Annie Ross

About

Annie Ross is a jazz singer and actress who rose to recognition during the 1950s as a member of the vocal group known as Lambert, Hendricks & Ross. Born in London, transplanted to New York and eventually raised in Los Angeles, she quickly made her way into the entertainment business as a songwriter and actress in films like 1943's Presenting Lily Mars, with Judy Garland. Ross established her signature vocalese style when Prestige Records's iconic producer Bob Weinstock requested lyrics to a jazz solo, and she presented him with what would go on to become one of her most recognizable songs, "Twisted." Pushing social standards within her lyrics, most notoriously in her BBC-banned love tune "I Want You to Be My Baby," she stood out among the conservative American culture of  the mid-1950s before joining Lambert Hendricks & Ross in 1957. After releasing seven critically acclaimed albums, the group disbanded in the early 1960s but Ross continues to release her own solo material, such as 2005's Let Me Sing.