Introductions to singer Eddie Fisher and others brought him into contact with music publishers at the Brill Building, the center of songwriting activity in New York.
Ross met Richard Adler in 1950,[2] and as a duo they became protégés of the great composer, lyricist, and publisher Frank Loesser.
[3] Adler and Ross began their career in the Broadway theater with John Murray Anderson's Almanac, a revue for which they provided most of the songs (resulting in recordings of Acorn in the Meadow by Harry Belafonte and Fini by Polly Bergen).
Two songs from the show, "Hernando's Hideaway" (for Archie Bleyer) and "Hey There" (for Rosemary Clooney), topped the Hit Parade.
Other notable songs were "Steam Heat" (choreographed on stage by Bob Fosse), "Small Talk", and "Seven and a Half Cents".