The Willy Russell Centre for Children and Adults Who Stammer, was opened by Russell in Liverpool, 1996. His first album, Hoovering the Moon, was released in 2003.
He also co-wrote "The Show", the theme song to the 1985 ITV drama series Connie, which became a top 30 hit for vocalist Rebecca Storm. Russell has written songs since the early 1960s, and has written the music to most of his plays and musicals. In epistolary form, main character Raymond Marks, a 19-year old from Manchester, tells the story of his life in letters to his hero Morrissey. In 2000, Russell published his first novel, The Wrong Boy. He penned another television drama, One Summer, which aired as a five-part series on Channel 4 in 1983, starring a young David Morrissey. Russell has also written television projects, including the one-off drama, Our Day Out, which aired in 1977. Russell received BAFTA and Oscar nominations for Best Adapted Screenplay for both Educating Rita and Shirley Valentine. It was also made into a successful film, in 1989, again with Collins in the title role. Shirley Valentine, which first opened in Liverpool in 1986 before a new production opened in London in 1988 starring Pauline Collins. Bill Kenwright produced a revival in 1988 which has run for more than twenty years the show was produced on Broadway in 1993. It won the best actress award at the Lawrence Olivier awards. The musical Blood Brothers (1983), for which Russell also composed the music, first opened in Liverpool and transferred to London's Phoenix Theatre. The semi-autobiographical Educating Rita was turned into a 1983 film with Michael Caine and Julie Walters. Educating Rita (1980) concerned a female hairdresser and her Open University teacher.
Originally commissioned for the Everyman Theatre, Liverpool was transferring to the West End in 1974.
His first success was a play about The Beatles called John, Paul, George, Ringo … and Bert. Russell then undertook a variety of jobs, also the first play he wrote was Keep Your Eyes Down Low (1975). After leaving school with one O-level in English, he first became a ladies' hairdresser and ran his own salon. His parents worked in a book publisher's and often encouraged him to read.
Willy Russell was born in Whiston, on the outskirts of Liverpool, where he grew up. His best-known works are Educating Rita, Shirley Valentine, and Blood Brothers. After leaving school with one O-level in English, he first became a ladies' hairdresser and ran hi William Russell is a British dramatist, lyricist, and composer. William Russell is a British dramatist, lyricist, and composer.