Russ Hooch

Russ Hooch is an English rock/pop singer and songwriter who is regarded as one of the most successful male artists on Urapopstar, thanks to his ubiquitous songwriting talents and strong promotional campaigns, to name a few things.

He was a vital part of the Urapopstar community until he made his decision to retire from the music business in March 2007 to devote more time to parenthood.

Fore'play
Russ started out as one of the members of the mixed-gender pop group Fore'play, along with Lisa Slee, Kevin Timm, Frankie Cannes and Jon Dubb. The group had a minor hit with "Turn Walk Away" in July 2004, but they called it quits after its follow-up "Dirty Shoes" missed the top 40.

Russ's solo career begins
In late April 2005, Russ decided to give music another try, shying away from the camp disco sound of Fore'play with his first single "Caged", a dark, acoustic rock song based on a real-life experience where Russ was abused by a woman he was dating. In one of his earliest interviews, he came clean about the abuse he suffered early in his childhood, admitting he suffered from beatings and sexual assault from his parents.

Soon after, Russ established the Anti-Violence Society, a project aiming to not only make people aware of the problems regarding violence, but also to persuade people to donate generously and offer support so that the campaign may be productive in stopping violence once and for all. He recruited two of his longtime friends, Esmeralda Dimuzio and Tom Owen, as ambassadors to help raise awareness of the cause.

People took a strong liking to Russ, and as a result, "Caged" entered the singles charts all the way up at #4. At the same time, the Anti-Violence Society proved to be a success, and Russ began making plans to release a charitable album to benefit the cause; No-One Knew Me: The Anti-Violence Society Album, which featured "Caged", also entered the charts at #4, while its promotion helped propel the single to platinum status and also spent the most weeks on the top 40 for a single by a male artist and by a new artist, at 18 weeks on.

The And Now We're Broken Era
After completing his first headlining tour, the River Rockout Tour with Splinter and The Amps, Russ confirmed the release of his second single "And Now She's Broken", in addition to his debut album And Now We're Broken. During this time, he began dating his future wife, Tracey Cooper from Glamour Puss. He also introduced his skills in writing for other artists, helping fellow newcomer Jack Stevens on songs for his debut album Ambition & Ego, and his strong promotional campaigns, urging people to "vote for the men" on his release date (Russ, along with Ben Parker, were the only solo male acts releasing on this particular date, and were both predicted to be overshadowed by Nikki and Esmeralda Dimuzio). The single debuted at #5 and the album debuted at #3 upon their respective releases, with both climbing to #2 in the second week.

That was quickly followed by a collaboration with Emma Brown, "Body's Best Bet", which also served as the second single from Emma's Beautifully Erotic album. With Hooch established as a top male star, and Emma's return to form following the success of her previous single "Cold Shower", this was expected to be a huge hit, and despite Russ working with a sexy female on his single, still was faithful to his bride-to-be Tracey; he even threw an engagement party at the time, held September 23 at the Three Magnets Basildon.

Soon after "Body's Best Bet" became Russ's first #1 single, Russ announced he had an affair with Emma Brown, much to the disgust of Tracey, as well as Tom Owen, a close friend of Russ's who was also dating Emma. The story was in the headlines for a week, and was much talked about among Russ's peers. However, it was later revealed the drama was staged in order to announce Russ and Tom's duet single, "Do Ya?". By this time there was a bit of a burnout; the single just barely missed the top 5, debuting at #7 and peaking at #6. But Russ was able to escape it all when "Caged" came in fourth place in Record of the Year.

Russ closed off the album era with the double A-side of "Dancing While You Break Me / Paperback", released to coincide with his January 29 wedding to Tracey Cooper. The wedding, held in St. George's Church, featured Tom Owen as best man, Charlie C as bridesmaid, Emma Brown and Taylor Brookes as singers, and Tom Fletcher, Kantar, Jake, and Jack Stevens as ushers. The massive publicity for the wedding helped end the album era with a bang as the single debuted and peaked at #3.

The nonroutine Era
Russ returned with his second album nonroutine and its lead-off single "Exits" in late May 2006, shocking many when he announced it will be his final studio album. The album and single showed maturity in his songwriting, while based on sound it remained consistent with his previous album. Promotional highlights included Russ's countdown of the acts he wanted to see leave the music industry (with Sarah Summers, who ended up leaving six months later, coming out on top), as well as a B-side with deceased URAPS Idol winner Sasha Riley, "I Want A Lover". Both the single and album reached #1 and were strong hits for the year as a whole.

The follow-up, "Cigarette", threw much of his peers off, as they noticed he showed a generally meaner attitude than before. He began taking up smoking, publicly ranted about his marriage with Tracey and the state of the music business, and was arrested for throwing bricks at his own house. After the single charted, debuting at #5 and then climbing to #2, Russ checked into the Priory to recover from his addiction, and was released after just a week.

Russ bounced back in November, earning a 2-week #1 with his duet with Louise Harlow, "Faceflush / The Price We've Paid"; that was followed by a re-release of nonroutine, which also charted at #1. He also had one of the biggest singles of Christmas 2006 with his "Christmas Menu EP", in which Russ collaborated with Jamie Oliver for a big Christmas feast.

In January 2007, Russ participated in the Tango Challenge and was paired up with Delta Nu. Russ and Delta co-wrote and co-produced their single "I've Got No Sympathy", which was more influenced by Delta's pop sound than Russ's acoustic sound. Though they faced a setback when Russ and his newborn son Dominic were attacked by their closest rivals in the challenge Buffi and Emblaze, the single reached #1 on the charts.

