Diana Ross

For other uses, see Diana Ross (disambiguation).

Diana Ross (born Diane Ernestine Earle Ross [1] on March 26, 1944) is an American soul, R&B and pop singer and actress. Ross is one of the most successful female artists of her era, both due to her solo work and her role as lead singer of The Supremes during the 1960s.

In 1976, Billboard magazine named her the female entertainer of the century. In 1993, The Guinness Book Of World Records pronounced her the most successful female music artist ever (the title is now attributed to Mariah Carey), partly due to her combined total of eighteen number-one singles, six of them recorded solo and the remaining dozen from her work with the Supremes.

She was also one of the few pop singers to find modest success in the acting world winning an Academy Award nomination for her role as Billie Holiday in the 1972 flick, Lady Sings the Blues.

Biography

The Supremes

Main entry: The Supremes

Fred and Ernestine Ross had named and christened their daughter "Diane"; however, due to a clerical error, "Diana" was what wound up on her birth certificate [2] [3]. Regardless of the mistake, Ross would continue to use the name "Diane" through her teenage years.

Ross began her music career with Mary Wilson, Florence Ballard and Betty McGlown as the doo-wop quartet the Primettes, a sister group to The Primes in 1959. After signing to Motown Records in 1961 and replacing McGlown with Barbara Martin, they changed the name of the group to The Supremes. Barbara Martin left the group shortly afterwards, and The Supremes carried on as a trio.

Although all the girls originally took turns singing lead, Motown chief Berry Gordy made Diane the permanent lead singer starting in 1964, because he felt her voice had the pop appeal the Supremes needed to cross over to white audiences. Ross also began using the name "Diana" at this time. Between the summer of 1964 and the summer of 1967, the Supremes released ten singles which went to #1 on the pop charts.

In July 1967, Florence Ballard was fired from the Supremes and replaced with Cindy Birdsong. At this time, the group was officially renamed Diana Ross & the Supremes in recognition of Ross as the focal point of the group. During this period, the group had two more #1 hits as Motown began plans for a Diana Ross solo career, which was announced in November 1969. In January 1970, Ross officially departed from the Supremes after a January 14 Farewell concert at the Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas. However, history had already been made: Diana Ross & the Supremes bear the distinction of being the most successful American rock & roll group of the 60s. They were second only to the Beatles in chart and sales success. The group moved on with new lead singer Jean Terrell, while Ross put the finishing touches on her debut album.

Early solo career

In the spring of 1970, Ross released her self-titled debut. After the initial moderate success of what turned out to be Ross' signature concert song, "Reach Out and Touch (Somebody's Hand)", Ross found success with her cover of Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell's 1967 classic "Ain't No Mountain High Enough". The original 3-minute love duet was turned into a 6-minute dramatic magnum opus, where Ross was in spoken word half of the running time. The song would peak at #1 on both the U.S. pop and R&B charts, and Ross received a Grammy nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. After subsequent singles including "Remember Me", Ross focused on a movie career, which was spearheaded by Motown president Berry Gordy. The first project was a film about Billie Holiday.

Lady Sings the Blues

When it was announced in late 1971 that Diana Ross would be portraying the legendary Billie Holiday on celluloid, industry critics had a field day, primarily because she didn't look or sound like the jazz icon. However, Ross, Gordy, and the newly established film division of Motown Productions carried on with the film despite the criticism under the title, Lady Sings the Blues, which was the title of Holiday's 1959 autobiography. Ross totally immersed herself in Holiday's repertoire and instead of imitating Holiday's unmistakable voice, Diana Ross adopted Holiday's impeccable phrasing to eerie success.

Opening in theaters in the fall of 1972, Lady Sings the Blues became an instant hit and Ross received universal raves for her performance as Billie Holiday. Co-starring with Diana Ross were "Brian's Song" star Billy Dee Williams and comedian Richard Pryor in his first major picture. Lady Sings the Blues was nominated for 5 Academy Awards including Ross for Best Actress. Diana Ross would lose to Liza Minelli (for Cabaret), but she did win Best Newcomer at the 1973 Golden Globes.

Ross covered a number of Holiday's songs for the film, including "Strange Fruit", "God Bless the Child", and "Good Morning Heartache", which was released as a single on the double-album Lady Sings the Blues soundtrack at the end of 1972. That album went on to hold the #1 spot on the album charts, and would be Ross' only solo album to reach that position in the US.

