Vision Music Ltd

Guitarist-composer Ray Russell has enjoyed two distinct careers: one as an esteemed session player and award-winning film and television composer, another as an ingenious guitar experimentalist and free-thinking collaborator. Russell made his professional debut as Vic Flick’s replacement in the John Barry Seven, with whom he twanged the famous James Bond theme in several Barry-scored films, beginning with 1962’s Dr. No. He went on to play a stew of jazz, R&B, and other styles with Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames, the Graham Bond Organisation, and the Mike Gibbs Band, where he worked alongside Chris Spedding and Jack Bruce. As an indefatigable session musician, he has recorded and/or toured with Lulu, Paul McCartney, Cat Stevens, Van Morrison, Bryan Ferry, David Bowie, Phil Collins, Scott Walker, Art Garfunkel, Marvin Gaye, Heaven 17, and Tina Turner (check out “Let’s Stay Together” on Private Dancer). His exquisite playing on TIME OF THE LAST PERSECUTION (1971) clinched Bill Fay’s position in the cult-folkie pantheon.