Diana Ross

For other uses, see Diana Ross (disambiguation).

Diana Ross (born Diane Ernestine Earle Ross on March 26, 1944) is an American pop, soul, and R&B singer and actress. Ross is one of the most successful female artists of her era, due to both her solo work and her tenure as lead singer of Motown girl group 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 Madonna), partly due to Ross' combined total of eighteen American number-one singles, six of them recorded solo and the remaining dozen from her work with the Supremes.

Ross also crossed over to achieve success in film, earning an Academy Award nomination for her role as Billie Holiday in Lady Sings the Blues (1972).

Biography

The Supremes

File:TheSupremes.jpg

Diana Ross (far right) with The Supremes in 1965.

Main article: The Supremes

Born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, Diane Ross' family moved to the Brewster-Douglas housing project when Ross was fourteen. Later the same year, 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. 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.

Ross sung lead on all of the group's early singles, save for 1961's "Buttered Popcorn", lead by Ballard. These singles were not successes, and Ross worked for a time as Motown CEO Berry Gordy, Jr.'s secretary for additional income. Feeling that Ross' thin soprano voice would allow the Supremes to crossover for mainstream audiences, Gordy made her the sole lead singer of the group in late 1963. The same year, the Supremes had their first hit, the Holland-Dozier-Holland composition "When the Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes". More H-D-H written and produced pop hits soon followed, with ten Supremes singles, among them "Where Did Our Love Go", "Stop! In the Name of Love", and "You Keep Me Hangin' On", becoming number-one Billboard Hot 100 hits between 1964 and 1967.

The Supremes were by 1967 the most successful act on the Motown label, and Diana Ross had become the focal point of the group, the culmination of much work by Ross and Gordy to highlight Diana. While Ross's star was rising, others in her midst were apparently paying the price. That year, Florence Ballard was replaced with Cindy Birdsong of Patti LaBelle & the Blue Belles, and the name of the group was changed to Diana Ross & the Supremes. The group continued on with more of a middle-of-the-road sound and a revolving team of producers, Holland-Dozier-Holland having left Motown in late 1967. Hit singles were fewer in number, although 1968's "Love Child" returned Ross and the Supremes to number-one. Diana Ross & the Supremes were the most successful American musical group of the 1960s, and the second most successful international group of the decade, behind The Beatles.

Leaving the Supremes

Motown began plans to have Ross begin a solo career in 1968. Television specials such as TCB (1968) and G.I.T. on Broadway (1969) were designed to spotlight Ross as a star in her own right, and much of the later Ross-led Supremes material was recorded by Ross with session singers The Andantes, not Wilson and Birdsong, on backing vocals.

By the summer of 1969, Jean Terrell was chosen by Gordy to be Ross' replacement, and Ross began her first solo recordings. In November of the same year, three years after it was first rumored, Billboard magazine confirmed Ross' exit from the group to begin her solo career. In conjunction with the launching of her solo career, Ross introduced Motown's newest act, The Jackson 5, to national audiences. For many years, the Jackson 5's official Motown biography stated that Ross had discovered the group, although Gladys Knight was the first to bring the group to Gordy's attention, and Bobby Taylor brought the group to Motown.

Ross began her solo sessions with a number of producers, including Bones Howe and Johnny Bristol. Her first track with Bristol, "Someday We'll Be Together", was tagged as her first solo single; it was instead issued as the final Diana Ross & the Supremes release. "Someday We'll Be Together" was the twelfth and final number-one hit for the Supremes, and Ross' made her final appearance with the Supremes at the Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas on January 14, 1970.

Early solo career

Ross' first solo LP, Diana Ross, featured her first solo number-one hit, "Ain't No Mountain High Enough".

After a half-year of recording material with various producers, Ross settled with the production team of Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson, the creative force behind Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell's hit duets. Ashford and Simpson helmed most of Ross' first album, Diana Ross, and would continue to write and produce for Ross for the next decade.

In May of 1970, Diana Ross was released on Motown. The first single, the gospel-influenced "Reach Out and Touch (Somebody's Hand)", peaked at number twenty on the Billboard Hot 100. The album's second single, a cover of Gaye and Terrell's 1967 hit "Ain't No Mountain High Enough", was an international hit, and gave Ross her first number-one pop single as a solo artist.