Touch Me in the Morning, Diana & Marvin

By 1973, Motown decided to return Diana Ross to her pop direction. With the Michael Masser produced "Touch Me in the Morning", she scored her first #1 pop hit in three years and received a third Grammy nomination. That same year, Ross released a duets album with fellow Motown artist Marvin Gaye entitled Diana & Marvin, scoring several charted hits. While the album was a moderate financial success, critics noted the lack of chemistry between the two singers. This was due to the fact that Diana Ross was expecting and Gaye refused to stop smoking his marijuana in the studio when the pregnant Ross was around, so their vocals were recorded separately. The album did, however, become a huge UK hit and produced some classic moments including their covers of the Stylistics' "You Are Everything" and "Stop, Look, Listen" and their own hit, "My Mistake."

Mahogany

After the success of Lady Sings the Blues in 1972, Berry Gordy arranged for Diana Ross to take the lead in Mahogany. After firing renowned British director Tony Richardson claiming he did not understand the Black sensibility that the film required, Gordy assumed directing duties himself. The story was about a young woman from the Chicago ghettos who dreamed of being a successful model and fashion designer. Again, she teamed up with Billy Dee Williams as her love interest.

Opening in the fall of 1975, Mahogany wasn't as critically successful as Lady Sings the Blues, though it was a bankable success in the box-office. The film's theme song and lead soundtrack single, "Theme from Mahogany (Do You Know Where You're Going To)", hit #1 on the U.S. pop charts and was nominated for an Oscar. During the Oscars telecast, Ross became the first artist ever to perform for the Oscars ceremony via satellite; she sang "Theme From Mahogany" from a bridge in Holland where she was performing a series of concerts.

"Love Hangover", The Wiz, and diana

In 1976, Ross headed into disco territory with the release of the seven-minute dance single "Love Hangover". It became her first #1 R&B hit since "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" and the first of many of her songs to appear at or near the top of the Billboard Dance/Club singles chart. "Love Hangover" was released from Ross' second self-titled album, which became a Top 10 Pop and R&B album that summer. In 1976, Diana broke concert records with a one-woman concert on Broadway. The concert was packaged into both a live album, An Evening with Diana Ross, and a TV special the following year. For her efforts, Ross won a special Tony Award.

In 1978, Ross was back in the film limelight, starring in the film version of the successful Broadway play The Wiz, with Michael Jackson, Nipsey Russell, and Richard Pryor. Many eyebrows were raised at Ross, then 34 years of age, playing Dorothy, who in all other versions of The Wizard of Oz was portrayed as a teenage girl though in the movie adaptation, she was portrayed as a 24-year-old schoolteacher. The Wiz, which cost $35 million, making it the most expensive movie musical at that time, only brought in $13 million dollars during its original theatrical release.

Diana Ross returned to her music career and released two successive albums: 1979's The Boss and 1980s diana. The former, produced by longtime Ross collaborators Ashford & Simpson, was critically lauded as one of her strongest solo recordings while the latter, produced by Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards of the legendary disco band CHIC, became the singer's biggest-selling record in her career, peaking at #2 on the Billboard Pop Albums chart. The diana album yielded two classic signature hits: "Upside Down", Ross' first #1 of the '80s and her fifth as a solo artist, and "I'm Coming Out", which became a gay anthem and cemented Ross as a gay icon. Both songs have since been sampled by hip hop artists.

Promotion of diana came to a standstill when Ross left the Motown label in 1981. When "Upside Down" hit #1, Diana Ross became the first female singer in music history to have ever placed 5 songs at #1, an unprecedented feat at the time that contemporaries Barbra Streisand and Aretha Franklin could not even lay claim to. It was a record that the likes of Whitney Houston, Madonna, Janet Jackson and Mariah Carey would later break. Ross' last Motown hits were "It's My Turn" and "Endless Love", featuring Lionel Richie. The latter became Ross' best-selling and most successful single to date selling more than two million copies and staying at number-one on the pop singles chart for an unprecedented nine weeks becoming one of the most successful duets in music history. It also helped launched Richie's successful solo career. Despite an offer from Berry Gordy to stay in the label, Ross still decided to leave after more than two decades in the Detroit-based music label.

