Russella

Russella is considered one of 200 cultural icons by i-D magazine^[2] and was considered one of the UK's top 30 talents by The London Paper^[3]

Russella studied dance at Northern School of Contemporary Dance in Leeds where he met singer and actress Paloma Faith.^[4] Russella later moved to London to live with Faith.^[5] Russella appeared in the music video for Faith's debut single Stone Cold Sober.^[6] Faith cites Russella as one of the inspirations for her style,^[7] a style which is thought of as Dynasty Glam^[1] and Alexis Carrington 1980s.^[8]

After moving to London, Russella worked in fashion PR for vintage clothes retailer Beyond Retro.^[9] before meeting performance artist Jonny Woo whom he performed with regularly after winning a competition hosted by Woo^[8][10]

After a chance meeting at London nightclub Madame Jojo's, a then unknown French singer Héloïse Letissier befriended Russella and two lesser known drag queens who encouraged her to sing. After a period of suffering from depression, Letissier was inspired by the drag queens—to the extent that she named her pop persona Christine and the Queens in appreciation.^[11] In an interview with the New Statesman, Letissier explains that whilst Russella taught her 'how to be a woman', the two have not remained in contact.^[12] Lettessier claims that Russella is one of the drag queens who 'saved [her] life'^[13]

Even though Russella claims not to care about beauty "everyone is so obsessed with beauty and glamour right now; everyone wants to be perfect. I know I am perfect – I'm fabulous – but I don't particularly care. I just want to be looked at"^[14] – he has modelled for award-winning photographers including Nick Knight,^[2] Alice Hawkins^[15] Jodi Bieber^[16] and Gregoire A Meyer^[17] as well as modelling for brands including Joseph Corré's A Child of the Jago,^[18] and milliner Piers Atkinson.^[19][20] Russella has also appeared in photo shoots for magazines including i-D magazine^[2]Attitude Magazine,^[21] The Independent Magazine,^[15] The British Journal of Photography,^[22] and Time Out^[23]

Russella appeared as 'Terry Crystal' in Trevor Miller's film Riot on Redchurch Street which was released in 2012^[24] He also featured on MTV's My Super Sweet 16 in January 2012 as guest choreographer.

In 2008 Russella launched 'London's Next Top Tranny' a successful competition to discover up and coming talent in East London ^[25]

Russella was a finalist in the Hackney Empire New Act of the Year awards, 2012^[26] hosted by Jo Brand

In 2015 Russella entered Britain's Got Talent performing 'The Pancake Show', and expressed his desire to 'do' a cookery book, much to the dismay of Simon Cowell but with the full support of David Walliams who exclaimed 'I would buy it!'^{[citation needed]}

Russella has contributed to online magazines including Societe Perrier^[27] and the Sabotage Times^[28]

Russella released his first comedic single on to iTunes in 2009 – titled – 'Too Fabulous'^[29] with an accompanying video on YouTube which featured Sue Tilley Benefits Supervisor Sleeping. Too Fabulous was performed at Lovebox Festival in 2011 ^[30]

Russella also appeared on episode 6 of Britain's Got Talent 2012 singing Wild Horses