In 1971, Motown released Ross' second album Everything is Everything, which garnered the top 20 pop hit, "Remember Me". Several months later, Ross released Surrender which garnered Ross' first UK number one solo single, "I'm Still Waiting". That year, Ross hosted her first solo TV special, Diana!. Featuring guest appearances by The Jackson 5, Bill Cosby and Danny Thomas, Ross' special continued her popularity with the middle-of-the-road audience.

Despite some early success, Ross' early solo career wasn't as successful as planned. Ross' first solo performance at the Frontier in Las Vegas on May 7, 1970 was a disaster. Only thirty tickets were reserved in advance of the show, and Berry Gordy resorted to bribing passersby on the street to fill the Frontier's headliner room. Meeting a crossroads in the company's leverage, Berry Gordy focused much of his attention on developing a motion pictures company and set his sights on making Ross a movie star.

Lady Sings the Blues

Diana Ross' film debut, the Billie Holliday biographical film Lady Sings the Blues, was a notable success.

In late-1971, it was announced that Diana Ross was going to play jazz icon Billie Holiday in a Motown-produced biographical film loosely based on Holiday's autobiography, Lady Sings the Blues. From the moment the film was announced, critics ridiculed Ross throughout the media: Ross and Holiday were miles apart from each other in style and appearance. Ross soldiered on, immersing herself into Holiday's catalogue. Knowing better than to imitate Holiday's voice, Ross focused on adapting Holiday's vocal phrasing. According to a television documentary, Ross studied Holiday's character so well that Motown executive Suzanne de Passe says Gordy told her to "put a little Diana back into it".

Opening in October of 1972, Lady Sings the Blues was a success, and Ross' performance drew universal rave reviews. The movie co-starred Brian's Song star Billy Dee Williams, who played Holiday's lover, Louis McKay. Also appearing was, in his film debut, comedian and actor Richard Pryor, who played the piano man. In 1973, Ross was nominated for both the Golden Globe and the Academy Award for Best Actress. Winning a Golden Globe for Best Newcomer, Ross lost the Best Actress Oscar to Liza Minnelli, for her role in Cabaret. The soundtrack album for Lady Sings the Blues was Ross' only solo number-one album on the Billboard 200, and reportedly sold 300,000 copies during its first few weeks of release. The soundtrack also garnered accolades for Ross, as critics praised her for "suggesting Billie Holiday" with her delivery and capturing Holiday's phrasing.

Ross' continued success in music and film

Ross' second self-titled release, Diana Ross (1976), featured the number-one hits "Theme From Mahogany (Do You Know Where You're Going To)" and "Love Hangover".

In 1971, Ross and Motown labelmate Marvin Gaye had begun an album of duets. The two singers clashed over Gaye's refusal to stop smoking marijuana in the studio to appease Ross, then pregnant with her second child, Tracee Ellis Ross. As a result, the duets album, Diana & Marvin, was completed in separate studios in 1972. Upon its 1973 release, Diana & Marvin proved to be a success, with their cover of The Stylistics' "You Are Everything" becoming a Top 10 hit in the United Kingdom.

The Michael Masser-composed ballad, "Touch Me in the Morning", became Ross' second number-one pop single as a solo artist in 1973. A resulting Touch Me in the Morning LP was a Top 10 success in both the United States and the United Kingdom.

In 1975, Ross again co-starred with Billy Dee Williams in the Motown film Mahogany. The story of an aspiring fashion designer who becomes a runway model and the toast of the industry, Mahogany was a troubled production from early on. The film's original director, Tony Richardson, was fired during production and Berry Gordy assumed the director's chair himself. In addition, Gordy and Ross clashed during filming, with Ross leaving the production before shooting had been completed. While a box office hit, the film was not a critical success: Time magazine's review of the film chastised Gordy for "squandering one of America's most natural resources: Diana Ross."

Ross hit number-one on the pop charts twice in 1976 with "Theme From Mahogany (Do You Know Where You're Going To)", and the disco single "Love Hangover". The successes of these singles made her 1976 album, Diana Ross her second LP to reach the Top 10. In 1977, her Broadway one-woman show earned the singer a special Tony Award. That same show was televised as a special on NBC and later released as An Evening with Diana Ross.

