Diana Ross (1944-present) has a career that has spanned the last six decades. She is the only female artist to have number one singles as a solo artist; as a duet; as a member of a trio; and as an ensemble member. Her vocals shaped what is known as the Motown sound and have influenced generations of artists.
Diana Ross (1944-present) has a career that has spanned the last six decades. She is the only female artist to have number one singles as a solo artist; as a duet; as a member of a trio; and as an ensemble member. Her vocals shaped what is known as the Motown sound and have influenced generations of artists.
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Today’s living legend has a career that’s spanned the last six decades. She is the only female artist to have number one singles as a solo artist; as a duet; as a member of a trio; and as an ensemble member. Her vocals shaped what is known as the Motown sound and have influenced generations of artists.
Let’s talk about Diana Ross.
Diana Ross was born on March 26, 1944, in Detroit, Michigan. She was the second oldest of seven children. Diana spent the majority of her childhood in Detroit, but when she was seven, her father moved the family to Alabama to be close to relatives after her mother was diagnosed with tuberculosis. Upon her mother’s recovery, the family returned to Detroit.
At the beginning of her adolescence, Diana and her family moved from the North End section of Detroit to the working class Brewster-Douglass Housing Projects. Diana attended Cass Technical high school, the only magnet school in Detroit at the time.
When she was 15, Diana joined the all-girl music group, the Primettes. The group originally included Diana, Mary Wilson, Florence Ballard, and Barbara Martin. Barbara eventually dropped out in 1962. With Florence on lead vocals, the Primettes performed around town, at sock hops, and talent competitions.
Once they realized their local popularity, Diana asked her friend and former neighbor, Smokey Robinson, to bring them to Motown Records to audition for executives. In his autobiography, Motown Records label founder, Berry Gordy Jr., remembers being “stopped in his tracks” on his way to a business meeting when he heard Diana singing “There Goes My Baby”. In January 1961, Berry signed the Primettes to Motown Records. But they had to change their name.
Now known as the Supremes, the group landed their first number one hit with “Where Did Our Love Go?” in 1964. This was just the beginning of unprecedented success. Between August 1964 and May 1967, the Supremes released 10 number one hit singles. With a string of songs like “Baby Love”, “Come See About Me”, “Stop In the Name of Love” and “Back in My Arms Again,” they became the first U.S. group to have five #1 songs in a row.
Berry, recognizing Diana’s star quality, replaced Florence with Diana on lead vocals in 1967. If that wasn’t enough to highlight Diana’s role as the star of the group, he also changed the name to Diana Ross and the Supremes. Berry expected a lot from Diana. As Motown’s most successful vocal act throughout the sixties, the work was continuously rolling in. As a result, Diana began suffering from severe anxiety and anorexia. She had to be hospitalized for exhaustion after collapsing on stage during a 1967 performance in Boston
Toward the end of the 1960s, Berry began positioning Diana to go solo and in 1970, Diana left the group to pursue her own career. Her debut album, Diana Ross, featured the hit song, “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”.
In 1971, Diana married her first husband, music business manager, Robert Ellis Silberstein. They raised three daughters - Rhonda, Tracee, and Chudney.
With her new level of stardom, Diana tried her hand in acting in 1972. She played Billie Holiday in the biopic Lady Sings the Blues. This performance won her a Golden Globe Award and a nomination for Best Actress from the Academy. The film’s soundtrack, which Diana recorded, became a number one hit on the U.S. album chart.
The next year, in 1973, Diana became the first performer in Japan’s history to receive an invitation to perform in front of a private audience, including Empress Nagako, at the Imperial Palace.
She continued breaking barriers and making history when she became the first African-American woman to co-host the Academy Awards in 1974. Billboard named her the “Female Entertainer of the Century” in 1976. Diana’s other notable acting roles include her part as the protagonist in the 1975 film Mahogany and Dorothy in The Wiz, the 1978 African American film adaptation of the Wizard of Oz.
In the 1980s, Diana continued to soar. She started off by releasing Diana, her most successful album as a solo artist. It featured number one “Upside Down” and popular dance track “I’m Coming Out”.
But by 1981, Diana left Motown records and signed a $20 million, seven-year, contract with RCA Records that gave her complete control over her music. At the time, it was the most expensive recording deal for a single artist. That same year, she sang the Star-Spangled Banner at the Super Bowl and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Diana is among a small cohort of artists who actually have two stars - one as a solo artist and the other as a member of The Supremes. During her RCA era, Diana released six studio albums. It was also during this time that she married Norwegian businessman, Arne Næss Jr. The couple had two sons, Ross and Evan.
In 1988, Diana was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Supremes. And in 1999, Diana was named the most successful female singer in the history of the United Kingdom charts.
Diana continues to put forth albums, including her 25th studio album Thank You in November 2021. The album was written and recorded during the Covid-19 pandemic. Some of Diana’s other outstanding achievements include the Grammy Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2012, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016, and the Lifetime Achievement honors at the American Music Awards in 2017.
With over 50 albums that span the range of pop, soul, disco, and Motown,
Diana Ross embodies what it means to be timeless.