Life Member, Alto/Tenor Saxophone
(1929 – 2015)

By Christine Russell, daughter

Sheldon “Shelly” Russell died on Jan. 8, 2015, at Providence Tarzana Medical Center in Los Angeles from complications due to long-term diabetes.

Shelly was born on Nov. 2, 1929, in the Bronx, New York. He was a lifelong member of the Local 47 branch of the American Federation of Musicians. Shelly began his career as a musician at 14 years old playing saxophone in the Catskills. From there he went on to perform with legendary bandleaders Woody Herman, Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Charlie Barnett and Les Brown, to name a few. In 1962, Shelly became an original member of “The Merv Griffin Show” house band and migrated with the show from New York to Los Angeles in 1970.

In the mid ’70s Shelly transitioned into a leading Los Angeles session player and played on such films and television shows as “Foul Play,” “Oh, God!,” “Happy Days,” “Laverne & Shirley,” “The Love Boat” and so many more. While playing in the orchestra of the Broadway show “Can-Can,” Shelly met his wife, Iris, to whom he was married for 58 years.

Shelly is survived by his wife, Iris Russell; his son, Academy Award-nominated sound mixer, Greg P. Russell, Greg’s wife Laurien and their daughter Riley; his daughter, film music agent and Broadway producer Christine Russell, her wife Kelly and their son Leo.

By Charles Fox

Shelly Russell passed away in the early morning of Jan. 8 after a short illness. Shelly was my dear friend for more than forty years since the time when we both came to Los Angeles from New York around 1970. He was an extraordinary musician who played all the woodwind instruments except for the double reeds. Shelly started his career playing alto sax and sometimes baritone sax for some of the great big bands of that era, among them: Benny Goodman, Charlie Barnett, Johnny Richards and the great Afro-Cuban band of Machito. He met his wife Iris when he was in the orchestra of the road company of “Can Can” and Iris was a dancer. They were married for 60 years and shared a wonderful life filled with music, family and friends, and laughter was a big part of that. Shelly had a wonderful sense of humor and loved to laugh.

Shelly and I first met in the recording studios in NY when he played on some of my sessions there in the late ’60s. He was the lead alto player for “The Merv Griffin Show” starting in NY for all the years that the show ran on the air. When “The Merv Griffin Show” moved to Los Angeles, Shelly and his family moved to L.A. to continue with the show, and that’s when our friendship blossomed. He played on practically all the recording sessions that I had in LA all these many years. He was a wonderful musician and my personal contractor for all that time. He had a unique ability as a contractor because as a player in the orchestras himself, he knew the musicians from working alongside them and there was great mutual respect between them.

When a serious stroke curtailed his playing to the point that he would no longer accept studio work, he turned his attention and his musical gifts to teaching others. He taught many woodwind players since that time and some of them are working professionals in the studios now.

He had a special smile when he spoke so proudly of his children, Greg and Chris and their accomplishments in their professional fields and in the joy of their personal lives. Shelly’s son Greg is among the most sought after and honored post production mixers for motion pictures having received many Oscar nominations, and Shelly’s daughter, Chris, established her own very successful agency representing film and TV composers and is a co-executive producer of the Tony winning hit Broadway show, “Beautiful, the Carole King Musical.” Shelly’s pride and joy were his two grandchildren, Riley and Leo.

Some of my most cherished personal moments of friendship with Shelly come from our families skiing and enjoying the holidays together in Mammoth, a regular singles game of tennis that we continued for years, and later on, golfing foursomes with our wives. We celebrated our birthdays together for over thirty years with our famous, “Scorpio Party” along with our other great Scorpio friends, composer Ben Lanzarone, music mixer John Richards and songwriter Bob Crewe. Those are just some of the wonderful memories that we shared.

Rest in peace my dear friend. The sadness of your passing is buoyed by the sweetness of the memories of the times we shared.

By Ben Lanzarone

I can’t think about my career as a composer in Los Angeles without thinking about Shelly Russell. He was the contractor for many of my television scores, jingles, and recordings, and played on all of them. We made beautiful music together and had a wonderful time in the process. Shelly died on Jan. 8, 2015 in Tarzana after a brief illness, and music lost a great man with a huge talent and a bigger heart.

Shelly honed his skills playing sax with some of the greatest big bands, including Charlie

Barnett and Johnny Richards. He played alto in “The Merv Griffin Show” band for many years, starting in New York and moving to L.A. when the show relocated. Shelly found real success in Hollywood as a studio musician, playing woodwinds on countless film and television scores, as well as albums.

He was also a gifted teacher, passing on his extensive knowledge to the next generation of players, mentoring and guiding them to careers of their own.

Shelly was a devoted husband to Iris, a great dad to multiple Academy Award nominee, film sound mixer Greg P. Russell, and to music agent and Broadway producer, Christine Russell of Evolution Music Partners.

Shelly was my dear friend for over 35 years, and he will be greatly missed.