Annie Ross

Annie Ross (born Annabelle Allan Short;<ref name="freebmd">Template:Cite web</ref> 25 July 1930Template:Spnd21 July 2020) was a British-American singer and actress, best known as a member of the influential jazz vocal trio Lambert, Hendricks & Ross. She helped pioneer the vocalese style of jazz singing, with a style described by critic Dave Gelly as "a kind of dreamy watchfulness that is a definition of 1950s hip."<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2010, she was named a Jazz Master by the National Endowment for the Arts.<ref name=":2">Template:Cite web</ref>

Kenneth Tynan, who wrote liner notes for Ross, called her "a fallen angel [who] moves us and then brushes off our sympathy with a shrug of her lips."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Early life

Ross was born in Surrey, England,<ref name="piccalo">Template:Cite news</ref> the daughter of Scottish vaudevillians John "Jack" Short and Mary Dalziel Short (née Allan). Her brother was Scottish entertainer and theatre producer and director Jimmy Logan.<ref>Annie Ross profile, FilmReference.com; accessed 12 November 2015.</ref> She first appeared on stage at age three.<ref name="piccalo"/> At the age of four, she travelled to New York by ship with her family; she later recalled that they "got the cheapest ticket, which was right in the bowels of the ship."<ref name="nea">Template:Cite web</ref>

Shortly after arriving in the city, she won a token contract with MGM through a children's radio contest run by Paul Whiteman. She subsequently moved with her aunt, Scottish-American singer and actress Ella Logan, to Los Angeles, and her mother, father and brother returned to Scotland.<ref name="nea"/> She did not see her parents again until fourteen years later.<ref name="piccalo"/> At the age of seven, she sang "The Bonnie Banks o' Loch Lomond" in Our Gang Follies of 1938, and played Judy Garland's character's sister in Presenting Lily Mars (1943).<ref name="nyt1">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="dailyrecord">Template:Cite web</ref>

At the age of 14, she wrote the song "Let's Fly", which won a songwriting contest and was recorded by Johnny Mercer and the Pied Pipers.<ref name="dailyrecord"/><ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref>

At the end of 10th grade, she left school, changed her name to Annie Ross, and went to Europe, where she established her singing career.<ref name="nyt1"/> She changed her surname to Ross during the plane trip to Prestwick; in a 2011 interview, she said: "My aunt was very fanciful and she said I had an Irish grandmother called Ross, so that's where that surname came from."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Career

In 1952, Ross met Prestige Records owner Bob Weinstock, who asked her to write lyrics to a jazz solo in a similar way to King Pleasure, a practice that would later be known as vocalese. The next day, she presented him with "Twisted", a treatment of saxophonist Wardell Gray's 1949 composition of that title, a classic example of the genre.<ref name="nea"/><ref name="am">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="amggray">Template:Cite web</ref> The song, first released in 1952 (later collected on the album King Pleasure Sings/Annie Ross Sings), was an underground hit, and resulted in her winning Down Beat magazine's New Star award.<ref name="nyt1"/><ref name="am"/><ref name="management">Template:Cite web</ref>

In February 1956, the British music magazine NME reported that Ross's version of the song "I Want You to Be My Baby" was banned by the BBC due to the lyric "Come upstairs and have some loving".<ref name="NME Rock 'N' Roll Years">Template:Cite book</ref>

She recorded seven albums with Lambert, Hendricks & Ross between 1957 and 1962.<ref name="JazzJ" /> Their first, Sing a Song of Basie (1957), was to have been performed by a group of singers hired by Jon Hendricks and Dave Lambert with Ross brought in only as vocal consultant. It was decided that the trio should attempt to record the material and overdub all the additional vocals themselves, but the first two tracks were recorded and deemed unsatisfactory so they ditched the dubbing idea. The resulting album was a success, and the trio became an international hit. Over the next five years, Lambert, Hendricks & Ross toured all over the world and recorded such albums as The Hottest New Group in Jazz (1959), Sing Ellington (1960), High Flying (1962), and The Real Ambassadors (1962), written by Dave Brubeck and featuring Louis Armstrong and Carmen McRae.<ref name="WaPo obit" /><ref name="BB obit" />