The same year, Motown acquired the rights to the popular Broadway play The Wiz, an African-American reinterpretation of L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Although teenaged Stephanie Mills, a veteran of the play, was originally cast as Dorothy, Diana Ross convinced Universal Pictures producer Rob Cohen to have Ross cast as Dorothy, As a result, the eleven-year old protagonist of the story was altered into a shy twenty-four year old schoolteacher from Harlem, New York. Among Ross' costars in the film were Nipsey Russell, Ted Ross, and her former labelmate and protégé Michael Jackson from the Jackson 5. Upon its October 1978 release, The Wiz was a costly commercial and critical failure, and was Ross' final film for Motown.

Returning to her again dormant singing career in 1979, Ross re-teamed with Nickolas Ashford & Valerie Simpson for the album The Boss, which became Ross' first gold-certified album (Motown sales records before 1977 were not audited by the RIAA, and therefore none of Motown's pre-1977 releases were awarded certifications). In 1980, Ross released her first platinum-certifed album, diana, produced by CHIC's front men Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards. The album included two of Ross' most successful and familiar solo hits, her fifth number-one single, "Upside Down", and the Top 5 single "I'm Coming Out".

Ross scored a Top 5 hit in late 1980 with the theme song to the 1980 film It's My Turn. The following year, she collaborated with former Commodores singer-songwriter Lionel Richie on the theme song for the film Endless Love. The "Endless Love" single became Ross' final hit on Motown Records. Feeling that Motown, and in particular Gordy, were keeping her from freely expressing herself, Ross left Motown for a reported $20 million to sign with RCA Records, ending her twenty-year tenure with the label. When "Endless Love" hit number-one in 1981, Ross became the first female artist in music history to place six number singles at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, surpassing Barbra Streisand's five number-ones and Donna Summer's four number-ones.

Ross' career during the 1980s and 1990s

Why Do Fools Fall in Love was Ross' debut LP for Ross Records distributed by RCA Records.

Diana Ross' RCA Records debut, the platinum-selling Why Do Fools Fall in Love, was issued in the summer of 1981. The album yielded Top 10 hits such as the title track "Why Do Fools Fall in Love", a remake of the 1956 Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers classic of the same name, and the single "Mirror, Mirror".

In 1983, Ross reunited with former Supremes Mary Wilson and Cindy Birdsong for the television special Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever. The three singers performed their 1969 number-one hit "Someday We'll Be Together", although altercations onstage between Ross and Wilson became an issue during the taping of the special. Ross, angered that Wilson and Birdsong had conspired to take a step forward every time she did, pushed Wilson towards the back of the stage. Ross and Wilson later argued onstage as Wilson was attempting to ask Berry Gordy to join them and the other Motown stars onstage for the finale. These incidents were excised from the final edit of the taped special, but still made their way into the news media; People magazine reported that "Ross [did] some elbowing to get Wilson out of the spotlight."

Later that year, Ross held a much-heralded concert in Central Park, the proceeds of which were to go towards building a playground in the singer's name. Fifteen minutes into the show, which was being filmed for Showtime cable television, it began to rain, and as she urged the crowd of 300,000 to safely exit the venue, Ross announced that she would continue the performance the next day. Ross' actions drew praise within the mainstream press. That next day, over 500,000 people came back for one of the largest free concerts in the park's history. However, the second show generated controversy. New York mayor Ed Koch objected to the expenses of a second show. To settle the matter, Ross personally wrote a check for an estimated $250,000 to cover the remaining costs. Although Koch's objections slowed the progress, the Diana Ross Playground was finally built three years later.

Other hit singles recorded by Ross for RCA included "Muscles" (1982), "Swept Away" (1984), "Missing You" (1984), and the UK number-one single, "Chain Reaction" (1986). While Ross continued to have success overseas as the 1980s continued, she began to struggle on the United States Billboard charts. In 1989, after leaving RCA, Diana Ross returned to Motown. The singer was now both a part-owner and recording artist.

