Rosalind Russell

Rosalind Russell began her career in pop writing on Jackie magazine in Dundee in 1967, when the big names were the Herd, Amen Corner, and of course, the Beatles and the Stones. After a brief detour round a couple of local papers, she went to work for Disc & Music Echo in Fleet Street in 1970, arriving there – entirely coincidentally – just as the Beatles broke up and Jimi Hendrix died. She interviewed Cliff Richard on his 30th birthday, asking him how it felt to be old, and dropped her notebook on the floor so she could bend down and look up Grace Slick's nose to see if it was true she had a metal plate to replace her septum.

When Disc merged with Record Mirror in 1975, Russell went with it, continuing a long tradition of interviewing people who died shortly afterwards (Paul Kossoff in 1976, Marc Bolan in 1977, Keith Moon and Sandy Denny in 1978, Judee Sill and Sid Vicious in 1979 and Tim Hardin in 1980). It was that kind of a job. Fortunately, other rock stars were more robust and long lasting. Including Debbie Harry of Blondie who turned up in the Covent Garden offices threatening to sort out Russell, following a bad review.

Leaving in the mid-1980s to go freelance, Russell worked for the London Evening Standard, TV Times and others too long gone to remember, before joining the Standard on staff in 1986. She left to go freelance again in 1989, later working for The Independent, The Sunday Times and The Telegraph. She is married to Kym Bradshaw, former bass player with the Saints.