After school, George joined the army in 1942 and, right after Pearl Harbor, was sent to the Aleutians. He began his army career in the 31st Field Artillery and later was a DJ for Armed Forces Radio. After the army, George continued to be a very busy man. He attended the L. A. Conservatory under the GI Bill and, more importantly, met and married his lovely wife Tess. George and Tess were married in 1950 and were inseparable until Tess passed in 2003. In addition to his work with The Hyde Parkers, George formed The Bachelors who were on the MGM label and has two solo Guitar albums – one recorded in L.A. and one in London. He has also performed on the recordings of many people. When asked who his favorite person to work with was, he responded Nelson Riddle. When asked why, he explained that other than being such a huge talent Nelson Riddle was a great person. “And, in a moment of weakness, he said ‘George can I call you on a date.’ He wasn’t really my type, but, he called me in, and it was wonderful. It was with the great Capitol orchestra. At one point, he introduced me to the orchestra and said, ‘I’d like you to meet our guitarist, George Russell. He’s not only going to play these dates he’s going to promote this and make me a star.’” George’s first promotional job was with Mercury records for West Coast promotions, from there he went to Capitol, then to Columbia around 1960. “I was at Columbia for about a year when I decided I was too young to die. I then became an independent record promoter. About two months later, I got a call from Helen Noga and I’ve been with Johnny ever since.” To cover all of the entertainers that George has promoted over the years while at a label or independently would take much more space than we have for this column. So, the following is just a sampling. Mercury – Patti Page, The Platters, Anita O’Day, The Eddie Howard Orchestra, Dinah Washington, Erroll Garner Capitol - Nat King Cole, Peggy Lee, Dean Martin, George Shearing, Frank Sinatra, The Four Freshmen, Billy May, Jonah Jones, Stan Kenton, Ray Anthony, Tenessee Ernie Ford, The Beach Boys, The Kingston Trio Columbia – Johnny, Tony Bennett, Marty Robbins, Jerry Vale, Vic Damone, Dave Brubeck, Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, Charlie Byrd, Mormon Tabernacle Choir Independent – Julie Andrews, The Sherman Brothers, Vickie Carr, Spike Jones, Julie London, Willie Nelson George also has the distinction of promoting the classic rock operas “Hair” and “Jesus Christ Superstar”, as well as the plays “Cats” and “Evita”. His story about working on “Jesus Christ Superstar” is one of many, many stories about promoting the unpromotable. “I tried to take it to a couple of stations and their response was, ‘Is this something about religion?’ So, I took it out of their hands and went to the colleges. I took some librettos from the musical to drama departments and went to the college radio stations. They loved it.” To further promote it, he set up clergy from different religions on a San Diego radio station to discuss the rock opera and take calls. Three days later people were still calling on it. George can tell you about having cocktails with Billie Holiday, or “going up the fire escape and through the kitchen” to get air play for a song, or composing “Birthstone Suite” which he recorded in 1988 with the Royal Philharmonic, and more. He’s been with Johnny professionally longer than anyone, having joined him in 1961 and shows no sign of slowing down.