feature Russ, 1989s A Sultan's Ransom. Unfortunately due to contractual difficulties, the band had to split up in 1990.

Russ continued to work mainly due to his much respected reputation and vocal ability. He sang with at least two bands during these periods, 'Streetwise' with bass player Mike Dagnall (Dante Fox, Max Bacon, Hope and Glory) and 'Hope and Glory'. The latter of these two bands 'Hope and glory' was a four piece made up of Dave Day, Neil Antony, Carl Graham, and Russ of course on vocals. they released a 'limited edition' cassette featuring 4 songs, 'Broken Down and Wasted', 'Wasting my Time', 'Do What you Want to Do', and the highly acclaimed 'Her Song'. Russ also wrote and co-wrote this material.

Another little known fact about Russ North in the 1990s was that after singer Bruce Dickinson had left Iron Maiden in 1993, the band were seeking other frontmen to audition, and Russ made it to the last two in the roster, with Blaze Bayley at bassist Steve Harris' house. But instead of recruiting Russ, the band took in Bayley, partly due to Blaze already being a friend of the band and a member of Iron Maiden's own football team.

In 2010 Cloven Hoof went into the studio for what turned out to be the final album featuring Russ North. The album 'The Definitive part one' featured re-recordings of some of the band's most popular live 'hits', the original recordings of some of the songs featured other vocalist, but now this new album would see Russ' own vocal interpretations. The album also featured a new song previously unheard by fans. It also featured guest musicians including Russ' own brother and actor Dale North doing narration on the track 'Road of Eagles'.

In 2012 Russ was dramatically sacked by Cloven Hoof, following an appearance on stage where he was too drunk to even stand! (This can be seen on YouTube!) The 30 year friendship between Russ and Bassist Lee Payne was totally destroyed. Though Russ has said he has 'No ill will' towards his former friend and bandmate, and went on to wish Lee 'all the luck in the world with any future ventures'. Russ is currently rehearsing his own band with a whole host of new songs written by Russ himself. The band is rumoured (though not confirmed) to be made up of former, and equally disgruntled cloven hoof band members. The new band aim to be recording and touring throughout 2013 with an album release at some point in the year.

Equipment

North currently uses Shure SM 58 and Sennheiser microphones.

References

External links

• Official Cloven Hoof website