Charlena Russell

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Charlena Russell
A powerhouse vocalist and adept multi-instrumentalist, Charlena Russell uses her musical/vocal training to create fiery, eclectic, soulful blues-rock and haunting, personal electronica.
Charlena began her life as a musician at age twelve, learning the violin and trumpet both privately and in her junior high band class. After a couple of years classical training, Charlena discovered the guitar in grade nine at her best friend's house ("it was like an orchestra coming out of this one instrument!"), and promptly taught herself some chords. Applying her poetry to guitar, the songwriter was born.
After high school Charlena nixed a plan to attend university for trumpet and worked three jobs to save up for her life's essentials: a computer, instruments, a recording console, microphones, and a stereo. She learned computer-based recording software Cubase and began creating.
A sponge for anything music-related, Charlena moved to Kitchener at age 19 and joined the goth/electronic band Puncture Vine as an electric violinist and back-up singer. Charlena slept on the floor of the studio for three months while Puncture Vine recorded its second album. Charlena went on to join various bands touring and/or doing studio work for their albums. In August 2006, Charlena released her first solo album Ebb and Flow and toured the Southern Ontario club circuit promoting her new album.
Summer 2007 Charlena traveled to South East Asia for nine weeks and wrote half of her upcoming album on a small bodied cheap guitar she purchased for $15.00 US in Laos after a two day slow boat trip from Thailand to Laos down the Mekong River. She later donated it to a child who couldn't afford a guitar while teaching English and Guitar to orphans as a volunteer for the last three weeks of her trip.
Summer of 2009 proved to be beautiful and vast. Charlena performed 30 shows in 43 days for her first Western Canada Tour. She used the time to reflect, write songs, visit old friends and family and share her music with her audiences and fellow bands. She joined forces with Jimi Maze in Edmonton and toured together in Jimi's van sharing shows and stories and songs. "Jimi and I learned each others songs and we both rocked out with vocal harmonies, guitar, Jimi's loop pedal and the 5 string electric voilin I rented for the tour! It was a riot!"
Currently, Charlena teaches voice, violin and guitar privately and is studying classical voice and violin and piano. Charlena is also writing with a number of musicians in Kitchener while preparing her new musical projects. Likening songwriting to birthing a child, she says, "You send it out into the world and you want it to be successful and beautiful, but if someone doesn't see it that way, then I don't care. This is my baby." Never one to rest, Charlena is recording her second full-length album while putting together an EP of her electronic music under the name "Charlie".