Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Desert Island Discs
Presented by Roy Plomley
Jazz singer and former child actress who performed in 'Our Gang Follies' and 'Presenting Lily Mars', later a band singer in the UK.
Eight records
The guest sang this as a child performer, but no reason/quote given for choosing it on the island; the transcript shows only a mention of learning it by heart at age six, not a disc selection.
The keepsakes
The luxury
Not recorded.
In conversation
No questions or quotes have been extracted for this episode.
The recording
Timestamps play the recording from that turn
Annie Ross
This download is the only extract the BBC has of this edition of Desert Island Discs. The presenter was Roy Plumley.
Speaker 1
And you come from a theatrical family, don't you?
Annie Ross
Yes, I do.
Speaker 1
The Logan family. Yes. Were you born in Scotland?
Annie Ross
No. Actually I was the only one out of a family who was born south of the border.
Speaker 1
How did that come about?
Annie Ross
Well, my mother and father were working at the Metropolitan Theatre Edgware Road, which I think is now torn down.
Speaker 1
I'm afraid so.
Annie Ross
Uh they were working there and I apparently was born after a matinee.
Speaker 1
As a child did you travel about with your parents?
Annie Ross
Yes, I did. We worked in
Annie Ross
parks and, you know, band concerts kind of thing.
Speaker 1
Mm-hmm.
Annie Ross
And, um, in theatres, etcetera.
Speaker 1
Did you accept it as a matter of course, as a child, that you were going into the theatre?
Annie Ross
Oh, yes. You know, I never had another thought about what I was going to do. I knew.
Speaker 1
And you began as a child performer.
Annie Ross
Yes, I did.
Speaker 1
Doing what?
Annie Ross
Well I did a a film called Our Gang Follies of uh
Annie Ross
I don't conveniently remember the year.
Speaker 1
A year. This was in the States, was it?
Annie Ross
Yes, it was, in America.
Speaker 1
Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1
Any other film?
Annie Ross
I did a film with Judy Garland called Presenting Lily Mars.
Speaker 1
Yeah. When did jazz begin to interest you?
Annie Ross
Oh, I think I was about six at the time when I learned by heart Ella Fitzgerald's rendition of A Tisket Atasket, and also a thing that Cab Calloway used to sing called Pekken, which was the dance that followed Truck'un.
Speaker 1
I remember.
Speaker 1
When did you come back to England?
Annie Ross
I came back in nineteen forty seven.
Speaker 1
Mm. And what did you do when you got here?
Annie Ross
Well, I started as a band singer in the Orchid Room, which is No More.
Speaker 1
Uh
Annie Ross
Uh
Annie Ross
And uh from there I did a show for Mr. Jack Hilton called Burlesque.
Speaker 1
That wasn't much of a success, as I remember.
Annie Ross
Well, uh I guess it wasn't, no, but it was for me at the time. I thought it was just marvellous.
Speaker 1
Yeah.
Speaker 1
And then?
Annie Ross
And then I went to the continent and I lived in Paris. I had my base in Paris and uh
Annie Ross
I worked all over Europe.
Speaker 1
As as a club singer.
Annie Ross
Yeah.
Speaker 1
How long were you working on the continent?
Annie Ross
Oh, about five years, I should say.
Speaker 1
Then he went back to the State.
Annie Ross
Yes, I did.
Speaker 1
When was it you began the the oobly kind of singing that that you pioneered, this rather personal form of scat singing of yours?
Annie Ross
Uh about nineteen fifty one.
Speaker 1
But these songs are based on tenor sacks solos are.
Annie Ross
Yes, that's right.
Speaker 1
Yeah.
Annie Ross
Uh
Speaker 1
And I wrote the lyrics.
Annie Ross
Do the
Speaker 1
Mm. There's one in particular of these that that had a great success, a record that you made.
Annie Ross
Oh, it was called Twisted.
Speaker 1
Yes, as as a result of that I believe you were
Speaker 1
christened the most erotic singer of the year.
Annie Ross
Oh dear. Yes. People always love to label people and things and uh
Speaker 1
But thing
Annie Ross
I wrote this song about going to a psychiatrist and finding out I had two heads instead of one.
Annie Ross
And uh in actual fact I'd never been near a psychiatrist.
Speaker 1
Annie, your voice has a much greater range than most jazz singers. Has it been trained?
Annie Ross
No, it hasn't. I often think that maybe I'd like to have had training.
Annie Ross
But I never did. My aunt believed in
Annie Ross
natural voice production.
Annie Ross
But I do go once a week to a vocal coach for breathing and w you know, working out.
Speaker 1
Good.
Speaker 1
Your aunt being an old friend Ella Logan.
Annie Ross
Yes, that's right.
Speaker 1
You don't read music.
Annie Ross
No, I don't. I can do a little bit of Solfeggio. But when it gets into shops and flats, I've had it.
Speaker 1
You've had a fairly zigzag career, haven't you, Annie? You've never followed a
Speaker 1
a straight course in pursuit of any one particular aim.
Annie Ross
No, I haven't.
Speaker 1
Except that you've never compromised, you've you've never gone after the lush pastures of pop, you've only sung the kind of jazz music that interests you.
Annie Ross
Yes, I suppose that's a bit of my Scottish rebel blood.
Speaker 1
But you have um covered
Speaker 1
The best, I think, of of the whole jazz field. You've recorded with them all from Armstrong to Brubeck.
Annie Ross
Yes, yes, very fortunately.
Speaker 1
Is there a bigger understanding of your sort of music in the States than there is here?
Annie Ross
Yes, I think there probably is a wider audience for it.
Annie Ross
But I think that eventually in Britain, you know, the audience will become wider.
Speaker 1
Yeah.
Annie Ross
Yeah.
Speaker 1
Hm. But in the main you're a trend setter and it and it's lonely out in front. That's more or less the picture.
Annie Ross
Well, I don't find it lonely at all. I very much enjoy it.
Speaker 1
What's your big ambition, anyway?
Annie Ross
Oh, that's a hard question. I'd like to have a little cottage up in the Highlands in Scotland, where my husband and I could go and fish.
Annie Ross
And um I'd like to have another club of my own.
Annie Ross
and like to always be able to eat well and just have peace of mind.
Speaker 1
And one luxury to take with you.
Annie Ross
A pair of false eyelashes.
Speaker 1
You'd keep up appearances on the island, would you?
Annie Ross
Well, I'd like to have them handy in case someone came round for tea.
Speaker 1
It seems a very modest request. I think you'd better have
Speaker 1
Half for every day of the week.
Speaker 1
But why not? A pair for every day of the year in all colours. You sh you shall have this great big box.
Speaker 1
False eyelashes