#Annie Ross, Grammy-winning jazz singer and actress, dies at 89

Singer Annie Ross performs on stage in March 1972.
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Born Annabelle Allan Short on July 25, 1930 in London, Ross was the daughter of Scottish vaudevillians, and already had experience singing, acting and with life on the road by age four, when her family moved to America.

“My mum and dad wanted me to be a star,” Ross once said. “They used to call me the Scottish Shirley Temple.”

Ross grew up in Hollywood, appearing in a 1937 short film, playing Judy Garland’s kid sister in the 1943 flick “Presenting Lily Mars.” She went on to play roles in two 1980s films — “Superman III,” and “Throw Momma From the Train” — and the 1993 Robert Altman comedy-drama “Short Cuts.”

She’s better known, though, for her jazz world credentials and rocky personal life.

In 1957, Ross and the singers Dave Lambert and Jon Hendricks formed a trio and became innovators of multitrack recordings with their massively popular vocal album “Sing a Song of Basie.” The group went on to win a Grammy Award in 1962 for their album “High Flying” — and is often described as “the greatest jazz vocal group that ever was,” The Washington Post reports.

Ross was also a songwriter, and composed the lyrics to the song “Twisted” in 1960 when she was 22 years old. The jazz vocalese track has been covered by artists including Joni Mitchell and Bette Midler.

By 1962, Ross’ heroin addiction and troubled relationship with comedian Lenny Bruce had consumed her life, and she left the group.

Briefly, Ross was married to actor Sean Lynch, and together they ran a London cabaret before divorcing, Lynch dying in a car wreck, and Ross declaring bankruptcy. Ross then went on to reunite with Hendricks in the ’80s, periodically performing with him through the end of the 20th century as she also scrounged together other entertainment gigs.

In 2006, “Twisted: The Annie Ross Story,” a play about her life, named for the lyrics she wrote to a bebop tune at age 22, premiered in London.

According to her former manager, Jim Coleman, Ross died at home in Manhattan. She is survived by her son, Kenny Clarke Jr.

Jazz singer Annie Ross, circa 1975.

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Jazz singer Annie Ross performs as a guest vocalist with the Royal Bopsters Project at Birdland Jazz club, New York, New York, September 16, 2015.

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Conor McGregor and Karolina Sevastyanova

Instagram via @karolisha.s

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