Dutch postcard by Art Promotion, Amsterdam. Photo: EMI / Bovema.
Vintage photo. Photo: Francesco Scavullo. Diana Ross on the cover photo of her album 'Diana' (1980).
Lady Sings the Blues
Diane Ernestine 'Diana' Ross was born in Detroit, Michigan, in 1944). She was the second daughter of Fred Ross Sr., a factory worker and Ernestine Moten, a teacher in a family of six children. After being raised in housing projects for most of the late 1940s and early 1950s, Diana started singing in the gospel choir of a Baptist church.
Together with Mary Wilson, Florence Ballard and Barbara Martin, she formed The Primettes, at age 15 in 1959. It was the sister group of a male vocal group called The Primes. They were brought to the attention of music manager Milton Jenkins by Primes member Paul Williams. After getting a contract with Motown in 1960, Barbara Martin left the group. The name of the group was changed to The Supremes in 1961. The trio's first singles turned out to be flops, but The Supremes had a notable hit in 1963 with 'When the Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes'. Their breakthrough came in 1964 with the song 'Where Did Our Love Go'.
It was the first of twelve number-one hits for the Supremes on the US singles chart, including such classics as 'Stop! In the Name of Love' or 'You Keep Me Hangin' on'. In 1967, they became Diana Ross and the Supremes. Florence Ballard was fired by Motown owner Berry Gordy, after which Cindy Birdsong joined and they formed a singing trio again. The Supremes recorded several major hits during this period, almost all written and produced by the Holland-Dozier-Holland trio. In October 1969, Ross left the group and embarked on a solo career that also proved successful. Her first big hit was a new version of the Ashford & Simpson-written 'Ain't No Mountain High Enough' in 1970.
She then starred in a film adaptation of Billie Holiday's life, Lady Sings the Blues (Sidney J. Furie, 1972) with Richard Pryor and Billy Dee Williams. She received an Oscar nomination for her role. The accompanying soundtrack was one of Ross' biggest commercial successes and her only number-one on the US album charts. In 1973, she released an album of duets with Marvin Gaye under the title 'Diana and Marvin'. Several duets from this album became big hits.
In 1975, she returned to the big screen in the film Mahogany (Berry Gordy, 1975) with Billy Dee Williams and Anthony Perkins. The title song 'Do You Know Where You're Going To' became a No. 1 hit. Her second, self-titled album entered the top 10. In February 1976, just before another #1 hit with 'Love Hangover', she was stunned when her singing partner and friend, Florence Ballard, died after complications from a combination of alcohol abuse and long-term depression, which led to cardiac arrest. Ballard was only 32 years old and Ross was devastated by the loss.
Dutch postcard by Muziek Parade, Hilversum, no. AX 6654. The most successful American performers of the 1960s, The Supremes for a time rivalled even The Beatles in terms of red-hot commercial appeal, reeling off five number-one singles in a row at one point.
West German postcard by Filmbilder Verleih Ernst Freihoff, Essen, no. AX 6510.
The ultimate gay anthem
Diana Ross played the role of Dorothy in the film musical The Wiz (Sidney Lumet, 1978). It is the film adaptation of the 1975 Broadway musical of the same name. A striking feature is the cast that is entirely African-American with Michael Jackson performing the role of Scarecrow. The film is a modern version of the film The Wizard of Oz (Victor Fleming, 1939), which is based on the 1900-1920 stories about the Wizard of Oz by writer L. Frank Baum.
The songs 'Ease On Down The Road' and 'A Brand New Day' became hits. However, The Wiz itself, which at the time was the most expensive film musical ever made, proved to be a commercial failure, as its $24,000,000 production recouped only $13,600,000 at the cinema box office. The film's failure meant that Hollywood studios were no longer producing the all-black cast film projects that had become popular during the 1970s.
Particularly successful was the album 'The Boss', another Ashford & Simpson production, which reached number one on the disco charts and became a nickname for Ross. This success was surpassed by her collaboration with Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards of Chic, who produced her solo album 'Diana' in 1980 and wrote all the songs included.
Although Disco had lost a lot of popularity at that time, especially in the USA, the single 'Upside Down' reached number one in the charts, not only in the USA. It is still her biggest international hit. The following single from 'Diana', 'I'm Coming Out', was also an international success, with which Ross still opens her shows today. According to the musicians, Ross was not aware that Rodgers and Edwards were thinking of a homosexual coming out. They wanted to take advantage of Ross' great popularity with gays, especially with drag queens.
