Puttin’ On The Ritz: Steve Ross Sings Fred Astaire

Birdland is proud to present Steve Ross in Puttin On The Ritz: Steve Ross Sings Fred Astaire. The one-night-only event will take place on Monday, November 11 at 7pm!This year marks the 125th anniversary of the birth of Fred Astaire, who is not only acknowledged as one of the all-time great dancers, but the performer who introduced the most standards in the Great American Songbook.Mr. Ross will bring his talents to such songs as Puttin on The Ritz, Night and Day, They Cant Take That Away From Me, and Cheek To Cheek. Steve Ross was raised in Washington, DC, and heard a lot of music at home, some from his mother who played piano. In due course, he studied piano himself and by the time he had attended Georgetown University, spent a little time in a seminary, and served in the US Army, he had become an accomplished pianist, drawing his repertoire not from contemporary pop but from the Great American Songbook. In the early 70s he settled in New York City where he soon became well known on the citys cabaret scene. At first a background pianist, he was urged by club owners to sing and gradually began to do this, eventually training as a singer. As his personal style developed, so his reputation spread. Ted Hook, owner of Backstage, a piano bar in the midtown theatre district, hired him. The association was hugely successful and in 1979 Hook opened a new club, Onstage, especially to showcase Ross talents. In 1981, Ross was booked into the Oak Room at the Algonquin Hotel where he played a considerable part in establishing the room as a perennial favorite of artists and customers. At some venues he would find himself accompanying leading entertainers who happened to be in the audience, among them Liza Minnelli and Ginger Rogers. Ross toured Australia in 1986, one of his shows there being recorded at Don Burrows Supper Club, and he returned to that country in the late 90s. He has played many festivals, including Perth in Australia, Spoleto in Italy, and Hong Kong. Other international venues include seasons at Londons Ritz Hotel and Pizza On The Park. In 1989, he hosted a live cabaret series for BBC Television, and back in America was host of New York Cabaret Nights, a series for National Public Radio.