Ricky Ross, born Richard Alexander Ross (22 December 1957, Dundee

Dundee

Dundee is the fourth-largest city in Scotland and the 39th most populous settlement in the United Kingdom. It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firth of Tay, which feeds into the North Sea...

, Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

) is a Scottish

Scottish people

The Scottish people , or Scots, are a nation and ethnic group native to Scotland. Historically they emerged from an amalgamation of the Picts and Gaels, incorporating neighbouring Britons to the south as well as invading Germanic peoples such as the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse.In modern use,...

 singer-songwriter

Songwriter

A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...

 and broadcaster

Presenter

A presenter, or host , is a person or organization responsible for running an event. A museum or university, for example, may be the presenter or host of an exhibit. Likewise, a master of ceremonies is a person that hosts or presents a show...

, most famously for his work with the rock band

Rock Band

Rock Band is a music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems, published by MTV Games and Electronic Arts. It is the first title in the Rock Band series. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions were released in the United States on November 20, 2007, while the PlayStation 2 version was...

, Deacon Blue

Deacon Blue

Deacon Blue are a Scottish pop band formed in Glasgow during 1985. Their name was taken from the title of the Steely Dan song "Deacon Blues". The band consists of vocalist Ricky Ross and Lorraine McIntosh, keyboard player James Prime and drummer Dougie Vipond....

.

Biography

In 1984, and before the formation of Deacon Blue, Ross had released a solo album, So Long Ago

So Long Ago (album)

So Long Ago is the solo debut album from Scottish rock musician Ricky Ross. Ross later founded Deacon Blue.-Track listing:All songs written by Ricky Ross:# "Something About Ireland" – 2:37# "A Week in Politics" – 4:44# "Checkout Girls" – 3:24...

on the Glasgow independent label Sticky Records. After the band's breakup in 1994, Ross resurrected his solo career and Epic

Epic Records

Epic Records is an American record label, owned by Sony Music Entertainment. Though it was originally conceived as a jazz imprint, it has since expanded to represent various genres. L.A...

 released his second solo album What You Are

What You Are (album)

What You Are is a solo album from Scottish rock musician Ricky Ross. It was the first solo album Ross released after the breakup of the band he fronted, Deacon Blue....

in 1996. As Ross's first solo album So Long Ago was a minor release What You Are became his first solo release on a major label and as such is generally regarded as his debut solo album.

Ross released another album, New Recording

New Recording (album)

New Recording is a solo album from Scottish rock musician Ricky Ross and member of Deacon Blue. It was produced by Ross and former Love and Money keyboardist Paul McGeechan....

on his own label in 1997.

After Deacon Blue's reunion in 1999 and their release of the Walking Back Home

Walking Back Home

Walking Back Home combines eight songs that were brand new compositions, previously unreleased tracks, or released only with limited availability, with nine previously released Deacon Blue songs. In this sense, it is not purely a studio album nor a typical compilation album...

and Homesick

Homesick (Deacon Blue album)

Homesick is a studio album from the Scottish rock band Deacon Blue.A promotional CD was made available to readers of The Daily Telegraph via a voucher appearing in the newspaper two weeks before the album release date...

albums, Ross entered into a new publishing deal with Warner Chappell UK, and released another solo album, This Is the Life

This Is the Life (Ricky Ross album)

This Is the Life is a solo album from Scottish rock musician Ricky Ross and member of Deacon Blue.Ricky Ross produced the album with Kenny MacDonald, who has produced for Deacon Blue in the past. Perhaps as a result, this solo album is less divergent from the typical Deacon Blue style than are...

, through Chrysalis Records

Chrysalis Records

Chrysalis Records was a British record label that was created in 1969. The name was both a reference to the pupal stage of a butterfly and a combination of its founders names, Chris Wright and Terry Ellis...

' short-lived Papillion label, in 2002. Papillion had released Deacon Blue's Homesick album in the previous year.

As part of his publishing deal with Warner Chappell, Ross began co-writing with other artists. He currently spends more time on writing than on his solo career or Deacon Blue projects. To date he has written for and with James Blunt

James Blunt

James Hillier Blount , better known by his stage name James Blunt, is an English singer-songwriter and musician, and former army officer, whose debut album, Back to Bedlam and single releases, including "You're Beautiful" and "Goodbye My Lover", brought him to fame in 2005...

, Ronan Keating

Ronan Keating

Ronan Patrick John Keating is an Irish recording artist, singer-songwriter, musician, and philanthropist. Keating debuted on the professional music scene alongside Keith Duffy, Mikey Graham, Shane Lynch and Stephen Gately, in 1994 as the lead singer of Boyzone. His solo career started in 1999, and...

, KT Tunstall

KT Tunstall

Kate Victoria "KT" Tunstall is a Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist from St Andrews, Scotland. She broke into the public eye with a 2004 live solo performance of her song "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" on Later... with Jools Holland...

, David Sneddon

David Sneddon

David Sneddon is a Scottish musician and singer-songwriter.He has performed on British television, radio and theatre. Sneddon won the first BBC UK series of Fame Academy in 2002...

, Cathy Burton, Gareth Gates

Gareth Gates

Gareth Paul Gates , is an English singer-songwriter. He was the runner-up in the first series of the ITV talent show Pop Idol. Gates has sold over 3.5 million records in the UK alone. He is also known for having a stutter, and has talked about his speech impediment publicly...

, Emma Bunton

Emma Bunton

Emma Lee Bunton is an English pop singer/songwriter and TV and radio presenter. She was a member of the 1990s girl group, the Spice Girls, in which she was known as Baby Spice as she was the youngest member. In 2010, she joined the judging panel on ITV's Dancing on Ice...

, Will Young

Will Young

William Robert "Will" Young is a British singer-songwriter and actor who came to prominenceafter winning the 2002 inaugural series of the British music contest Pop Idol, making him the first winner of the now-worldwide Idols-format franchise...

 and Jamie Cullum

Jamie Cullum

Jamie Cullum is an English pop and jazz-pop singer-songwriter. Though he is primarily a vocalist/pianist he also accompanies himself on other instruments including guitar and drums. Since April 2010, he has been presenting a weekly jazz show on BBC Radio 2, broadcast on Tuesdays from 19:00.- Early...

 among others .

Ross is married to fellow Deacon Blue

Deacon Blue

Deacon Blue are a Scottish pop band formed in Glasgow during 1985. Their name was taken from the title of the Steely Dan song "Deacon Blues". The band consists of vocalist Ricky Ross and Lorraine McIntosh, keyboard player James Prime and drummer Dougie Vipond....

 singer Lorraine McIntosh

Lorraine McIntosh

Lorraine McIntosh is the female vocalist, with the Scottish pop band, Deacon Blue, and is married to lead singer Ricky Ross. They have three children...

. 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.

Ross currently presents Another Country with Ricky Ross on BBC Radio Scotland

BBC Radio Scotland

BBC Radio Scotland is BBC Scotland's national English-language radio network. It broadcasts a wide variety of programming, including news, sport, light entertainment, music, the arts, comedy, drama, history and lifestyle...

 and has covered for Bob Harris

Bob Harris (radio)

Robert Brinley Joseph "Bob" Harris, OBE , known as "Whispering" Bob Harris, is British radio host who currently works for BBC Radio 2, presenting music two nights a week...

 and Dermot O'Leary

Dermot O'Leary

Dermot O'Leary is an English television and radio presenter. He established himself as a presenter of Big Brother's Little Brother on Channel 4 before moving on to The X Factor on ITV. O'Leary has also presented on the BBC and has his own radio show on BBC Radio 2...

 on BBC Radio 2

BBC Radio 2

BBC Radio 2 is one of the BBC's national radio stations and the most popular station in the United Kingdom. Much of its daytime playlist-based programming is best described as Adult Contemporary or AOR, although the station is also noted for its specialist broadcasting of other musical genres...

.

Albums

• So Long Ago
  So Long Ago (album)
  So Long Ago is the solo debut album from Scottish rock musician Ricky Ross. Ross later founded Deacon Blue.-Track listing:All songs written by Ricky Ross:# "Something About Ireland" – 2:37# "A Week in Politics" – 4:44# "Checkout Girls" – 3:24...
  
  (1984)
• What You Are
  What You Are (album)
  What You Are is a solo album from Scottish rock musician Ricky Ross. It was the first solo album Ross released after the breakup of the band he fronted, Deacon Blue....
  
  (1996)
• New Recording
  New Recording (album)
  New Recording is a solo album from Scottish rock musician Ricky Ross and member of Deacon Blue. It was produced by Ross and former Love and Money keyboardist Paul McGeechan....
  
  (1997)
• This Is the Life
  This Is the Life (Ricky Ross album)
  This Is the Life is a solo album from Scottish rock musician Ricky Ross and member of Deacon Blue.Ricky Ross produced the album with Kenny MacDonald, who has produced for Deacon Blue in the past. Perhaps as a result, this solo album is less divergent from the typical Deacon Blue style than are...
  
  (2002)
• Pale Rider (2005)

Singles

Year	Title	Album	UK Chart UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
1996	"Radio On"	What You Are	31
1997	"Good Evening Philadelphia"		58