After several years as the lead singer of the MOTOWN group, the Supremes, Diana Ross achieved superstardom in the 1970s and 1980s, appearing in cabarets and films, as well as making a series of albums and singing on several records that reached the top of the charts.
Born in Detroit, Michigan, on March 26, 1944, Diane Ernestine Ross joined the female group, the Primettes, while still in high school. The group was signed by Berry Gordy’s Motown label in 1961 and renamed the Supremes. Diana was soon promoted to lead singer as Gordy valued her looks and style over Florence Ballard’s superior vocal abilities.
As the Supremes vaulted to the upper echelons of pop music in the early 1960s, Gordy groomed Ross for a solo career, changing the name of the group to “Diana Ross and the Supremes” in 1967. These machinations (along with persistent rumours of romantic involvement between Ross and Gordy) led to considerable tension within the group.
After the Supremes disbanded in 1970, Ross’s solo career began with the hits “Reach Out and Touch (Somebody’s Hand),” and “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.” She married a businessman, Robert Silberstein, in April 1971, but the marriage ended in divorce five years later.
Ross’s career branched out in 1971 when she hosted a television show Diana! The following year, Motown used Ross’s star power to launch its foray into the movie business. Her surprisingly strong performance in Lady Sings the Blues, a film biography of Billie Holiday, earned Ross an Oscar nomination. Ross’s subsequent starring roles, unfortunately, ranged from mediocre (Mahogany, 1975) to forgettable (Wiz, 1978, in which she played Dorothy in a modern version of The Wizard of Oz).
Ross continued to score hits, including “Touch Me in the Morning” (1973) and “Theme from Mahogany” (1975), although she seemed headed for the cabaret spot of the supperclubs with this material.
Ross signaled a change of direction in 1976, however, with the seven-minute disco epic “Love Hangover.” She followed this path through 1980, when she released her funkiest single, the Top 10 hit “Upside Down,” produced by Chic’s Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards. Refreshing as this material was, her treacly 1981 duet with Lionel Richie, “Endless Love,” never-theless was also a big hit.
At this point in her career, Ross severed her links with Motown and signed with RCA. She appeared more interested in being a media star than a musical artist, and her prima donna-like behaviour prompted severe criticism in the press. During the taping of Motown’s 25th anniversary television special in the spring of 1983, Ross was seen giving ex-Supreme Mary Wilson a hefty shove. That summer, her concert in New York’s Central Park was a fiasco, costing the city $650,000 in damages and police overtime.
Ross’s record sales were declining as well. Other than “Missing You,” her tender 1984 tribute to Marvin Gaye, Ross’s showings on the American charts dropped precipitously. However, she remained popular elsewhere, scoring a No. 1 hit in the U.K. in 1986 with “Chain Reaction.”
The 1990s found Ross focusing on non-musical pursuits. Her 1993 memoir, Secrets of a Sparrow, allowed Ross to reflect on her legacy as a superstar: “Through the burden of my celebrity, I have learned certain ways to carry myself and my loads. I always try to see the bigger scheme of things and in so doing find a form of grace with which to live my life.”
Greg Bower
SEE ALSO:
MOTOWN; PHILADELPHIA SOUND; SOUL.
Ross, Diana. Secrets of a Sparrow: Memoirs (New York: Villard Books, 1993);
Taraborrelli, J. Randy. Call Her Miss Ross: The Unauthorised Biography of Diana Ross (London: Pan, 1991).
Diana Ross & the Supremes; The Force Behind the Power, Ross; Why Do Fools Fall in Love.