Ross left the group in 1962.<ref name="am"/> In 1964 she opened a nightclub in London. Annie's Room hosted Joe Williams, Nina Simone, Stuff Smith, Blossom Dearie, Anita O'Day, Jon Hendricks, and Erroll Garner.<ref name="BB obit">Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Her adulthood film roles included Liza in Straight On till Morning (1972), Claire in Alfie Darling (1976), Diana Sharman in Funny Money (1983), Vera Webster in Superman III (1983), Mrs. Hazeltine in Throw Momma from the Train (1987), Rose Brooks in Witchery (1988), Loretta Cresswood in Pump Up the Volume (1990), Tess Trainer in Robert Altman's Short Cuts (1993), and Lydia in Blue Sky (1994). She also appeared as Granny Ruth in the horror films Basket Case 2 (1990) and Basket Case 3: The Progeny (1991). She also had a bit part in Robert Altman's The Player in 1992. Ross also starred in Scottish Television's comedy-drama Charles Endell Esquire (1979).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

She provided the speaking voice for Britt Ekland in The Wicker Man (1973), and Ingrid Thulin's singing voice in Salon Kitty (1976). On stage, she appeared in Cranks (1955; London and New York City), The Threepenny Opera (1972), The Seven Deadly Sins (1973) at the Royal Opera House, Kennedy's Children (1975) at Arts Theatre, London, Side by Side by Sondheim, and in the Joe Papp production of The Pirates of Penzance (1982).<ref name="BB obit" />

Personal life

In 1949, Ross had a brief affair with drummer Kenny Clarke. This affair produced a son, Kenny Clarke Jr. (1950–2018), who was raised by Clarke's brother and his wife.<ref name=":0"/><ref name="nyt1"/><ref name="anbio">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> During her time with Lambert, Hendricks & Ross, she became addicted to heroin and in the late 1950s had an affair with the comedian Lenny Bruce, who was also having drug problems. By 1960, Carol Sloane was substituting for her on tour. After a performance by the trio in London in May 1962, she remained in London to confront her drug addiction.<ref name="nyt1"/> In 1963, she married actor Sean Lynch; they divorced in 1975, and he died in a car crash soon afterwards.<ref name="nyt1"/><ref name="dailyrecord"/> By that time, she had also lost her home and declared bankruptcy.<ref name="nyt1"/>

She became a United States citizen in 2001.<ref name="nea"/> In her later years she had a relationship that lasted for the rest of her life with Dave Usher, a businessman and co-founder of Dee Gee Records (along with Dizzy Gillespie), a label for which Ross had recorded with him in 1952.<ref name=":0"/> Ross died in New York City on 21 July 2020 from emphysema and heart disease, four days before her 90th birthday.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="WaPo obit">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Awards and portrayals

Ross received the ASCAP Jazz Wall of Fame award (2009),<ref name="piccalo"/> the National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters' Award (2010),<ref name="nea"/> and the MAC Award for Lifetime Achievement (2011).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In July 2006 a one-woman play entitled TWISTED: The Annie Ross Story by Brian McGeachan premiered at The Space Theatre in London, starring Verity Quade. It focused on her stormy relationship with her aunt, Broadway legend Ella Logan, her brief affair with the comedian Lenny Bruce and her addiction to heroin.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The play transferred to the Brockley Jack Theatre in London that same year, with Ross being played by Betsy Pennington.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

A documentary about Ross's life, entitled No One But Me, premiered at the Glasgow Film Festival in 2012.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Discography

• New Sounds from France with Jack Dieval, James Moody (Prestige, 1950)<ref name="AMCredits">Template:Cite web</ref>
• Annie by Candlelight with Tony Crombie (Pye, Nixa, 1956)<ref name="allmusic">Template:Cite web</ref>
• Cranks with John Cranko, John Addison (His Master's Voice, 1956)<ref name="allmusic" />
• Gypsy with Buddy Bregman (World Pacific, 1959)<ref name="allmusic" />
• A Gasser! with Zoot Sims (World Pacific, 1959)<ref name="allmusic" />
• Annie Ross Sings a Song with Mulligan! with Gerry Mulligan (World Pacific, 1959) <ref name="nea" />
• Sings a Handful of Songs (Ember, 1963) <ref name="nea" />
• Loguerhythms: Songs from the Establishment with Tony Kinsey (Transatlantic, 1963)<ref name="allmusic" />
• Portrait of Annie Ross (Pye, 1965)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Recorded at the Tenth German Jazz Festival in Frankfurt with Pony Poindexter (SABA, 1966)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Fill My Heart with Song (Decca, 1968)<ref name="allmusic" />
• Singin' 'n' Swingin with Dorothy Dunn, Shelby Davis (Savoy, 1969)<ref name="AMCredits" />
• You and Me Baby (Decca, 1971)<ref name="allmusic" />
• In Hoagland with Hoagy Carmichael, Georgie Fame (Bald Eagle, 1981)<ref name="allmusic" />
• Like Someone in Love (Bulldog, 1983)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Music Is Forever (DRG, 1996)<ref name="nea" />
• Live in London (Harkit, 2003)<ref name="AMCredits" />
• To Lady with Love (Red Anchor, 2014)<ref name="AMCredits" />

