| Diana Ross |
|
| Born |
Diana Ernestine Earle Ross
March 26, 1944 (age 70)
Detroit, Michigan, U.S. |
| Occupation |
Singer, actress, record producer |
| Years active |
1959–present |
| Net worth |
 US$250 million (2013) |
| Spouse(s) |
Robert Silberstein (1971–77)
Arne Næss, Jr. (1986–2000) |
| Children |
Rhonda Ross Kendrick (b. 1971)
Tracee Ellis Ross (b. 1972)
Chudney Ross (b. 1975)
Ross Næss (b. 1987)
Evan Ross (b. 1988) |
| Musical career |
| Genres |
R&B, soul, disco, jazz, pop, dance, Adult contemporary |
| Instruments |
Vocals |
| Labels |
Lu Pine, Motown, RCA, EMI |
| Associated acts |
The Primettes, The Supremes, The Temptations, The Jackson 5, Marvin Gaye, Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie |
Diana Ernestine Earle Ross (born March 26, 1944
[1]) is an American singer, actress, record producer and an occasional songwriter. Born and raised in
Detroit, she rose to fame as a founding member and lead singer of the vocal group
The Supremes, which, during the 1960s, became
Motown's
most successful act and is to this day America's most successful vocal
group. As part of the Supremes, Ross most notably rivalled the career of
The Beatles in worldwide popularity, and their success made it possible for future African American
R&B and soul acts to find mainstream success.
Following her departure from The Supremes in 1970, Ross released her debut solo album,
Diana Ross, which contained the hits "
Reach Out and Touch (Somebody's Hand)" and "
Ain't No Mountain High Enough". Ross also ventured into acting, with a
Golden Globe Award and
Academy Award nominated performance in
Lady Sings the Blues (1972). She also starred in two other feature films,
Mahogany (1975) and
The Wiz (1978); later acting included roles in the television films
Out of Darkness (1994) and
Double Platinum (1998).
Beside ventures in Broadway, Ross was named the "Female Entertainer of the Century" by
Billboard magazine. In 1993, the
Guinness Book of World Records
declared Ross the most successful female music artist in history due to
her success in the United States and United Kingdom for having more
hits than any female artist in the charts with a career total of 70 hit
singles with her work with the Supremes and as a solo artist. Ross has
sold more than 100 million records worldwide when her releases with the
Supremes and as a solo artist are tallied.
In 1988, Ross was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as
member of the Supremes alongside Florence Ballard and Mary Wilson. She
is the recipient of the
Kennedy Center Honors in 2007 and the
Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012.
Early life
The Frederick Douglass housing project in Detroit where Diana spent her teenage years.
Diana Ross was born at
Hutzel Women's Hospital in Detroit on March 26, 1944.
[2] The second-eldest child of Ernestine (née Moten; January 27, 1916 – October 9, 1984), a
schoolteacher,
and Fred Ross, Sr. (July 4, 1920 – November 21, 2007), a former Army
soldier, Ross would later say that she didn't see much of her father
until he had returned from service following
World War II.
Much has been made of whether her first name ends in an "a" or an "e".
According to Ross, her mother actually named her "Diane" but a clerical
error resulted in her name being recorded as "Diana" on her birth
certificate. She always went by "Diane" at home and at school. Her high
school yearbook listed her as "Diana" and as early as 1963, when The
Supremes released their first album, she was listed in the liner notes
as "Diana". At The Supremes' first
Copacabana
engagement in 1965, she introduced herself to the audience as "Diane",
but later that year she started introducing herself as "Diana", but all
her intimates still call her "Diane".
[3][4]
Ross' grandfather John E. Ross, a native of
Gloucester County, Virginia, was born to Washington Ross and Virginia Baytop. The relatives of the Ross family of Gloucester County were considered
mulatto
for many generations, which suggests some European ancestry. Virginia
Baytop's mother Francis "Frankey" Baytop was a former slave who had
become a
midwife after the Civil War.
Ross and her family originally lived at Belmont Road in the
North End section of Detroit, near Highland Park, MI, where she was neighbors with
Smokey Robinson, who first met Ross when she was eight. On Diana's 14th birthday in 1958, the Ross family relocated to the
Brewster-Douglass housing projects
settling at St. Antoine Street. