Annie Ross

Annie Ross (born 25 July 1930, Mitcham, London, England, UK) is an English jazz singer, chanteuse and actress, best-known as a member of the trio Lambert, Hendricks & Ross.
She was born as Annabelle Allan Short, in Mitcham, London, the daughter of Scottish vaudevillian parents Jack Short and May Dalziel Short (née Allan). Her brother was entertainer Jimmy Logan. Ross was brought up in Los Angeles, California by her aunt, singer Ella Logan.

Ross is one of the early practitioners of a singing style known as vocalese, which involves the setting of original lyrics to an instrumental jazz solo. Her 1952 treatment of saxophonist Wardell Gray's "Twisted" is a classic example of vocalese. "Twisted" has been recorded by Joni Mitchell, Bette Midler, Maria Friedman, and many others. Her first album, Singin' and Swingin' (1952) was recorded in New York with members of the Modern Jazz Quartet. Other albums include Annie By Candlelight (1956), Sings A Song With Mulligan (1958) with baritone saxophonist Gerry Mulligan and Chet Baker on trumpet, A Gasser! (1959) with Zoot Sims, In Hoagland (1981) with Georgie Fame and Hoagy Carmichael, and Music Is Forever (1995) featuring Tommy Flanagan on piano.

In February 1956, the British music magazine, NME reported that Ross's song "I Want You to be My Baby" was banned by the BBC, due to the lyric, "Come upstairs and have some loving".

She recorded seven albums with Lambert, Hendricks & Ross between 1957 and 1962. 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. When the first two tracks were recorded and deemed unsatisfactory, it was decided that the trio should attempt recording the material and overdub all the additional vocals themselves. 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 Lambert, Hendricks, & Ross! (aka 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.

Ross left the group in 1962 and, in 1964, opened her own nightclub in London. Annie's Room featured performances by Joe Williams, Stuff Smith, Blossom Dearie, Anita O'Day, Jon Hendricks, and Erroll Garner, as well as Ross herself. A compilation album of Ross' 1965 performances from Annie's Room, was released on CD in 2006.
Ross has appeared in a number of films. As a child, she sang "Loch Lomond" in Our Gang Follies of 1938, and later played Judy Garland's sister in Presenting Lily Mars (1943). Other notable roles include Vera Webster in Superman III (1983), Mrs. Hazeltine in Throw Momma from the Train (1987), Loretta Cresswood in Pump Up the Volume (1990), Lydia in Blue Sky (1994), and most notably as Tess Trainer in Robert Altman's Short Cuts (1993).

She provided the speaking voice for Britt Ekland in The Wicker Man (1973). On stage, Ross appeared in Cranks (1955) in both London and New York, The Threepenny Opera (1972) with Vanessa Redgrave, The Seven Deadly Sins 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) with Tim Curry.
In the early 1990s, Ross starred in the horror films Basket Case 2 and Basket Case 3: The Progeny.
She has received numerous awards and honors including the ASCAP Jazz Wall Of Fame (2009), the prestigious NEA Jazz Masters Award (2010), and the MAC Award for Lifetime Achievement (2011). She performs regularly at The Metropolitan Room (34 W. 22nd Street) in New York, with Tardo Hammer on piano, Neal Miner on bass, Tony Jefferson on drums, and Warren Vache on trumpet.



Annie Ross es una cantante de jazz que nació el 25 de julio de 1930 en Mitcham, Inglaterra. Es conocida como un miembro del trío "Lambert, Hendricks & Ross".
Quizá, su canción más famosa sea Twister (un clásico del género vocalese), la cual, forma parte de la bansa sonora de la película de Woody Allen, Desmontando a Harry y que, también, ha sido grabada por Joni Mitchell, Bette Midler y muchos otros.

También tiene una extensa carrera en solitario, tanto cantando como actuando en cine. Sus apareciones más notables fueron: como hermana de Judy Garland en el musical Presenting Lily Mars 1943, Superman III 1983, Pump up the volume 1990 y cortometrajes de Robert Altman, así como en su largo Vidas cruzadas. Además fue la voz original para la versión de Britt Ekland de The wicker man.

A pesar de que nació en Inglaterra, se mudó a vivir a California para vivir con su tía Ella Logan. Su hermano fue Jimmy Logan.