Rachael Russell was born in 1980 in Liverpool. Educated at St. Mary's College, she began singing at the age of 12 and performed regularly as a chorister and soloist with the Orphic singers. At 16, she toured the south of England as a member of the National Youth Music Theatre. Rachael studied at the Royal College of Music for a short time before transferring to the Royal Northern College of Music, where she studied with Caroline Cranshaw, completing her 4 year Bachelor of Music Degree and graduating in December 2005. The previous year she was awarded the James Martin Oncken Song Prize and the Doherty Recital Prize and covered the role of Second Woman in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas. Rachael holds the title of Liverpool City's Singer in Residence in conjunction with the European Capital of Culture 2008.