A past interview with country music legend Willie Nelson was replayed on one of Howard Stern’s SiriusXM channels recently. Stern asked Nelson if Elvis Presley was the greatest performer of all time.
Replied Nelson: “You know who my favorite entertainer is? Leon Russell.”
And to that, LeonLifers may say this: We’re right there with you.
LeonLifers (one word, not two) are headed your way. They’re fans of Russell and his body of work. They come from all over the world and all walks of life, and they’ll soon be gathering in Tulsa to celebrate what would have been Russell’s 80th birthday.
Born April 2, 1942 in Lawton, Claude Russell Bridges (aka Leon Russell) was raised in Tulsa and is a 1959 graduate of Will Rogers High School. On Sunday, April 3, LeonLifers will be among attendees at an 80th birthday concert in Russell’s memory at Will Rogers High School. Russell died in 2016.
People are also reading…
What does it mean to be a LeonLifer?
“To have an enduring love for Leon and his musical genius, for life,” Steve Burns, a LeonLifer from Oklahoma, said.
The 80th birthday concert is an open-to-the-public event (tickets are available at leonrussell.yapsody.com), but additional events have been arranged the first weekend in April specifically for LeonLifers.
Obviously, LeonLifers have never forgotten their hero, but Tulsa got a refresher course on Russell and his impact on the music world after restored Church Studio opened to the public March 1 and drew big crowds.
The opening came 50 years after Russell purchased a church at 304 S. Trenton Ave. with the intent of transforming it into a creative workshop and recording studio for music artists.
Church Studio became a Tulsa headquarters for Shelter Records, a label founded by Russell and English producer Denny Cordell. Moth. Flame. “Name” musicians were lured to Tulsa.
Now a 6-foot bronze sculpture of Russell greets visitors to refurbished Church Studio. For those unfamiliar with Russell history, he is in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, the Songwriters Hall of Fame, was the bandleader for Joe Cocker’s historic Mad Dogs & Englishmen tour in 1970 and was named by Billboard as the world’s top touring artist in 1973. Among people he inspired: Elton John — and throngs of LeonLifers.
“The LeonLifers are smart, charming and loyal,” Church Studio owner Teresa Knox said. “They have supported the revitalization of the Church Studio from the beginning and have taken our team under their wing. They regularly contribute content, facts and a lot of love to our operations, and we wouldn’t be where we are today without their encouragement.”
Burns said the original LeonLifers formed in the late 1990s. He said there’s an Internet group for one “list” of Lifers and a Yahoo group that grew to 1,500 members. Information on leonrussellrecords.com credits the internet for bringing LeonLifers together. Marcia Bilynsky was looking for a Russell chat group and couldn’t find what she wanted, so she created one.
John Beyrooty, who shared the leonrussellrecords.com story link, said he came up with the name (and one-word spelling) of LeonLifers.
Fans of the Grateful Dead are known as Deadheads. “So why not go with something a little opposite ... like LeonLifers,” he wrote in a message to the Tulsa World. “All of us, at the beginning, had so much in common and so loved Leon, I thought it might be a nice fit.”
Now?
“There are seven groups on Facebook that I know of,” Burns said, adding that high school buddy Keith Baker has the largest with more than 16,000 members. Burns said he helps moderate that one and contributes to all the pages.
“I thought when Keith introduced me to Leon’s music, we two were his biggest fans,” Burns said. “Not so.”
They are two among many.
Becoming family
William Avery’s Church Studio and Russell tattoos mark him as a LeonLifer. He said he is 66 and never got a tattoo until last year.
“My wife thinks I’m crazy,” he said, adding that maybe he is.
Avery lives in New Jersey and will travel to Tulsa for the big weekend. So will Johnny “Blues” McDonnell, a New Yorker and longtime LeonLifer who indicated in a thechurchstudio.com interview that his older brother was a big Russell fan and therefore a gateway to Russell.
“My date and I went to a Leon Russell concert in 1972 at the Nassau Coliseum in Long Island,” McDonnell said during the interview, adding that he was about 15 at the time. “Leon blew the roof off! The building was shaking, Leon was dancing on the piano, it was like he was preaching to the congregation. That was my introduction to Leon Russell, and I have been a fan ever since.”
