Jack Russell (musician)

Jack Patrick Russell (December 5, 1960 – August 7, 2024) was an American rock vocalist. He was a founding member of the hard rock band Great White.

Russell's vocals were noted for their power. Ultimate Classic Rock wrote: "While some glam metal vocalists prioritized grit and rasp, Great White's Jack Russell flaunted a voice that was buttery-smooth and could scale octaves with ease." He is considered by Ultimate Classic Rock magazine to be among the greatest hair metal singers of all time.

Biography

Early life

Russell was born in Montebello, California, on December 5, 1960. He grew up with influences such as Robert Plant and Steven Tyler, and became a vocalist for many bands in high school and later on. He met Mark Kendall at a concert and began plans to form a band called Dante Fox. Band manager Alan Niven and Kendall decided to change the name of the band to Great White because "that was Mark Kendall's nickname. He had very white hair and very light complexion. They called him the Great White".

Great White, solo albums, and Jack Russell's Great White

Russell was with Great White from 1981 until 1996, then took some time off to record and release his first solo album, entitled Shelter Me, having rejoined shortly after its release until the band broke up in 2001. He then tried touring solo under his own name briefly, then changed the band name to "Jack Russell's Great White" and toured from 2002 to 2005, while also releasing his second solo album For You in 2002. On February 20, 2003, while touring as "Jack Russell's Great White", they played a club gig at The Station in West Warwick, Rhode Island, where a deadly fire caused by pyrotechnics occurred, leading to the deaths of 100 people including band member Ty Longley.

In 2006, he began touring with the official Great White band when they reformed with their classic lineup, but left the band in 2009 due to a fall in his bathroom where he cracked two vertebrae and herniated a disc. He had multiple back surgeries and was using a plethora of pain medication. Having fallen into alcoholism, the sudden death of his good friend Jani Lane of Warrant propelled him to get help and become sober.

Fully recovered, he started touring again as Jack Russell's Great White in December 2011 to avoid confusion with the still-touring official Great White band which had continued onward in 2009 with a different singer following Russell's departure.

In 2012, Russell guest-starred on VH1 Classics That Metal Show, on which he revealed his side of the Great White story, and how he was feeling well and ready for more.

In 2017, Jack Russell's Great White released their first album titled He Saw It Comin'.

In August 2021, Jack Russell's Great White released a sequel to Great White's 1998 tribute album to Led Zeppelin titled Great Zeppelin II: A Tribute to Led Zeppelin. In July 2021, a cover of "Whole Lotta Love" was released.

In January 2024, Russell released a collaboration album with L.A. Guns guitarist Tracii Guns, titled Medusa. This was Russell's final studio recording before his retirement and death.

Personal life

In 1979, Russell was arrested for the attempted robbery of a drug dealer's home while high on PCP. He fired a shot into the house that accidentally struck and injured the housekeeper, who survived the incident. Russell was sentenced to eight years in prison, but was released after 11 months.

On March 25, 2011, he and his girlfriend Heather Ann Kramer were married.

Retirement and death

On July 17, 2024, Russell announced that he was retiring from touring and disclosed that he had Lewy body dementia.

Russell died less than a month after the announcement, on August 7, 2024, at the age of 63 at a friend's home in Colorado, from complications of LBD and multiple system atrophy. His death was announced on August 15.