Russ Conway, star of Sixties TV, dies at 75

The pianist Russ Conway, who was one the most popular stars on television in the Sixties and Seventies, died yesterday after losing his battle with cancer. He was 75.

The pianist Russ Conway, who was one the most popular stars on television in the Sixties and Seventies, died yesterday after losing his battle with cancer. He was 75.

Conway died in his sleep at Eastbourne District General Hospital, East Sussex, where he had been admitted 12 days ago. He had been suffering from a recurrence of stomach cancer which had also spread to his brain.

He was one of the wealthiest and most successful popular pianists of his time in Britain, selling millions of records during his career. In his heyday, the Bristol-born entertainer topped the bill at the London Palladium and twice reached number one with his own compositions.

Noted for his infectious smile and cheeky winks to camera, Conway overcame ill-health, near bankruptcy and a drink problem to remain at the top of his profession. He had 17 consecutive chart hits that sold more than 30 million records in the late 1950s and early 1960s. And he was the first performer to win a silver disc when his hit-record, Roulette, topped the 250,000 sales mark, a total which was rapidly equalled by three other hits.

Conway - whose real name was Trevor Stanford - was born in Bristol on 1 September, 1925. He had no formal musical training and left school aged 14 to work in a solicitors' office. However, he was sent to borstal for three years for the theft. After his release, he entered a Merchant Navy Training School and, in 1942, joined the Royal Navy. He was awarded the DSM for "gallantry and devotion to duty".

For four years, he workedas a salesman, machinist, plumber's mate and barman. While doing a pianist stint at a club he was "discovered" by one of Britain's top choreographers, Irving Davies.

He became a television favourite on variety shows, but illness and injury dogged him. He lost part of a finger in an accident, chipped a hip bone in a fall, and collapsed over the keyboard at a Scarborough show. This was followed by a nervous breakdown.

By 1971, he had started drinking at a pace which reduced him to near bankruptcy. But his friends helped to pull him through and Conway's career resumed, though on a smaller scale.