McDonnell has seen about 70 Russell shows. The first one remains his favorite.
Maybe it’s a sign someone is a LeonLifer when they name a child after Russell.
Nita Sissell of Pineland, Texas, was pregnant with her firstborn when she accompanied an aunt to see Russell at a Willie Nelson Fourth of July Picnic event in Texas. That’s where she felt the baby in her belly move for the first time.
“I decided then and there that I would name him Leon Russell, and I did,” Sissell said.
Leon Russell Thomas was born on Halloween in 1974.
Sissell said she and her husband saw Russell more than 200 times between 1999 and 2016.
“He was sometimes shocked at where we showed up and asked if we had jobs or not,” she said. “When I told him I planned my work vacations around his schedule, he told me we were crazy — with that twinkle of appreciation in his eye.”
The Sissells were given all-access passes and were told they would never have to buy tickets. Sometimes they bought tickets when they wanted front-row seats, but many times they watched from backstage. They graduated from fans to something else. Said Nita: “We know his family, and they are now our family.”
‘Tulsa’s own’
Homegrown LeonLifer Carole Cleveland said that when she was growing up in Tulsa in the 1960s, her parents were always pointing out that Russell — “Tulsa’s own” — was on TV or the radio.
“Leon was part of the fabric of our town,” she said. “In the ‘70s, he came back to live here and then he was really all over the place. There were Leon sightings everywhere — grocery store, cruising Peoria, lunch at Pennington’s. And he built his lake studio in the very cove we visited every weekend! We never knew who all those people were making music and fun with him, but it was exciting.”
As an adult, Cleveland gravitated to a group of people who loved Leon as much as she did. At her first LeonLifer-sanctioned event, she saw a couple from the group get married.
“I knew then that I wanted to be a part of these Leon-loving peeps,” she said. “Many years later, I, too, was married surrounded by this group at one of our many gatherings, which always included a show with our Leon Russell.”
LuAnn Darrow saw her first outdoor concert in 1972 at the fairgrounds in Oklahoma City. The Beach Boys performed, but she said the crowd was there to see Russell. She was 15 then and has been a fan ever since. She learned about LeonLifers during the pandemic and she said communicating about a shared love of Russell’s music “helped me weather the craziness.”
Jerri McLaughlin Hemphill was introduced long ago to Russell’s music by an older brother, Danny. When Danny left for Vietnam, she was left in charge of his stereo equipment and music and “my teenage brain absorbed it all.” Danny bought her the “Concert for Bangladesh” album after he returned home. “We had every album,” she said.
Years later, Hemphill stumbled onto the Russell Yahoo group started by Bilynsky.
“I never thought I’d ever meet so many people who love his music,” she wrote in a Facebook post. “I saw him three times before he passed, met the band, did shots, had a snowball fight with them, conversed with his family. It’s all amazing.”
McDonnell was asked about the history of LeonLifer “shindig” birthday events during his thechurchstudio.com interview. He said one of Russell’s “super fans” was Honey Colburn, an original LeonLifer from Muskogee who, with her sons, began hosting barbecues at their home for Russell’s band.
“She opened her home and heart to such a diversity of people,” Edna Reeves said.
Huddling with Jan Bridges (Russell’s wife and booking agent) led to the first LeonLifer show in Muskogee 18 years ago. A tradition was born. McDonnell indicated Russell was grateful and humbled that so many fans attended LeonLifer shows.
LeonLifer Dawn Marie High-Fecher said Russell’s funeral in Tulsa was heartbreaking. She said hugs and tears were shared, but there was never a doubt that the Lifers would keep Russell and his music legacy alive and well-protected.
“Leon gave everything he could give to his fans, and we are all forever grateful,” she said.
Author and historian John Wooley, who will be part of the upcoming Russell celebration, said he loves the LeonLifers.
“I’m told that several of them across the country listen to my Western-swing radio show, Swing on This, and text one another about the music while it’s going on,” he said.
“Sometimes, I’ll play a Leon Russell song that doesn’t stray too far from the format. Whenever I do that, at least one of ‘em is always kind enough to take the time to thank me. I identify with them, too. We’re not only in the same age group; we’re also deeply interested in keeping Tulsa’s unique musical history alive, and I admire and appreciate their tireless efforts in that direction.”