Annie Ross


1930 -

Jazz singer and actress. Born Annabelle Short Lynch in Mitcham (Surrey, England), to Scottish parents who together formed a music hall act. Her brother was comedian Jimmy Logan (1928 - 2001). She moved to the USA with her aunt, the singer Ella Logan (1913-69), at the age of only four. After working as a child actress in Hollywood, appearing in various films such as The Little Rascals and as Judy Garland's sister in Presenting Lily Mars (1943).

At the age of seventeen, Ross returned to London to sing in a club and was quickly established as a vocalist noted for her style and depth. She went to Paris, where she produced her first record Le Vent Vert and toured internationally.

In New York, Ross met Dave Lambert and John Hendricks with whom she maintained a noted vocal partnership (1958-62). Together they recorded Sing a Song of Basie which has become a jazz classic. She worked with other musicians such as Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Zoot Sims and Georgie Fame. In the mid-1960s, Ross opened a popular jazz club, called Annie's Room, in Convent Garden (London).

Ross appeared in the Three Penny Opera, with Vanessa Redgrave. Annie also appeared in The Seven Deadly Sins at the Royal Opera House and the play The Pirates of Penzance with Tim Curry. Her films included Yanks (1979) with Richard Gere, Superman III (1983) with Richard Pryor, Throw Momma from the Train (1987) with Billy Crystal and Danny De Vito, Pump up the Volume (1990) with Christian Slater, Basket Case II (1990), Basket Case III (1992), Short Cuts (1993), in which she sang as well as acted, and Blue Sky (1994), with Jessica Lange and Tommy Lee Jones.


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