
Audio By Carbonatix
Annie Ross, the celebrated jazz singer who enjoyed a long career as a stage performer and film and TV actress, has died in New York at the age of 89.
She started out as a child star, billed as "Scotland's Shirley Temple". She later became part of the acclaimed vocal trio Lambert, Hendricks and Ross.
She also acted in such films as Robert Altman's Short Cuts and Superman III.
Her deep voice was used to replace Britt Ekland's in 1973 horror classic The Wicker Man.
Born in Mitcham, south London, Ross was the daughter of Scottish vaudevillians John and Mary Short, who took her to Los Angeles when she was four.
In 1938, Ross made her film debut in Our Gang Follies, in which she sang traditional song The Bonnie Banks o' Loch Lomond. She went on to play Judy Garland's younger sister in 1943's Presenting Lily Mars.
Ross became one of the early practitioners of "vocalese", a singing style in which original lyrics are set to an instrumental jazz solo.
At 22 she wrote the lyrics to the vocalese song Twisted, a track that was later covered by Bette Midler, Joni Mitchell and others.
That led Duke Ellington to ask her to stand in for Billie Holliday at the famous Apollo Theatre in Harlem, New York.
Ross went on record seven albums with Dave Lambert and Jon Hendricks, including 1957's Sing a Song of Basie.

Ross's career suffered in the 1960s due to an addiction to heroin she shared with her lover, comedian Lenny Bruce.
Returning to the UK, she opened her own London nightclub called Annie's Room with her husband, actor Sean Lynch.
She also appeared in a 1972 production of The Threepenny Opera alongside Vanessa Redgrave and Barbara Windsor.
Ross, who became a US citizen in 2001, reunited with Hendricks for live performances in the 1980s and 90s.
She played herself in Robert Altman's 1992 film The Player, and acted for him again the following year in Short Cuts.

Her brother, the comedian and impresario Jimmy Logan, was one of Scotland's most beloved entertainers.
Ross died on Tuesday at her home in Manhattan, having reportedly suffered from emphysema and heart disease.
Fellow singer Barb Jungr remembered her on Twitter as "a great woman with soul and swing".
Ross was the subject of 2012 documentary No One But Me, which had its premiere at the Glasgow Film Festival.
The film's producer Gill Parry said Ross was an "extraordinary" woman who "completely embodied the spirit of the show must go on".
She told the BBC: "She lived for jazz, loved music and musicians, was massively talented, funny, classy, sharp, glamorous, cool.
"Annie was a cultural trailblazer, but above everything she was a moving and important singer and lyricist who inhabited her songs and came alive on stage.
"Annie lived a jazz life, and she inspired great friendship and devotion along the way."
Latest Stories
-
Protect people, not prices – Joe Jackson rejects fuel tax cuts and subsidies
12 minutes -
Lawyer petitions President to halt Terminal 2 refurbishment over value-for-money concerns
23 minutes -
Sunyani Market traders urge government action amid surging ginger prices
26 minutes -
Maphlix Farms to supply 3,000 tonnes to help bridge tomato deficit
32 minutes -
Ho MP urges public access to officials’ asset declarations
35 minutes -
Ecowas Bank for Investment and Development targets SMEs in Ghana with fresh funding for 2026
44 minutes -
Two killed in Bosomtwe clash as residents demand increased security presence
51 minutes -
Mahama returns from France to chair emergency Cabinet meeting on fuel prices
1 hour -
Ghana, Ukraine strengthen ties to boost agricultural productivity
1 hour -
Police arrest suspect over Adjen Kotoku Onion Market shooting
1 hour -
A-Plus claims independent candidates can defeat NPP, NDC with strong organisation
1 hour -
A-Plus backs Mahama’s leadership but rejects NDC label
1 hour -
Ghanaian women divided over natural and permed hair choices
1 hour -
Supreme Court to launch month-long 150th anniversary events
1 hour -
Volta chiefs condemn EOCO over alleged disregard for court ruling in Kwamigah-Atokple case
1 hour