Russ Conway

Russ Conway, DSM (born Trevor Herbert Stanford; 2 September 1925 – 16 November 2000) was an English popular music pianist and composer.

[2][3] His mother, Patara Mallia (née Green) was an amateur pianist and contralto, and his father, Herbert Stanford, a clerical worker.

[3] The employment ended when, on his fifteen birthday, Stanford was sent to a Borstal detention centre for a three-year term after stealing some money he found in a packet.

[2] He recorded his first solo single, "Roll The Carpet Up" (B-side "The Westminster Waltz") in 1957, and later that year had his first hit with "Party Pops", a piano medley of well known songs.

In 1958 Conway (as "Trevor H. Stanford") composed, with Norman Newell, the music for the flop musical Mister Venus, which starred Frankie Howerd and Anton Diffring, The show, with book by Ray Galton and Johnny Speight, opened at the Prince of Wales Theatre on 23 October 1958 but closed after just sixteen performances.

[9] He appeared as himself in French and Saunders' 1994 Christmas special, playing "Side Saddle"—or, in an alternative edit, the Gerry and the Pacemakers hit "I Like It"—in their spoof of The Piano.

[10] Conway's career was blighted by ill health, including a nervous breakdown and subsequently a stroke, which prevented him from performing between 1968 and 1971.

[12] Richard Hope-Hawkins delivered the main eulogy at the funeral held at the historic St Mary's Church, Redcliffe, Bristol.