Jack Russell is an American rock vocalist from Montebello, California, and the original singer for Great White. He is born in 1960 and dies in 2024.

Great White

Russell is a founding member of Great White, a hard rock band he joins in 1981 after meeting guitarist Mark Kendall and beginning plans for a group first called Dante Fox. The name changes to Great White after the band manager and Kendall decide on it, based on Kendall’s nickname. Russell spends most of his career as the band’s lead singer and remains associated with it across several line-ups and periods.

He performs with Great White from 1981 to 1996, then pauses to record his first solo album, Shelter Me. He rejoins the band shortly after that album’s release and stays until Great White breaks up in 2001. In 2006 he tours again with the official Great White line-up when the classic members reform, but leaves in 2009 after a fall at home leaves him with cracked vertebrae and a herniated disc. After recovering, he returns to touring as Jack Russell’s Great White in December 2011 to distinguish his band from the separately continuing Great White.

Solo work and collaborations

Outside Great White, Russell releases two solo albums: Shelter Me and For You, the latter appearing in 2002. He also participates on several tribute albums. In January 2024, he releases Medusa, a collaboration album with L.A. Guns guitarist Tracii Guns.

Later releases and activity

Under the Jack Russell’s Great White name, he releases the band’s first album, He Saw It Comin', in 2017. In 2021, the group issues Great Zeppelin II: A Tribute to Led Zeppelin, a sequel to Great White’s 1998 Led Zeppelin tribute album, and a cover of “Whole Lotta Love” also appears that year.

Health and public appearances

Russell’s back injury leads to multiple surgeries and significant pain medication use. He later overcomes alcoholism and becomes sober after the death of his friend Jani Lane. In 2012, he appears on VH1 Classic’s That Metal Show, where he discusses his account of Great White’s history and says he feels well enough to continue performing.

Background and musical influences

Russell grows up influenced by singers such as Robert Plant and Steven Tyler, and he begins singing for various bands while still at school. His work is rooted in rock and hard rock, and he is closely identified with Great White’s early and long-running history.