Ross played various forms of the blues that have seen him compared to John Lee Hooker and Sonny Boy Williamson I, and is perhaps best known for the recordings he made for Sun Records in the 1950s, notably "The Boogie Disease" and "Chicago Breakdown".
In 1951 he began to be heard on Mississippi and Arkansas radio stations, now nicknamed Doctor because of his habit of carrying his harmonicas in a black bag that resembled a doctor's bag, and over the next three years recorded in Memphis, Tennessee for both Chess Records and Sun Records, creating exhilarating harmonica or guitar boogies made distinctive by his sidemen playing washboard (with a spoon and fork) and broom .
In 1954 he took a job with General Motors in Flint, Michigan, and played less. Some singles , among them his first true one-man band effort, "Industrial Boogie", filtered into blues circles, leading to a Testament Records album and a 1965 AFBF booking. While in London he recorded what would be the first LP on Blue Horizon Records. Europe loved Ross and gave him work and recording opportunities; he was never as popular at home, and in the 1980s his performing profile was barely visible.
He died in 1993, at the age of 67, and was buried in Flint, Michigan.
Another source says this about Dr. Ross:
Bluesman Ross recorded for Sam Phillips' Sun Records, as well as innumerable other labels throughout his career. He sings in a wildly rough, soulful voice while accompanying himself on guitar and harmonica. His playing is raw and intense: a thumping, rolling, modal boogie not unlike that of John Lee Hooker. Ross was unique in his own way for acting as a proto one-man band in the 1950s, after he had already recorded with a full band. His style lives on in the work of artists like R.L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough.
You can still purchase his albums "Boogie Disease" and "Call the Doctor."
Here's a video from 1965 of Dr. Ross performing "I Feel So Good":
This video shows a guy playing an extremely rare 1954 SUN Records 78rpm of Dr. Ross playing "Boogie Disease":
And here's another video of Dr. Ross taken just three months before his death on May 28, 1993:
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