sister moved to New York City, where her mother did suffrage work for Susan B. Anthony. Russell studied singing under Leopold Damrosch and considered pursuing an operatic career; her very religious mother disapproved of her working in theatre, which she considered disreputable. Russell began dating Walter Sinn, whose father owned the Brooklyn Park Theatre. Walter's mother helped Russell get a chorus job (as Nellie Leonard) with Edward E. Rice, who was touring his musical Evangeline to Boston beginning in September 1879, together with Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera H.M.S. Pinafore. Russell soon began seeing the orchestra leader Harry Braham and became pregnant. They married in November when the show moved to New York theatres. She gave birth to their son Harry in June 1880. In September, Braham got a prestigious job conducting at Tony Pastor's Theatre on Broadway. Pastor, known as the father of vaudeville, was responsible for introducing many well-known performers. In November 1880, Pastor engaged Russell for his variety shows. At his suggestion, she chose a stage name, Lillian Russell, and Pastor introduced her as an "English ballad singer". She was immediately popular with audiences and soon was acting in skits, as well as singing. In early 1881, the baby died after his nanny accidentally penetrated his stomach with a diaper pin. Braham came home to find the dying baby. The tragedy exacerbated Russell's difficult relationship with her mother and led to her divorce from Braham. In the summer of 1881, Russell toured with Pastor's company. That fall, she played the leading soprano role of Mabel in a burlesque of The Pirates of Penzance at Pastor's theatre. She next played at the Bijou Opera House on Broadway as Djenna in The Great Mogul and with the McCaull Comic Opera Company played Bathilda there in Olivette. She also played the title role in Gilbert and Sullivan's Patience and Aline in The Sorcerer in 1882 at the Bijou. Bigamous marriage and peak years Russell met composer Edward Solomon later in 1882 at Pastor's New York Casino Theatre where he was the season's musical director and she became the star. Unaware of his first marriage, she became his mistress and they sailed together to London. There she starred in several works he wrote specifically for her, including Virginia in Paul and Virginia, Phoebe in Billee Taylor, and the title roles in Polly, or the Pet of the Regiment and Pocahontas. While