Russ Hamilton was a superstar in Singapore 60s. His songs were so dear to the hearts of many Singaporeans that his records sold out within days.
In the UK, it was "We Will Make Love" that caught record buyers attention, whereas in the USA, it was the flip, "Rainbow". Imagine a single reaching the top 10 in the UK while its other side made waves across the waters. "Rainbow" reached Number 4 in the US**.
He received his Golden Disc for a million copies sold, very soon after its release on Friday, October 4th, 1957. In Singapore, many of his songs he released reached the Hit Parade Charts and "WWML" stayed on for some time.
Russ Hamilton composed his own songs, and one was written for his girl. "Wedding Ring" managed the top 20 but was "insufficient to consolidate his position as a major pop star."
His fortunes with his hit songs faded after a while and were not on the airwaves in recent years. Apparently not not only were the songs "unfashionable in style, but the meaning of the lyrics had suffered from the changes in word usage."
Singapore youths today may find his songs 'mushy'. Seniors though, are still playing the beautiful ballads with the lilt, soft and quiet that only Russ Hamilton could deliver. All his songs are classics now, all. Some of them are, "*My Mother's Eyes," "I Had A Dream", "*Little One" and "I Still Belong To You". Russ Hamilton was backed by Johnny Gregory & His Orchestra. Golden oldies for that relaxing evening.
(When my grandson Joshua was only 2 years old, he recognised many nursery rhymes that I used to sing before his afternoon naps. But he knows his pop songs better and learnt "Little One" before others. Meaningful lyrics and soothing music make this one of the best songs for little children. Try it out because Joshua is asleep within 10 minutes.)
* Children songs.
**Cliff Richard never achieved this kind of hit status in the United States. In 1960, he toured with The Shadows in the U.S. and were well-received; however, lacklustre support and distribution from the record company proved costly, and the chance was lost.
(Extracts from: 45rpm.org.uk, Wikipedia and Oriole Record cover EP - 7005 literature/image.)
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