Richard Russell is a record producer, musician, and the owner of XL Recordings. Richard joined XL as an A&R Scout in 1991, and in 1992 released the single The Bouncer with XL co-founder Nick Halkes, which was featured on Top of the Pops and led to a record deal. Russell pursued a career at XL, and by the mid-1990s was co-owner and chairman of the company. He has worked with artists including Gil Scott Heron, whose final album he produced, Radiohead, Jamie xx, FKA twigs, M.I.A, and Adele, who Richard discovered in the 2000s.
Since 2018, Russell has released Mercury Prize nominated albums under Everything Is Recorded, a project that has collaborated with artists including Florence Welch, Sampha, and Giggs. He is also half of the duo Sam Morton, with Samantha Morton, who released their debut album Daffodils and Dirt in 2024.
In 2021, Richard published his autobiography Liberation Through Hearing, which details his sudden diagnosis with the rare auto-immune disorder Guillain-Barré syndrome in 2013.
Celebrated for his instinctive, human approach to sound and collaboration, Russell received the 2025 Music Producers Guild Inspiration Awards in recognition of his "fearless approach to creativity and unwavering commitment to artistic freedom.”
In this episode of Fashion Neurosis, Bella Freud and Richard Russell discuss getting to know Gil Scott Heron through writing to each other, business and creativity, and freedom through music.
Part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
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