Decades later, Billboard magazine was still calling the song the "ultimate gay anthem" and Ross herself a "gay icon". In 1981, Ross's duet with Lionel Richie, 'Endless Love', proved to be the best-selling single of her career. It was her last hit on the Motown label. After this, she signed a $20 million contract with RCA for the US and Canada and EMI for the rest of the world.
Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin, no. C.P.C.S. 33 150.
American postcard by Coral-Lee, Rancho Cordova, CA, no. Personality # 4, 1977, no. SC1768. Photo: Douglas Kirkland / Contact.
The Long Walk Out of the Night
Diana Ross's first platinum-selling album, 'Why Do Fools Fall in Love', was a worldwide success, with the title track, a cover of the Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers classic, reaching the Top 10 on the UK and US charts. Another single, 'Work That Body', had Ross as co-writer for the first time and again reached the Top 10 in the UK. Subsequent albums 'Silk Electric' (1982) and 'Swept Away' (1984) were also successful and received gold awards in the US.
Ross intensified her collaboration with famous colleagues, especially with regard to the singles charts. The hits in those years were 'Muscles', described by Rolling Stone as a "modern pop masterpiece", written and produced by Michael Jackson; 'All of You', a duet with Spanish superstar Julio Iglesias; 'Swept Away', written and produced by the successful pop duo Hall & Oates; and 'Eaten Alive', with Michael Jackson on backing vocals, written and produced by Barry Gibb.
'Chain Reaction' (1985), written by The Bee Gees, became a big hit in England and elsewhere, where it reached number 1. After a few more albums, she returned to Motown in the late 1980s. There she had a contract until 2001. Ross continued to be very successful as an entertainer on international tours, but sales of her records and CDs increasingly declined. Only Great Britain remained largely loyal to her. For example, her single 'When You Tell Me That You Love Me' reached second place in the British charts in 1991. In 1994, Ross played her first leading television role in the film The Long Walk Out of the Night (Larry Elikann, 1994). Her portrayal of a woman suffering from paranoid schizophrenia was critically acclaimed and earned her another Golden Globe nomination. In 1999, she followed it up with another television film, Double Platinum (Robert Allan Ackerman, 1999), alongside Brandy and songs from Ross' then-current album 'Every Day Is a New Day'. This is her last film work to date.
In 2006, Motown released 'Blue', an album of jazz songs that had been recorded in the early 1970s but never released. This album charted worldwide. Since 2018, Ross reached the number one spot on the US dance chart four times with remixes of her classic songs 'Ain't No Mountain High Enough' (2018), 'I'm Coming out/Upside Down' (2018), 'The Boss' (2019), and 'Love Hangover' (2020). In 2020, she released 'Supertonic Mixes', on which house producer Eric Kupper remixed her greatest hits. On 4 June 2022, she performed at the jubilee concert at Buckingham Palace in London to mark the 70th anniversary of the reign of Queen Elizabeth II.
Diana Ross was married twice: to Robert Ellis Silberstein from 1971 to 1977, and to Norwegian businessman Arne Næss from 1986 to 2000. Næss died in 2004 as a result of an accident while mountaineering in South Africa. Ross has two daughters with Silberstein, model and actress Tracee Joy (1972) and entertainer Chudney Lane (1975) and two sons with Næss, mountaineer and photographer Ross Arne (1987) and actor Evan Olav (1988). She also has a daughter with Berry Gordy, Rhonda Suzanne, who was born in 1971 when Ross was married to Silberstein for six months. Ross was also named in Michael Jackson's will as guardian for the children after his death. In the summer of 2009, Ross became a grandmother for the first time. Her eldest daughter Rhonda gave birth to a baby boy. Two years later, Ross appeared on the talk show Oprah with all of her five children and her grandson.
French postcard by Humour à la Carte, Paris, no. A-C 301. Photo: Douglas Kirkland. Cover photo for 'Why do fools fall in love' (1981).
French postcard by Media Com + Promotion de l'Art de la Communication, no. Record 69. Photo: Uwe Ommer. Cover photo for 'Ross' (1983).
Sources: Wikipedia (Dutch, German and English), and IMDb.
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