Obituary

Johnny Russell

Country music singer behind other artists' hits

From time to time, a song gives country music's core audience a picture of itself that is attractive or amusing enough to become a kind of anthem. Merle Haggard's Okie From Muskogee is perhaps the best known, but the singer and songwriter Johnny Russell, who has died of diabetes aged 61, will be remembered by enthusiasts for his affectionate cultural cameo Rednecks, White Socks And Blue Ribbon Beer.

He reached a much larger audience, though, with his composition, Act Naturally, first a hit for the country singer Buck Owens, then for Ringo Starr on the Beatles' album, Help!

Born in Roundaway, Mississippi, Russell spent his teenage years in Fresno, California. Inspired by country stars of the 1940s and 50s - such as Lefty Frizzell and Ernest Tubb - he began entering talent contests, performing in clubs and writing songs. In A Mansion Stands My Love, which he wrote and recorded at the age of 18, earned him a long-running income as the flipside of Jim Reeves's 1960 multi-million-seller, He'll Have To Go.

Excited by this brush with success, Russell moved to Nashville, but made little headway and was soon back in California, where Owens had a No 1 hit with Act Naturally in 1963. The Beatles' recording followed a couple of years later and, in 1989, the song was revived when Owens and Starr recorded it as a duet.

Over the next few years, Russell worked in California and Nashville, writing songs for the Wilburn Brothers' publishing company, Sure-Fire. In 1971, Chet Atkins, who had produced the Reeves recording of In A Mansion Stands My Love, signed him to an RCA contract. Apart from Rednecks, a hit in 1973, and a similar southern study, Catfish John, he never sold a great many records, but critics approved of his albums Catfish John/Chained and Mr And Mrs Untrue.

He continued to write songs for other artists, among them Let's Fall To Pieces Together, a chart topper for George Strait in 1984, and Making Plans, originally recorded as a duet by Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner, and later chosen by Parton, Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt for their album, Trio. He also placed songs with Loretta Lynn, Gene Watson, Dottie West and Vince Gill.

Though he enjoyed writing and plugging songs, it annoyed Russell that his skill prevented him from performing as much as he would have liked. He worked in Las Vegas and on television variety shows, and had a few character parts in TV dramas, but finally found his niche in 1985 as a cast member of the Grand Ole Opry. "Probably my greatest satisfaction," he said, "is to see my audiences give off a good belly laugh." He also appeared on the bucolic country music and comedy TV series, Hee Haw.

Many of Russell's Opry colleagues gathered for a benefit concert in March, shortly before his diabetes led to him having both legs amputated below the knee. He was twice married, and had a son and a daughter.

John Bright 'Johnny' Russell, country music singer and songwriter, born January 23 1940; died July 3 2001

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