The RCA era

On May 20 1981, Ross signed to RCA for a reported $20 million, and had success with the platinum Why Do Fools Fall in Love; the title track of the LP was a cover of the Frankie Lymon hit. Ross kept charting throughout the early 1980s with the singles "Mirror, Mirror", "Muscles", "Missing You" and "Chain Reaction". The latter three hit the top 10 of the pop singles chart in America while the last mentioned song became Ross' first UK #1 since 1971's "Still Waiting". Among the albums that Ross released, Why Do Fools Fall in Love, Silk Electric and Swept Away each were certified gold though Ross had difficulty throughout her tenure in the label. Later albums like Eaten Alive and Red & Hot Rhythm & Blues failed to generate sales as Ross' chart success in America had dwindled despite continued support for her music overseas. Figuring the label treated her like "just another artist" rather than Berry Gordy's main artist on the Motown label as she was, Ross decided to leave RCA in 1988 keeping the $20 million she was offered when she signed with the label and returned to the Motown fold in 1989 as both a recording artist and part-owner of the post-Berry Gordy-headed label, which now was presided by Jheryl Busby.

Returning to Motown

In 1989, Ross' first album with Motown after nearly a decade, Working Overtime, spawned a top 5 R&B hit with the title track but like many of Ross' late-'80s singles failed to chart on the pop charts. The album fared much worse in America peaking at a dismal number 116 on the chart and selling under par many of her Motown releases. Subsequent follow-ups like 1991's The Force Behind the Power, 1995's Take Me Higher and 1999's Every Day is a New Day, though marginally more successful than Overtime, failed to return Ross back to the top of the pop charts and Ross was hardly getting support from radio for her singles though Ross remained a very successful concert draw in America. After thirteen lackluster years on her old label, Ross left the label in 2002. She remains without a contract in America though there's rumors speculating that Ross will or has signed to Clive Davis' J Records imprint.

Current work

In 2004, after a few years off from the concert stage, Ross returned to the stage, first in Europe for The Love Life Tour. She made headlines later that year when she became one of the guest stars to model for MAC cosmetics. In 2005, reports stated that Ross, who is still signed to EMI Records overseas, was planning a brand new album of love songs. That year, Ross returned to the pop charts appearing in duet singles with Westlife and Rod Stewart respectively. She and Westlife covered a version of Ross' 1991 ballad, "When You Tell Me You Love Me". Their version reached #2 in the UK during the Christmas holiday. In late-2005, she was featured on Stewart's "I've Got a Crush on You", which returned Ross to the U.S. Billboard chart for the first time since 1999's "Until We Meet Again" peaked at #2 on Billboard's dance singles chart reaching #19 on the Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Chart. Motown then issued an unreleased record of jazz standards that Ross had worked on during production of Lady Sings the Blues with conductor/producer Gil Askey. Titled Blue, it was Ross' first album to chart in the new millennium reaching number two on the Billboard Jazz Albums chart. Ross' new album is said to be released in the fall of 2006.

Controversy

Ross' career hasn't been without controversy. In 1983, she reunited with former Supremes bandmates Mary Wilson and Cindy Birdsong on Motown 25: Yesterday, Today and Forever. Reports stated Ross didn't like the fact that Wilson and Birdsong were moving forward rather than back as had been the case during Ross' tenure with them in the 1960s. She reportedly shoved Wilson during one exchange and when Wilson signaled for Berry Gordy to come down to the stage, Ross shoved her microphone from her and hissed "it's already been taken care of". Producers of the show including Suzanne de Passe downplayed the incident saying Ross was politely assuring Wilson that Gordy knew he was told to come down to the stage already. Despite this, Ross was criticized for her bad behavior though it was never televised.

That same year, Ross generated press during a solo stop at Central Park in New York. The first concert, held on July 21, was noteworthy for the fact that minutes into her performance, a rain storm had erupted. For several minutes, Ross performed in the rain while cautiously telling her fans to safely go home. The next day, she offered to bring the crowd of 500,000 back to another show free of charge. Both shows were televised on HBO and gave Ross much needed praise though she still generated controversy for doing the second show without permission to do so almost neglecting a deal to make a playground around the New York area. In 1986, three years after the concerts in Central Park, Ross and New York mayor Ed Koch opened up the long-awaited Diana Ross Playground.

That year of the playground's groundbreaking, Supremes bandmate Wilson wrote a tell-all on the Supremes' rise and decline during the 1960s in Dreamgirl: My Life as a Supreme. The book was said to had brought back up Ross' behavorial problems during the group's early years and also how she neglected the trust of a lot of her colleagues. A 1989 tell-all by J. Randy Taraborelli, Just Call Me Miss Ross, was more scathing. More books critiquing Ross' diva behavior was showcased in the tell-alls, All That Glitters by Tony Turner and Motown: Music, Money and Power by Greg Posner.

