When Air Supply comes to Genesee Theatre on Jan. 21, the audience will likely hear the group’s newest song, “We Are Here.”
Graham Russell and co-founding member of the band Russell Hitchcock are dedicating the song to a group of needy children in Jamaica, where they have started doing charity work.
The next time they go to Jamaica, they’ll sing it to the children, but the Genesee Theatre audience will hear it first.
“The message is that we are all here together as humans on the earth, and without sounding too cosmic, we all need to help each other,” Russell said from his Utah home.
“There are many people who are very privileged, and the gap between those people and the children we see in Jamaica is huge.”
He said he and Hitchcock have been privileged to perform together for more than 40 years.
“I write the songs, and I don’t want to be the lead singer. He’s the lead singer, and he doesn’t want to write songs, so it works out great,” Russell said.
The Air Supply founders, known for the soaring melodies and harmonies in their simple love songs, met in 1975 when both were cast in a production of “Jesus Christ Superstar” in Australia.
Russell said an older woman who became his mentor suggested he audition for the show.
“She said if you do this, it will change your life, and it did,” said Russell, who at that time played guitar and sang in local bands.
Russell said he and Hitchcock were the only two people in the show who didn’t know anyone. “We were the green guys. We were both very nervous. We were the two lonely guys sitting in the corner who didn’t know a soul,” Russell said.
“When the full company sang for the first time, Russell sat next to me, and he started to sing, and straight away I knew he had the best voice in the whole show, including the principal,” Russell said.
The friends also loved similar music — especially the Beatles — and began performing together after “Jesus Christ Superstar” was over.
“We had a hit record straight away, and we started to tour. After that, we opened for Rod Stewart in the U.S., and it went from there,” Russell said.
Their hit songs, including “All Out of Love” and “Lost in Love,” are very simple, Russell said. “The message, I hope, is very pure. There’s no hidden meaning.”
And yet at the same time, he said, “They are very deep songs, and they come from a very sacred place, and they always have. I’ve always written the same way — it comes from feeling things.”
He said he thinks they kept their act together as well as their singing skills because when the band started, they weren’t “reckless teenagers. I was 25. Russell was 27. We were very responsible. We didn’t do anything weird. We just wanted to have a successful career.”
Russell said he doesn’t listen to current music “because it just doesn’t appeal to me.”
He loves the songs with good melodies and harmonies. “That’s carried me through so many years. That’s what I love,” he said.
People relate to their music because they can understand it, Russell said. “It’s not complicated. They get straight to you. They’re everyday, working-class love songs.”
They veered away from that genre when recording “Mumbo Jumbo,” an album praised by critics. The music was more theatrical and a bit of a departure, he said.
After that, he wrote the song “I Adore You,” which came out as a single in 2015 and which represented the style of music for which they are known.
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Russell also writes musicals, and his latest, “A Wall Apart,” about the Berlin Wall, is having its first reading in New York this month. “It’s getting great reaction,” he said.
When Air Supply performs for an audience — whether it be in China, Japan or the United States — he said, “I want to see them laugh and cry. I want them to remember the soundscapes of their lives.”
Though the songs are passionate and serious, he said he and Hitchcock like to joke in between pieces. “We have a good go at ourselves. We don’t take ourselves seriously. People have a laugh at that. It’s all good stuff,” Russell said.
“I look forward to every day. This is our 42nd year together. Playing any show is great. We have a great life, and we’re very fortunate to do what we love.”
Sheryl DeVore is a freelance reporter for the News-Sun.
Air Supply
When: 8 p.m. Jan. 21; with special guest The Romantics
Where: Genesee Theatre, 203 N. Genesee St., Waukegan
Tickets: $39-$85
Information: 847-263-6300; www.geneseetheatre.com