by Sharon MawerRuss Conway was born Trevor Herbert Stanford on September 2, 1925, in Bristol, the youngest of three brothers. His father was a commercial salesman and his mother a pianist, and despite having no formal piano training, he inherited her musical ability and went on to dominate the charts in 1959 with piano medleys, totally contrary to the genres of music prevalent at the time. As a teenager during World War II he joined the Royal Navy, winning a Distinguished Service Medal for work as a personnel signalman to the commander of minesweepers. After the war he rejoined the Merchant Navy, and while on duty he had an accident with a bread slicer that took off the tip of one of his fingers. Conway later claimed this added to his style of playing piano rather than hindering him. He remained in the Navy until 1955, and after leaving he found work playing the piano at various London nightclubs, where one night he was approached by Irving D...