Doctor Ross

{{Infobox musical artist | name = Doctor Ross | image = Isaiah_ross_portrait.png | alt = | caption = Ross in 1965 | image_size = | landscape =  | birth_name = Charles Isaiah Ross | alias = The Harmonica Boss | birth_date = {{birth date|1925|10|21}} | birth_place = [[Tunica, Mississippi]], U.S. | origin = Flint, Michigan, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|1993|05|28|1925|10|21}} | death_place = [[Flint, Michigan]], U.S. | genre = {{flatlist| * [[Blues]] * [[Detroit blues]] * [[Delta blues]] }} | occupation = {{flatlist| * Musician * songwriter }} | instrument = {{flatlist| * Vocals * harmonica * guitar * drums }} | years_active = 1942–1993 | label = {{flatlist| * [[Chess Records|Chess]] * [[Sun Records|Sun]] * [[Fortune Records|Fortune]] * [[Testament Records (United States)|Testament]] * [[Blue Horizon (record label)|Blue Horizon]] * [[Big Bear Records|Big Bear]] * [[Ornament Records|Ornament]] }} }}

'''Isaiah Ross''' (October 21, 1925 – May 28, 1993),<ref name="amg">{{cite web |last=Ankeny |first=Jason |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/doctor-ross-mn0000794419/biography |title=Doctor Ross | Biography & History |publisher=[[AllMusic]] |date= |accessdate=2015-10-06}}</ref> known as '''Doctor Ross''', was an American [[blues]] musician who usually performed as a [[one-man band]], simultaneously singing and playing guitar, harmonica, and drums.<ref name="russell">{{cite book |first=Tony |last=Russell |year=1997 |title=The Blues: From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray |publisher=Carlton Books |location= Dubai |page=163 |isbn=1-85868-255-X}}</ref> Ross's primal style has been compared to [[John Lee Hooker]], [[Blind Boy Fuller]] and [[Sonny Boy Williamson I]].<ref name="amg" />

==Early life==

Charles Isaiah Ross was born on October 21, 1925, in the [[Mississippi Delta]] town of [[Tunica, Mississippi]],<ref name="ap">{{cite news |date=1993-05-31 |title=Blues Player "Doc" Ross Dies at 67 |work=[[The South Bend Tribune]] |agency=The Associated Press |page=B4}}</ref> one of eleven children in a farming family of mixed [[African Americans|African-American]] and [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] heritage.<ref name="ledbitter">{{cite book |last=Ross |first=Isaiah |editor-last=Ledbitter |editor-first=Mike |date=1971 |title=Nothing But the Blues: An Illustrated Documentary |location=London |publisher=Hanover Books |chapter=The Story of Doctor Ross |pages=124–126}}</ref> His first instrument was the harmonica, which he learned to play at age nine. Ross served in the [[United States Army]] from 1943 to 1948 in the [[Pacific Ocean theater of World War II|Pacific Theater]], and again from 1950 to 1951.<ref name="ledbitter" /> He married shortly after leaving the army.<ref name="ledbitter" /> During his service, Ross had accrued a collection of army medical books which, along with his habit of carrying his harmonicas in a [[Medical bag|doctor's bag]], earned him the nickname "Doctor Ross."<ref name="ap" /><ref name="ledbitter" />

==Career== Ross made his professional debut in 1942 at the age of seventeen, broadcasting on the radio station [[KFFA (AM)|KFFA]] in [[Helena, Arkansas]].<ref name="ledbitter" /> Ross regularly played parties and appeared on [[WROX (AM)|WROX]] and [[WDIA]] after his army service. In late 1951, Ross recorded his first [[Phonograph record|78 RPM record]], "Country Clown," produced by [[Sam Phillips]] in Memphis and issued on the nascent [[Chess Records|Chess]] label. Ross would issue two more singles recorded with Phillips, both on Phillips' own [[Sun Records]] label, in 1953 and 1954.<ref name="wirz">{{cite web |url=https://www.wirz.de/music/dr_ross.htm |title=Illustrated Doctor Ross Discography |last=Wirz |first=Stefan |website=Stefan Wirz American Music Site |accessdate=2021-10-21}}</ref>

In October 1954, Ross moved his family to [[Flint, Michigan]], and began working at a [[General Motors]] factory.<ref name="ledbitter" /> This employment, which Ross held for the rest of his life, afforded him a comfortable middle-class lifestyle.<ref name="russell"/><ref name="ledbitter" /><ref>{{cite book |title=Deep Blues |author=Robert Palmer |year=1982 |authorlink=Robert Palmer (American writer) |publisher=[[Penguin Books]] |page=[https://archive.org/details/deepblues00palm/page/242 242] |isbn=978-0-14-006223-6 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/deepblues00palm/page/242}}</ref> In 1958, Ross recorded "Industrial Boogie," a Flint-centric take on "[[Boogie Chillen']]" by John Lee Hooker, released on his own DIR imprint.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Hildebrand |first=Lee |date=August 2013 |title=Reissues |magazine=[[Living Blues]] |location=Oxford, Mississippi |issue=226 |publisher=The Center for Study of Southern Culture |page=69}}</ref> From 1960 to 1963, Detroit-based [[Fortune Records]] released four singles by Ross, including 1961's "Cat Squirrel," which later brought Ross to the attention of rock audiences when the song was covered on the debut albums of both [[Cream (band)|Cream]] and [[Jethro Tull (band)|Jethro Tull]].<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Enos |first=Morgan |date=2018-11-09 |title=Jethro Tull's Debut 'This Was' Turns 50: A Track-by-Track Retrospective |url=https://www.billboard.com/music/rock/jethro-tull-debut-this-was-album-8484167/ |magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]] |publisher= |access-date=2023-07-13}}</ref> Following his Fortune singles, which were recorded with accompanists, Ross began recording most of his songs solo, providing vocals, guitar, [[hi-hat]] and [[bass drum]] played with foot pedals, and harmonica with a [[Harmonica#Rack or holder|neck rack]].<ref name="amg" /><ref name="wirz" /> The [[handedness|left-handed]] Ross added to his colorful presentation by playing a right-handed guitar upside down, with the bass strings on the bottom.<ref>{{cite news |date=1997-02-18 |title=She's Out to Keep the Blues Alive |work=The South Bend Tribune |agency=The Associated Press |page=B5}}</ref>

