Air Supply At The King Center, January 28th
Graham Russell and Russell Hitchcock met on May 12, 1975, the first day of rehearsals for “Jesus Christ Superstar” in Sydney, Australia. They became instant friends with their common love for the Beatles and, of course, singing. After the show’s performances, they would play pizza parlors, coffee bars and nightclubs with just one guitar and two voices. They quickly gained a reputation for great harmonies and for the original songs that Russell was constantly writing. They made a demo on a cassette of two songs and took it to every record company in Sydney. Everyone turned it down but one — CBS Records — who admired their unique style.
“Hopefully, the audience will walk out after the show and say to themselves, ‘What just happened? I was crying, I was laughing, I was remembering what it was like in the ‘80s when…’ But we play new songs
too, and they’re just as engaging as the old ones.” -Graham Russell
That same year, they opened for Rod Stewart across Australia and then throughout the U.S. and Canada, playing huge venues before Stewart would take the stage. They found new fans, but did not break into the U.S. market. Somehow their music found its way to industry legend Clive Davis in New York. He immediately signed Air Supply to Arista Records and, in 1980, “Lost in Love” became the fastest-selling single in the world, leaping to the top of all the charts. Their second single was “All Out of Love,” and that climbed the charts even quicker. Seven top-five singles later, Air Supply had equaled the Beatles’ run of consecutive top-five singles. Their albums sold more than 20 million copies. “Lost in Love” was named song of the year in 1980, and, with the other singles, sold more than 10 million copies.
In 2018, the duo continues to play more than 150 shows a year worldwide, including stops in England, Ireland, Israel, Philippines, Korea, Japan, Canada, the U.S. and beyond. Russell and Hitchcock also appeared on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and performed their classic “All Out of Love.”
Air Supply comes to The King Center on January 28th, immediately after tour dates in China, Japan, Malaysia and Indonesia. Russell says, “We haven’t been to China for a few years, so it’ll be nice to reignite that place for us. Then we have six shows in Japan, Malaysia for two shows, and lastly to Indonesia. We’re doing quite a few shows in 22 days, then right to you in Melbourne, which will be nice.” He continued, “We always look forward to Melbourne especially because it’s a nice getaway for some warm weather; but that’s not the reason we come to Melbourne. We come there because the demand is
there. We’ve played in Melbourne at least six times, maybe more.”
As for the show? “We let the music speak for itself. We have great songs, of course we have Russell’s voice and the show is very engaging. We go into the audience, and the people become part of the show,” Russell said. “In fact, recently, there was a group of people at the meet and greet after the show. They pulled Russell and I aside and they said, ‘We knew all the hits, but something happens in your show.’ They said, ‘It’s so inviting and it’s so warm, and you disarm the audience straight away.’ That’s a really lovely thing to hear because we don’t try to do that. We’re just who we are, we just let our own character come through
the music.”
