Iconic singer and actress Annie Ross, who found fame as part of jazz trio Lambert, Hendricks and Ross, has died at the age of 89.

She died at her home in New York City following a reported battle with emphysema and heart disease, with her manager Jim Coleman confirming Ross’s death.

The celebrated jazz singer, born in 1930 to Scottish vaudeville artists John and Mary Short, was also a stage performer and film and TV actress and was once billed as ‘Scotland’s Shirley Temple’ when the family emigrated to Los Angeles when Ross was four.

The star, who later became a US citizen, was part of the acclaimed vocal trio Lambert, Hendricks and Ross, and acted in such films as Robert Altman’s Short Cuts and Superman III, after making her film debut in 1938’s Our Gang Follies.

She went on then play Judy Garland’s younger sister in 1943’s Presenting Lily Mars and, in later film work, her voice was used to replace Britt Ekland’s in 1973 horror classic The Wicker Man.

Alongside Dave Lambert and Jon Hendricks, Ross was known as one of the early users of singing style ‘vocalese’, which involved original lyrics set to an instrumental jazz solo.