Ricky Ross - What You Are (1995)

Ricky Ross is best known as the lead singer of contemporary pop/rock outfit Deacon Blue, one of the most successful Scottish bands of the late '80s and early '90s. Born in Dundee in 1957, he played keyboards in various local bands before releasing an album, So Long Ago, through indie label Sticky Records in 1984. Advised to put a band together by his publishers, he formed the six-piece Deacon Blue a year later, which went on to score two number one albums, When the World Knows Your Name and Our Town: The Greatest Hits, and 17 Top 40 singles before disbanding in 1994. After signing a solo deal with Epic, he released a belated sophomore album, What You Are, and achieved a minor hit with lead single "Radio On," but due to poor sales, he was dropped and his 1997 follow-up, New Recording, was distributed through his own label. Two more solo albums followed: This Is the Life (2002) and Pale Rider (2005), but after signing a publishing deal with Warner Chappell in 1999, Ross focused most of his attention on writing for other artists. He penned hits for James Blunt ("High") and Jamie Cullum ("I'm All Over It"), and contributed to albums by Will Young, KT Tunstall, and Emma Bunton while at the same time making sporadic appearances with a re-formed Deacon Blue. In 2007, Ross became a regular DJ for BBC Radio Scotland with his Americana-based Another Country show, and teamed up with wife Lorraine to form Ross McIntosh, who released an alt-country album, The Great Lakes, through Cooking Vinyl in 2009. He released the solo album Trouble Came Looking in 2013, and toured the record acoustically. For his seventh album, Ross recorded Short Stories, Vol. 1 in just two days in Hamburg. The record featured re-recorded Deacon Blue tracks as well as original solo pieces. ~ Jon O'Brien