Marcus Russell was born in Ebbw Vale, South Wales, on 22 May 1953 and educated at Ebbw Vale County Grammar School. Before ever entering the music business he worked with his hands in the industries that built the town, spending three years as a blast furnace operative for British Steel at the Ebbw Vale Works and at the Waun-y-Pound open cast coal mine. In 1974 he left Wales to study at Middlesex Polytechnic, later teaching economics in Essex schools and rising to Head of Economics at Royal Liberty School in Romford.
In 1984 Russell swapped the classroom for the music industry, founding his own artist management company, Ignition. Early clients included fellow Ebbw Vale lyricist Mike Jones of Latin Quarter, followed by Johnny Marr, Bernard Sumner and Crowded House's Neil and Tim Finn. His defining moment came in May 1993, when he signed a then-unknown Manchester band called Oasis. Russell managed the band for 16 years, guiding them through their rise as the defining act of Britpop and Britain's most successful rock band in decades, before the group split in 2009.
Since then, Ignition has continued to manage Noel Gallagher's solo career as Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, and its roster has grown to include Catfish and the Bottlemen and Amy Macdonald, with an American arm now based in Los Angeles. Russell has never forgotten his roots, serving as owner and major benefactor of Ebbw Vale Rugby Club between 1996 and 2004, during the early years of professional rugby union.