“Annie lived a jazz life,” said Gill Parry, producer of No One But Me, this remarkable documentary about Annie Ross that originally screened at the 2012 Glasgow Film Festival.
She achieved international success as part of the vocal trio Lambert, Hendricks and Ross, collaborating with jazz legends Count Basie, Dizzy Gillespie, and Charlie Parker. Her songwriting talents led to recordings by Bette Midler and Joni Mitchell.
Born Annabelle Allan Short in 1930 in London, she grew up in Hollywood under the name Annabelle Logan, with her parents being music hall entertainers. At 14, she co-wrote a song recorded by Johnny Mercer, despite her aunt discouraging her musical ambitions.
After living in Scotland and Paris, she found her breakthrough with Twisted, which led her to team up with Dave Lambert and Jon Hendricks. Her drug addiction caused her to leave the group and address the issue in England.
Marrying actor Sean Lynch in 1963, they briefly owned a club in London, but divorced later. She also had close friendships with Billie Holliday and relationships with comedian Lenny Bruce, both struggling with drugs and dying young.
Throughout her career, she maintaining a sporadic film career, appearing in Superman III, Short Cuts, and dubbing Britt Ekland in The Wicker Man which helped revive her singing career. She became a US citizen in 2001 and is survived by her companion, former record producer Dave Usher.