Russ retires
With the curtain set to close on his career, Russ chose "Afterthought" to be released as his final single. Before the single's release came his greatest hits collection, Exit 27: The Greatest Hits, which debuted at #1, and his farewell tour, The Exits Tour 07, which featured up-and-coming R&B star Kelly Brown as opening act, in addition to Splinter, who co-headlined on Russ's first tour, the River Rockout. "Afterthought" was released the same day as a Farewell Fanzine, which featured great details of the highlights of his career, released with proceeds going to Comic Relief.

Russ's "Case is Closing" show at the Twickenham Rugby Ground on March 31 was Russ's final performance. After a panel of fourteen celebrities chose their favorite Russ Hooch songs and debated why the song should be performed as Russ's encore at the show (which would be the last song he will perform live), the fans decided the best choice for Russ's swan song. "Punchbag", which was released as a download-only single, was chosen by the fans to be the encore following testimony from Alesha. The final show featured many of the artists who have been close to Russ during his career as guest performers and was capped off by an emotional closing stunt where Russ literally flew over the audience and out of the stadium.

"Afterthought" debuted and peaked at #1.

Post-retirement
Even after Russ retired, he still managed to make a dent in the charts as a songwriter. Jack Stevens' "Foreign Birds" and Tiara Coles' "That Girl (Dangerous)" both were #1 singles, and London's "Shopping Girls", released as a double A-side with "Yummy", was a #3 hit.

He contributed the song "Life Insurance" to Arwyn Knight's album Fate Of A Dirty Pianist, which was released in November 2007. He is also credited as one of the writers of Jake, Jon Farley, and Jack Stevens' monster hit single "Trendy Pop Boys".

Management
During his career, Russ has been known for signing promising acts to his management, taking them under his wing to give them promotional strategies and songwriting assistance. The acts he has managed during his career include Nate Brown, Hugo, Alfie Outcast, London, Lisa Spears, and Individually Priced.

Television
Russ created the celebrity dating series Thrill Me, I'm Famous!, in which two celebrities would be paired up based on compatability, go out on a date, and at the end decide whether to "matchmake" or "ditchdate". The show is best known for pairing up Jake and Nikki.

He also created the There’s Something About… series, where celebrities compete in pursuit of a date with a hot recording artist, having to complete certain tasks with the star narrowing the field down until he or she finds the most compatible significant other. The first series featured female celebrities competing for a date with Antony Jones; the winner was Chayne Moore. The second series featured male celebrities competing for a date with London; the winner was Aaron Wilson from ENVY.

He also co-produced the seventh and eighth installments of URAPS Idol, and was a houseguest in Celebrity Big Brother in summer 2006 (though he was the third to be voted out).

Albums
2005: No-One Knew Me: The Anti-Violence Society Album (compilation) 2005: And Now We're Broken 2006: nonroutine 2007: Exit 27: The Greatest Hits

Singles
2005: Caged 2005: And Now She's Broken 2005: Body's Best Bet (with Emma Brown) 2005: Do Ya? (with Tom Owen) 2006: Dancing While You Break Me / Paperback 2006: Exits 2006: Cigarette 2006: Faceflush / The Price We've Paid (with Louise Harlow) 2006: Christmas Menu EP 2007: I've Got No Sympathy (with Delta Nu) 2007: Afterthought 2007: Punchbag (download-only)

Songs for other artists
Arwyn Knight - "Life Insurance" Blush - "Pack Your Bags" Caprice - "Genuine Juliet" Claire Kitten - "Tomorrow's A Different Story" Delta Nu - "Sunshine" (co-write) David Stevens - "Ten Shades Of Grey" Emblaze - "Easy Target" (co-write) and "Impatient" Emblaze & Jon Farley - "Top Up My Glass" (co-write) Fore'play - "Strong Now", "Turn Walk Away" Hugo - "Thief Of Hearts (Stole The Show)", "While We're On The Subject" (co-write) Izzy - "Any Man Mine", "Fine" (co-write), "Stupid Cupid" Jack Stevens - "Bridge To You", "Control (My Disease)", "Don't", "Foreign Birds", "Reasons To Hate Me", "Trendy Pop Boys" (with Jake & Jon Farley) Latavia - "Can Ya Feel It?" (co-write), "Dumbstruck", "Don't Roll" London - "Bloodstream Hurricane", "Love Bike", "Shopping Girls", "So Close To Perfect" Louise Harlow - "Exposed" (co-write) Mary Jane - "Tug Of Love" Melissa Moore - "I Love Jimmy Choo" Nate Brown - "Chaos", "Checkout Kid", "Lady Insane", "Shut Up" Sasha Riley - "I Want A Lover" (co-write) Tasha - "I Love A Woman", "Qualified" (both co-writes) Tiara Coles - "Answer The Charges", "Give It Time" (co-write), "Really Got Me Hurt", "That Girl (Dangerous)" Tom Owen - "Barriers", "Invisible Kiss" (co-write)

Awards and honors
TRL Awards 2005: Best Male, Best Male Video, Best Breakthrough Video, Best Newcomer (won) ITV Awards 2005: Best TV Presenter, Best Reality TV Show (won) Urapopstar Awards 11: Best Songwriter (won), Best Male, Best Newcomer, Best Single, Best Album, Best Collaboration, Best Spin-off (nominated) Urapopstar Awards 12: Best Male, Best Songwriter (won), Best Spin-off, Best Promotional Campaign (nominated) Urapopstar Awards 13: Best Male, Best Songwriter (won), Best Album, Best Collaboration (nominated)