With Dave Lambert and Jon Hendricks

• Sing a Song of Basie (ABC-Paramount, 1958) <ref name="WaPo obit" />
• The Swingers! with Zoot Sims (World Pacific, 1959)<ref name="JazzJ">Template:Cite web</ref>
• Sing Along with Basie with Count Basie, Joe Williams (Roulette, 1959)<ref name="JazzJ" />
• The Hottest New Group in Jazz (Columbia, 1959) <ref name="JazzJ" />
• Sing Ellington with Ike Isaacs (Columbia, 1960)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• High Flying with Ike Isaacs (Columbia, 1961)<ref name="WaPo obit" />
• The Real Ambassadors with Louis Armstrong, Dave Brubeck, Carmen McRae (Columbia Masterworks, 1962)<ref name="AMCredits" />
• Everybody's Boppin (Columbia, 1989) compilation <ref name="AMCredits" />

Filmography

Film
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1943	Presenting Lily Mars	Rosie	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
1972	Straight On till Morning	Liza	<ref name="TVG Filmography">Template:Cite web</ref>
1974	The Beast Must Die	Caroline Newcliffe	Voice, uncredited<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
1974	Dead Cert	Mrs. Mervyn	Uncredited<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
1976	Alfie Darling	Claire	<ref name="TVG Filmography" />
1976	Salon Kitty	Kitty Kellermann	Singing voice<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
1979	Yanks	Red Cross Lady	<ref name="TVG Filmography" />
1983	Superman III	Vera Webster	<ref name="TVG Filmography" />
1983	Funny Money	Diana Sharman	<ref name="TVG Filmography" />
1987	Throw Momma from the Train	Mrs. Hazeltine	<ref name="TVG Filmography" />
1988	Trading Hearts	Deputy	<ref name="NYDN">Template:Cite web</ref>
1988	Witchery	Rose Brooks	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
1990	Basket Case 2	Granny Ruth	<ref name="TVG Filmography" />
1990	Pump Up the Volume	Loretta Creswood	<ref name="TVG Filmography" />
1991	Basket Case 3: The Progeny	Granny Ruth	<ref name="TVG Filmography" />
1992	The Player	Herself	<ref name="TVG Filmography" />
1993	Short Cuts	Tess Trainer / Vocals – Annie Ross & The Low Note Quintet	<ref name="TVG Filmography" />
1994	Blue Sky	Lydia	<ref name="TVG Filmography" />

External links

• [https://www.imdb.com/{{#if: 0517506

 | name/{{#if:{{#invoke:ustring|match|1=0517506|2=^nm}}
   | Template:Trim/
   | nm0517506/
   }}
 | {{#if: {{#property:P345}}
   | name/Template:First word/
   | find?q=%7B%7B%23if%3A+Annie+Ross%0A++++++%7C+Annie+Ross%0A++++++%7C+%5B%5B%3ATemplate%3APAGENAMEBASE%5D%5D%0A++++++%7D%7D&s=nm
   }}
 }}{{#if:  0517506 {{#property:P345}} | {{#switch: 
 | award | awards = awards Awards for | biography | bio = bio Biography for
 }}}} {{#if: Annie Ross
 | Annie Ross
 | Template:PAGENAMEBASE
 }}] at IMDb{{#if: 0517506{{#property:P345}}
 | Template:EditAtWikidata
 | Template:Main other

}}{{#switch:{{#invoke:string2|matchAny|^nm.........|^nm.......|nm|.........|source=0517506|plain=false}}

 | 1 | 3 =  Template:Main otherTemplate:Preview warning
 | 4 = Template:Main otherTemplate:Preview warning

}}{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:IMDb name with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|showblankpositional=1| 1 | 2 | id | name | section }}

• Template:Discogs artist
• "I Was Billie Holiday's Replacement", BBC Radio 4 documentary about Ross broadcast on 25 May 2017
• Template:NPG name
• Collection: Annie Ross papers: archives and special collections at Rutgers