Born and raised in Southern California, Jami is the youngest of four children and the only girl. She's always loved music more then anything, even as a tiny baby.

Around the age of three Jami nearly drowned during an outing at the beach. Because of this she can clearly remember two things, that year she developed her first crush on the character Mr. Spock on Star Trek and she heard - really heard - Barry Manilow's Copacabana for the first time. This set her fate. For the rest of her life she would always be a Trekkie and she would always love the music of Barry Manilow. 

In elementry school Jami "discovered" the music of the 1950s. Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard - these and many others were the standard of what she listened to. By junior high she had added Big Band, especially Glenn Miller, to her musical rotation. In high school she heard Michael Crawford and instantly became a fan.

Also in high school Jami would meet two people who would be the biggest support outside of her parents. One was Kevin Weed, the school's pianist. To this day he is still the only one Jami trusts to record her accompianment for performances and demos. (Besides the piano Kevin is also a whiz on the bagpipes.) The choir/band teacher, Robert Henthron, whom the Russell family had actually known for years, would become Jami's private vocal coach after emergancy dental surgery had left her voice very rough. He believed in her when Jami no longer believed in herself and brought her to new vocal heights.

Music is Jami's life's blood, her one true love, and all she wants out of this life is to sing the songs she loves - songs like Moonlight Cocktail, Are You Lonesome Tonight, Fool's Paradise, and I Was A Fool To Let You Go - for a living.