Jackie Ross born 30 January 1946

Jackie Ross (born Jaculyn Bless Ross 30 January 1946 in St. Louis, Missouri) is an American soul singer.

 

Chicago soul diva Jackie Ross was born in St. Louis on January 30, 1946; the daughter of husband-and-wife preachers, she made her performing debut on her parents' radio gospel show at the age of three. Following her father's 1954 death, the family relocated to the Windy City; there the legendary Sam Cooke, a friend of her mother, recruited Ross for his SAR label, where she issued her debut single, "Hard Times," in 1962.  

 

 

 Following a stint singing with Syl Johnson's band, she signed to Chess Records, making her label bow with 1964's "Selfish One"; which reached #11 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart  and #4 on the Cashbox R&B chart. A follow-up, "I've Got The Skill" reached the Hot 100 but stalled at #89 and the following year, "Jerk and Twine", a re-working of "Everything But Love", the song on the other side of her big hit, peaked at #85.

An album, Full Bloom, was released in 1965, which was followed by three more singles which included the superb "Take Me for a Little While." Unbeknownst to Ross, however, the same song had been recently recorded by New York singer Evie Sands as well, and although Sands' version for Blue Cat actually came first, Chess' marketing muscle nevertheless ensured that their label's rendition proved more successful. Ross' disgust with the situation, combined with the negligible royalties she received from "Selfish One," soon prompted her to exit Chess during 1967. 

She later recorded for several labels well into the 1970s, such as Brunswick and Jerry Butler's Fountain Productions. Most of her later recordings were produced by her manager, Jimmy Vanleer's production company and issued on various labels, including GSF, Mercury and Capitol, but she was unable to duplicate the success of "Selfish One" or to recapture her earlier commercial success. 

Then sometime in the early 80s she decided to record a sort of comeback album, like many other 60s soul artists did, and in 1980 she released the album ‘A New Beginning’ on Golden Ear Records. a sophisticated blend of soul, jazz, and a little bit of club – served up with arrangements from Ben Wright and Jimmy Van Leer, the latter of whom produced the record. Jackie works surprisingly well in this setting – with a style that makes us wonder what would have happened had she got a chance at larger exposure at the time. 

In 1981 she cut a pretty fantastic album “Cold Hearted Woman” “for the same label, sadly it never got past the test pressing or promotional phase and was pretty much scrapped, aside from a few copies given out here and there.

 

 (Info mainly edited from All Music & Wikipedia)
 

Here’s Jackie performing this classic “Keep your chin up” for the 2007 documentary, "The Strange World Of Northern Soul".