Birth name Richard Alexander Ross Years active 1983–present Role Singer | Genres Pop
Alternative rock Name Ricky Ross Music group Deacon Blue | |
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Born 22 December 1957 (age 66)
Dundee, Scotland ( 1957-12-22 ) Occupation(s) Musician
songwriter
producer
broadcaster Instruments Vocals
Guitar
Piano
Keyboards Associated acts Deacon Blue
McIntoshRoss Spouse Lorraine McIntosh (m. 1990) Albums So Long Ago, Pale Rider, Raintown, Whatever You Say - Say Nothi, When the World Knows Y Profiles | ||
Richard Alexander "Ricky" Ross (born 22 December 1957) is a Scottish singer-songwriter and broadcaster. He is the lead singer of the rock band Deacon Blue.
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Biography
Ross was born in Dundee, Scotland, in 1957 and attended the High School of Dundee, an independent school. Before the formation of Deacon Blue, he released a solo album So Long Ago, on the Glasgow independent label Sticky Records. After the band's break-up in 1994, Ross resurrected his solo career and Epic released his second solo album What You Are in 1996. As Ross's first solo album So Long Ago was a minor release on a relatively minor label, What You Are became his first solo release on a major label and as such is generally regarded as his debut solo album for a major label, notwithstanding any current or future projects on either category of label. Or release.
Ross released another album, New Recording, on his own label in 1997.
After Deacon Blue's reunion in 1999 and the release of their Walking Back Home and Homesick albums, Ross entered into a new publishing deal with Warner Chappell UK, and released another solo album, This Is the Life, through Chrysalis Records's short-lived Papillion label, in 2002. Papillion had released Deacon Blue's Homesick album the previous year.
As part of his publishing deal with Warner Chappell, Ross began co-writing with other artists. He currently spends more time writing than on his solo career or Deacon Blue projects. To date he has written for and with James Blunt, Ronan Keating, KT Tunstall, David Sneddon, Cathy Burton, Gareth Gates, Emma Bunton, Will Young and Jamie Cullum among others.
Ross married fellow Deacon Blue singer Lorraine McIntosh on 12 May 1990. In 2005, Ross released the album Pale Rider through P3 Music.
In September 2009 Ross and McIntosh released The Great Lakes, an album on the Cooking Vinyl label, under the name McIntoshRoss.
2013 saw the release of Ricky's latest collection of songs, the 12-track Trouble Came Looking, on the Edsel Recordings label. He also did a wide-ranging UK acoustic tour in support of the album which saw him play small, intimate venues, alongside Gregor Philp.
Ross currently presents Another Country with Ricky Ross on BBC Radio Scotland and has covered for Bob Harris and Dermot O'Leary on BBC Radio 2. He also occasionally broadcasts for Radio 2 from the yearly Celtic Connections festival in Glasgow.