In 1999, Ross generated controversy twice in the year. The first incident was showcased at the MTV Video Music Awards when Ross grabbed the breast of rapper Lil' Kim while she, the rapper and hip-hop soul singer Mary J. Blige presented the award for Best R&B Female. The second was less humorous when while at London's Heathrow Airport, Ross grabbed the breast of a security guard whom she felt had frisked her improperly. Ross was arrested for the disturbance but wasn't charged with anything and later aired out her disgust on talk shows.

In 2000, Ross made news when she tried reunited with Supremes bandmates Mary Wilson and Cindy Birdsong for a U.S. tour titled Return to Love. Though Wilson was offered $3 million to join the tour and Birdsong $1 million, Ross was given double the money recieving a $15 million paycheck. Birdsong refused to go on tour for unspecified reasons but Wilson's refusal garnered headlines when Wilson thought she was getting disrespected by the tour's promoters due to how her and Ross' monies differed. She later stated she refused the offer because she didn't wanna accept a plum deal and that she wanted to be as equally respected for the success of the Supremes as much as Ross was credited. Ross then hired 1970s Supremes Scherrie Payne and Lynda Laurence to fill Wilson and Birdsong's shoes. The tour failed to generate box office sales and cancelled within the tenth show in Philadelphia. Ross' troubles continued two years later when she reportedly entered the Promises rehab center for "personal reasons" before a scheduled tour. On December 30, 2002, Ross found herself in front of TV screens again but this time for personal reasons when she was pulled over by police in Arizona for driving on the wrong side of the lane to a Blockbuster Video store in. She reportedly was drunk and later reports explained that Ross was driving above the average of a drunk driver at .020. After failing at standing still, spelling all the letters of an alphabet and talking in a slurred voice, she was arrested and booked at an Tucson county jail. In early-2003, a judge agreed to allow Ross to serve a two-day jail term in her hometown of Greenwich, Connecticut.

Personal life

Diana Ross is the second of six children, three girls and three boys, from factory worker Fred Ross and teacher Ernestine Earle Ross, born and raised in Detroit, Michigan. One of Ross' brothers, Arthur "T-Boy" Ross, was a successful songwriter for Motown helping to write hits for Michael Jackson and Marvin Gaye. From 1971 to 1977, Diana Ross was married to music promoter Robert Ellis Silberstein, with whom she has two daughters (Tracee and Chudney). From 1986 to 1999, she was married to Norwegian businessman Arne Næss Jr., with whom she has two sons (Ross and Evan). Naess and Ross divorced in 2002 and barely a year later, Arne Naess Jr was killed in a mountain climbing accident on the continent of Africa. There has been speculation that Ross' brief bout with alcoholism was linked to the fact that her marriage to Naess was falling apart combined with the failure of the Supremes "Return To Love" tour. When Diana Ross performed in South Africa in 2005, she held a private luncheon meeting to thank the rescuers who searched for and recovered the body of her ex-husband and father of her two sons.

Before her first marriage, Ross had been romantically linked with Smokey Robinson, Eddie Kendricks and Motown chief Berry Gordy, with whom she had her first child Rhonda. After her first marriage, she dated actor Ryan O'Neal, and KISS bassist and singer Gene Simmons. Her oldest daughter, Rhonda Ross Kendrick is a singer and actress. Her second daughter, Tracee Ellis Ross is an actress who gained fame as one of the stars of the hit sitcom Girlfriends, now in its sixth season on the UPN network. Ross' youngest daughter, Chudney, in the meantime, is a model and television producer. Her TV credits include the reality show version of Fame with Debbie Allen. Evan Ross Naess, Diana's fifth child, made his screen debut at age 17 in 2006 in the film ATL and will attend Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York. Ross-Naess received good reviews of his performance. In 2005, Diana Ross was honored by Oprah Winfrey at her Legends Ball.

Discography

For a detailed listing of albums and singles, see: Diana Ross discography.

U.S. and UK Top Ten Singles

The following singles reached the Top Ten of either the United States Billboards's Hot 100 singles chart or the United Kingdom's offcial top 40 singles chart. Also included are the singles that hit the top ten of Billboards R&B chart and Hot Dance Music/Club Play.