Ross's first album, ''Call the Doctor'', was recorded as a one-man band and issued in August 1965.<ref name="wirz" /> The same year, he toured Europe with the [[American Folk Blues Festival]].<ref name="russell"/> In 1971, Fourtune issued his second album, ''Doctor Ross the Harmonica Boss'', recorded with the Disciples. The same year, the [[Flamin' Groovies]] covered Ross's "Boogie Disease"—albeit uncredited—under the title "Doctor Boogie" on their album ''[[Teenage Head (Flamin' Groovies album)|Teenage Head]]''.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Scott-Irvine |first=Henry |date=2014-11-29 |title=Loney This Christmas |url=https://recordcollectormag.com/articles/loney-christmas/ |magazine=[[Record Collector]] |publisher= |access-date=2023-07-13 |quote=Doctor Boogie is basically a Doctor Ross song called 'Boogie Disease,' which we took, and we changed it!}}</ref> Ross recorded live albums in Germany and Switzerland in 1972. Two years later, Ross played on the [[Big Bear Records]] package tour and album ''American Blues Legends '74''.<ref name="wirz" />

In 1981, Ross won a [[Grammy Awards|Grammy Award]] for [[Grammy Award for Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording|Best Ethnic or Traditional Recording]] for his appearance on ''Rare Blues'', a 1980 compilation album of blues artists recorded in Chicago from 1963 to 1965.<ref name="wirz" /><ref>{{cite news |date=1981-02-27 |title=Grammy Awards: "Sailing" and Seger |work=[[The Detroit Free Press]] |agency=The Associated Press |page=3C}}</ref> In the latter part of his career, Ross was a frequent fixture at blues festivals in both the United States and Europe. His last album was recorded live in 1991 at the Burnley Blues Festival in England.<ref name="russell"/><ref name="wirz" />

==Death== Ross died at the age of 67 on May 28, 1993, while working at a [[Chevrolet]] plant in Flint, Michigan.<ref>{{cite news |date=1993-05-31 |title=Blues Musician Ross Dies in Flint at 67 |work=[[The Times Herald]] |location=Port Huron, Michigan |page=3A}}</ref> After his death, a music scholarship in his name was established at [[Mott Community College]] in Flint.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.mcc.edu/foundation/doc-ross-scholarship.shtml |title=Isaiah "Doc" Ross... The Harmonica Boss Scholarship |publisher=Mott Community College |access-date=2021-10-31}}</ref>

==Discography== ===Studio albums=== *''Call the Doctor'' (Testament, 1965) *''Doctor Ross the Harmonica Boss'' (Fortune, 1971) *''Jivin' the Blues'' (Big Bear, 1974)

===Live albums=== *''The Flying Eagle'' (Blue Horizon, 1965) *''Live + Well'' (Ornament, 1972) *''Live at Montreux'' (Polydor, 1972) *''The Harmonica Boss'' (Big Bear, 1974) *''One Man Band'' (Takoma, 1981) *''I Want All My Friends to Know'' (JSP, 1991)

===Singles=== *"Country Clown" / "Doctor Ross Boogie" (Chess, 1952) *"Come Back Baby" / "Chicago Breakdown" (Sun, 1953) *"The Boogie Disease" / "Juke Box Boogie" (Sun, 1954) *"Industrial Boogie" / "Thirty-Two Twenty" (DIR, 1958) *"Sugar Mama" / "I'd Rather Be an Old Woman's Baby Than a Young Girl's Slave" (Fortune, 1960) *"Cat Squirrel" / "The Sunnyland" (Fortune, 1961) *"Cannonball" / "Numbers Blues" (Fortune, 1963) *"Call the Doctor" / "New York Breakdown" (Fortune, 1963)

===Compilations=== *''His First Recordings'' (Arhoolie, 1972) *''Memphis Breakdown'' (P-Vine, 1987) *''Boogie Disease'' (Arhoolie, 1992) *''The Harmonica Boss'' (Fortune, 1995) *''Juke Box Boogie: The Sun Years, Plus'' (Bear Family, 2013)

==References== {{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ross, Doctor}} [[Category:1925 births]] [[Category:1993 deaths]] [[Category:American blues singer-songwriters]] [[Category:American blues guitarists]] [[Category:American male guitarists]] [[Category:Country blues musicians]] [[Category:Delta blues musicians]] [[Category:Detroit blues musicians]] [[Category:Juke Joint blues musicians]] [[Category:Chess Records artists]] [[Category:One-man bands]] [[Category:20th-century American guitarists]] [[Category:People from Tunica, Mississippi]] [[Category:Arhoolie Records artists]] [[Category:African-American male singer-songwriters]] [[Category:American male singer-songwriters]] [[Category:African-American guitarists]] [[Category:Southland Records artists]] [[Category:20th-century African-American male singers]] [[Category:20th-century American male singers]] [[Category:20th-century American singers]] [[Category:Singer-songwriters from Mississippi]] [[Category:Takoma Records artists]]