In 1989, Diana Ross released her first Motown album in eight years, the Nile Rodgers-produced Workin' Overtime. Despite a top three R&B hit with the title track, the album failed to find a pop audience in America, much as Ross' later RCA releases has. Subsequent follow-ups such as 1991's The Force Behind the Power, 1995's Take Me Higher and 1999's Every Day is a New Day produced the same results.

Ross still had success with her latter-day Motown albums in the United Kingdom and Europe, however. In 1999, Diana Ross was named the most successful female singer in the history of the United Kingdom charts, based upon a tally of her career hits. Fellow Detroit singer Madonna would eventually beat Ross out as the most successful female artist in the UK. In 2002, Diana Ross and Motown parted ways.

Ross co-starred with R&B singer Brandy in the ABC television movie Double Platinum in 1999.

Diana Ross returned to acting in the ABC telefilm, Out of Darkness (1993), in which she played a woman suffering from schizophrenia. Once again, Ross drew critical acclaim for her acting, and scored her third Golden Globe nomination for acting. In 1999, Ross co-starred with young R&B singer Brandy for the ABC television movie Double Platinum playing a singer who neglected her daughter while concentrating on her career.

Later years

Diana Ross was a presenter at the 1999 MTV Video Music Awards, held that September. She shocked TV viewers when she grabbed rapper Lil' Kim's exposed breast, reportedly amazed at the open brashness of the rapper showcasing her body. In 2006, Clay Aiken would draw widespread and scathing criticism for placing his hand in front of Kelly Ripa's mouth (a move that was also met with some approval within the industry). The argument in Clay's case was that it was an undue invasion of a woman's space. A month after the Lil Kim incident, authorities at London's Heathrow Airport detained Ross for assaulting a female security guard. Angered over a "body search" by the guard that she felt was rather invasive, Ross had fondled the woman back. The singer was never charged, only questioned and then released.

In 2000, Ross announced a Supremes reunion tour, again with Wilson and Birdsong, called Return to Love. Controversy again rose between the band mates when Wilson and Birdsong were angered at how much the promoters would be paying them in comparison to what they would pay Ross (Wilson was offered three million, Birdsong was offered between one and two million, while Ross was offered fifteen million). Wilson and Birdsong were not pleased and dropped out of the tour. Instead, Ross ended up hiring latter-day Supremes Lynda Laurence and Scherrie Payne to complete the tour. Despite a respectable opening in Philadelphia, the tour was canceled after nine dates, because of lackluster ticket sales.

In December of 2002, Diana Ross was arrested in Tucson, Arizona on suspicion of driving under the influence. Ross later pleaded no contest, and served a two-day jail sentence in Connecticut. Afterwards, Ross entered a rehabilitation facility, and within months returned to perform on the road in Europe.

Current work

In 2005, Diana Ross returned to the charts with a pair of duets. "I Got a Crush on You" was recorded with Rod Stewart for his album The Great American Songbook, and reached number nineteen on the Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary chart. Another duet, recorded with Westlife, was a remake of Ross' 1991 number-two UK single, "When You Tell Me You Love Me", and reached number-two in the UK just as the original had.

In 2006, Motown released a shelved Ross album titled Blue, which was a collection of jazz standards recorded after Ross filmed Lady Sings the Blues. Released in June, Blue peaked at number-two on the jazz albums chart. In August, it was announced that Ross would release a new studio album of classic rock and soul standards on the independent label Anjel Records. The album, titled I Love You, was released on October 7 around the world and will be released on January 23, 2007 in North America, on the Manhattan Records label.

Personal life

Ross was born the second eldest of five children born to Fred and Ernestine Ross in Detroit, Michigan. Her sisters Barbara and Rita did not venture into show business. Instead, Barbara Ross became a doctor, while Rita Ross became a schoolteacher. Ross' younger brother Arthur "T-Boy" Ross was a successful songwriter for Motown, composing hits for Marvin Gaye, the Jackson 5, and others alongside Leon Ware. Ross' youngest brother, Wilbert "Chico" Ross, was a dancer on Ross' tours.

