Ross Friedman (born New York City) is a guitarist best known as a founding member of both the punk band The Dictators and the heavy metal band Manowar.
Ross Friedman aka Ross Funicello or Ross The Boss joined the New York based punk band The Dictators as guitarist in 1973. After recording 3 albums with them Friedman went to France and worked for one year in Fabienne Shine band Shakin' Street. On Black Sabbath's Heaven and Hell tour in 1980 (on which Shakin' Street were the support act) Friedman met bass player Joey DeMaio. Later in 1980 Friedman and DeMaio formed Manowar with whom he recorded six albums before leaving the band after the 1988 album Kings of Metal. He returned to his old friends to play in a band called "Manitoba's Wild Kingdom" which eventually evolved back into The Dictators. All the members of the Dictators continue to do side projects. In 1994 he had a blues rock band called "Heyday" and in 1999 he vowed to put the fun back in Rock-N-Roll with "The Spinatras". 2004 saw him join Albert Bouchard, the original drummer for Blue Öyster Cult, in his band "The Brain Surgeons NYC". He also recorded an instrumental album with Dictators drummer JP Thunderbolt Patterson. He's always writing and recording new music and reuniting with his old bands and former band members for special shows and projects. Many ardent Manowar fans have expressed their burning desire to see Ross rejoin the band and write new material with them again, as the time he spent in the band during the '80s is considered as their golden era. In July of 2005, Ross joined manowar onstage at the Earthshaker Festival. The songs he performed with them were Metal Daze and Dark Avenger. At the end of the concert he also performed Battle Hymn along with all past and present members of Manowar. In April 2006 he played one night of early Manowar Music at the Keep It True IV Festival in Germany backed by German Manowar cover band Men Of War, featuring members of German groups Ivory Night and Divinus. The band, now known as The RTB Band, went on to play some more festivals in Germany, Italy and Greece and then began working on new original material. In October 2006 he reunited with The Dictators to play Friday and Saturday nights of the closing weekend at legendary punk rock venue CBGBs, one of the clubs where they got their start. 2007 started off for Ross The Boss with an eleven city tour of Spain with JP Patterson and their Spanish super-band "The Thunderbolts" which also includes members of Bummer and Sex Museum. Ross guests on former bandmate Fabienne Shine's 2007 LP, Wotan's LP "Epos" where he plays Grand Piano on one track, and Atlantean Kodex's 2007 EP. He did a few NYC area "Early Manowar" shows with local guest musicians to keep him focused while he continues to work on new original material with his German metal band The RTB Band, signed to AFM Records.
