1. Isaiah Ross, 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.
14 Facts About Doctor Ross
1. 2.
Charles Isaiah Doctor Ross was born on October 21,1925, in the Mississippi Delta town of Tunica, Mississippi, one of eleven children in a farming family of mixed African-American and Native American heritage.
3.
Doctor Ross served in the United States Army from 1943 to 1948 in the Pacific Theater, and again from 1950 to 1951.
4.
Doctor Ross made his professional debut in 1942 at the age of seventeen, broadcasting on the radio station KFFA in Helena, Arkansas.
5.
Doctor Ross regularly played parties and appeared on WROX and WDIA after his army service.
6.
In late 1951, Doctor Ross recorded his first 78 RPM record, "Country Clown," produced by Sam Phillips in Memphis and issued on the nascent Chess label.
7.
In October 1954, Doctor Ross moved his family to Flint, Michigan, and began working at a General Motors factory.
8.
In 1958, Doctor Ross recorded "Industrial Boogie," a Flint-centric take on "Boogie Chillen'" by John Lee Hooker, released on his own DIR imprint.
9.
From 1960 to 1963, Detroit-based Fortune Records released four singles by Doctor Ross, including 1961's "Cat Squirrel," which later brought Doctor Ross to the attention of rock audiences when the song was covered on the debut albums of both Cream and Jethro Tull.
10.
The left-handed Doctor Ross added to his colorful presentation by playing a right-handed guitar upside down, with the bass strings on the bottom.
11.
Doctor Ross recorded live albums in Germany and Switzerland in 1972.
12.
Two years later, Doctor Ross played on the Big Bear Records package tour and album American Blues Legends '74.
13.
In 1981, Doctor Ross won a Grammy Award for 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.
14.
Doctor Ross died at the age of 67 on May 28,1993, while working at a Chevrolet plant in Flint, Michigan.