Year	Song title	U.S. Top 10 chart	UK Top 10 chart	U.S. R&B Top 10 chart	U.S. Hot Dance Top 10 chart
1970:	"Reach Out and Touch (Somebody's Hand)"	-	-	7	-
1970:	"Ain't No Mountain High Enough"	1	6	1	-
1970:	"Remember Me"	-	7	10	-
1971:	"I'm Still Waiting"	-	1	-	-
1971:	"Surrender"	-	10	-	-
1973:	"Touch Me in the Morning"	1	9	5	-
1973:	"You're a Special Part of Me" (Duet with Marvin Gaye)	-	-	4	-
1973:	"All Of My Life"	-	9	-	-
1974:	"You Are Everything"	-	-	5	-
1975:	"Theme From Mahogany (Do You Know Where You're Going To)"	1	5	-	-
1976:	"Love Hangover"	1	10	1	3
1976:	"One Love In My Lifetime"	-	-	10	-
1980:	"Upside Down"	1	2	1	-
1980:	"I'm Coming Out"	5	-	6	-
1980:	"My Old Piano"	-	5	-	-
1981:	"It's My Turn"	9	-	-	-
1981:	"Endless Love" (Duet with Lionel Richie)	1	7	1	-
1981:	"Why Do Fools Fall in Love"	7	4	6	-
1982:	"Mirror, Mirror"	8	-	2	-
1982:	"Work That Body"	-	7	-	-
1982:	"Muscles"	10	-	4	-
1984:	"Swept Away"	-	-	3	1
1984:	"All of You" (Duet with Julio Iglesias)	-	-	10
1984:	"Missing You"	10	-	1	-
1985:	"Eaten Alive"	-	-	10	3
1986:	"Chain Reaction"	-	1	-	7
1989:	"Working Overtime"	-	-	3	-
1991:	"When You Tell Me You Love Me"	-	2	-	-
1991:	"No Matter What You Do" (Duet with Al B. Sure!)	-	-	4	-
1992:	"One Shining Moment"	-	10	-	-
1994:	"Someday We ll Be Together"	-	-	-	7
1995:	"Take Me Higher"	-	-	-	1
1999:	"Not Over You Yet"	-	9	-	-
1999:	"Until We Meet Again"	-	-	-	2
2005:	"When You Tell Me You Love Me" (Duet with Westlife)	-	2	-	-

Top Ten albums

The following albums reached the Top Ten on either the United States pop albums chart or the United Kingdom pop albums chart.

• 1971: I'm Still Waiting (a/k/a Surrender) (UK #10)
• 1972: Lady Sings the Blues (US #1)
• 1973: Touch Me in the Morning (US #5; UK #7)
• 1976: Diana Ross (US #5; UK #4)
• 1976: Diana Ross' Greatest Hits (UK #2)
• 1979: 20 Golden Greats (UK #2)
• 1980: diana (US #2)
• 1993: One Woman: The Ultimate Collection (UK #1)
• 1995: Take Me Higher (UK #10)

Filmography

• The T.A.M.I. Show (1965) (documentary) (w/ The Supremes)
• Beach Ball (1965) (w/ The Supremes)
• Lady Sings the Blues (1972)
• Mahogany (1975)
• The Wiz (1978)

Television Work

• T.C.B. (1968) (w/ The Supremes)
• G.I.T. on Broadway (1969) (w/ The Supremes)
• Diana! (1971)
• The Big Event: An Evening with Diana Ross (1977)
• Diana Ross in Concert! (1979)
• Standing Room Only: Diana Ross (1981)
• diana (1981)
• For One And For All: Diana Ross Live in Central Park (1983)
• Diana Ross: Rhythm and Blues (1987)
• Out of Darkness (1994)
• Double Platinum (1999)
• VH1 Divas 2000: A Tribute to Diana Ross (2000)

Autobiographies

• (1993). Secrets of a Sparrow: Memoirs. New York: Random House. ISBN 051-716622-4.
• (2002). Goin' Back. indiana: Universe. ISBN 078-930797-9. (a scrapbook-style collection of photographs & poems)

See also

• List of best selling music artists
• List of number-one hits (United States)
• List of artists who reached number one on the Hot 100 (U.S.)
• List of number-one dance hits (United States)
• List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Dance chart

External links

• International Diana Ross Fan Club
• Diana Ross Tribute Site
• International Diana Ross Fan Site
• Interview with Diana Ross
• Unofficial Website
• Mark Connolly's Diana Ross Fanpage
• Diana Ross Lyrics
• Blue release