Ross dated, at various times during her Motown days, Eddie Kendricks of The Temptations, radio DJ Eddie Brasco, and Motown chief Berry Gordy, with whom she had a six-year relationship. Ross eventually married music business manager Robert Ellis Silberstein in August 1971. After divorcing him in March 1977, Ross publicly dated actor Ryan O'Neal and rocker Gene Simmons of the group KISS, before marrying Norwegian tycoon Arne Næss Jr. in October 1985. After a long-distance marriage, Næss made headlines in 1999 announcing his split from Ross, which was finalized in February 2000.

Ross is the mother of five children. She and Gordy are the parents of Rhonda Suzanne Silberstein (born 1971), now known as Rhonda Ross Kendrick. Ross and Robert Silberstein are the parents of Tracee Joy Silberstein (born 1972), now known as Tracee Ellis Ross, and Chudney Lane Silberstein (born 1975). Ross Arne Næss (born 1987) and Evan Olaf Næss, now known as Evan Ross (born 1988), are the children of Ross and Arne Næss.

Rhonda Ross Kendrick found fame in the television soap opera Another World, and had a brief career as a jazz singer. Tracee Ellis Ross pursued a career as a model, and later found fame as an actress: her sitcom, Girlfriends, ran on UPN from 2000 to 2006, and continues to run on The CW. Her youngest daughter, Chudney Ross, is a model, and was briefly a judge in a reality show Fame. Ross' youngest son, Evan Ross, received positive reviews for his role in the 2006 film ATL, in which he co-starred with rapper T.I.

Solo discography

Diana Ross' landmark 1980 album, diana, was her final LP for Motown Records before leaving for RCA the following year. diana was her most successful studio album to date, peaking at number-two on the Billboard 200 chart and selling over five million copies.

Further information: Diana Ross discography

Top Ten singles

The following singles reached the Top Ten on either the United States pop singles chart of the United Kingdom pop singles chart.

• 1970: "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" (US #1, UK #6)
• 1970: "Remember Me" (UK #7)
• 1971: "I'm Still Waiting" (UK #1)
• 1971: "Surrender" (UK #10)
• 1973: "Touch Me in the Morning" (US #1, UK #9)
• 1973: "All Of My Life" (UK #9)
• 1974: "You Are Everything" (with Marvin Gaye) (UK #5)
• 1975: "Theme From Mahogany (Do You Know Where You're Going To)" (US #1, UK #5)
• 1976: "Love Hangover" (US #1, UK #10)
• 1980: "Upside Down" (US #1, UK #2)
• 1980: "I'm Coming Out" (US #5)
• 1980: "My Old Piano" (UK #5)
• 1980: "It's My Turn" (US #9)
• 1981: "Endless Love" (with Lionel Richie) (US #1, UK #7)
• 1981: "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" (US #7, UK #4)
• 1982: "Mirror, Mirror" (US #8)
• 1982: "Work That Body" (UK #7)
• 1982: "Muscles" (US #10)
• 1984: "Missing You" (US #10)
• 1986: "Chain Reaction" (UK #1)
• 1991: "When You Tell Me You Love Me" (UK #2)
• 1992: "One Shining Moment" (UK #10)
• 1999: "Not Over You Yet" (UK #9)
• 2005: "When You Tell Me You Love Me" (with Westlife) (UK #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) (with The Supremes)
• Beach Ball (1965) (with The Supremes)
• Lady Sings the Blues (1972)
• Mahogany (1975)
• The Wiz (1978)

Television work

• Tarzan (TV show episode "The Convert", January 12, 1968, with The Supremes)
• T.C.B. (1968) (with The Supremes and the Temptations)
• G.I.T. on Broadway (1969) (with The Supremes and the Temptations)
• Diana! (1971)
• The Big Event: An Evening with Diana Ross (1977)
• Diana Ross in Concert! (1979)
• Standing Room Only: Diana Ross (1981)
• diana (1981)
• Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, and Forever (1983)
• 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 0-517-16622-4.
• (2002). Goin' Back. Indiana: Universe. ISBN 0-7893-0797-9. (a scrapbook-style collection of photographs & poems)

References

• Posner, Gerald (2002). Motown : Music, Money, Sex, and Power. New York: Random House. ISBN 0-375-50062-6.

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

• Official site of Diana Ross
• DIANA ROSS SUPERSTAR
• Dick's Diana Ross Website
• 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
• Reflections Of The Supremes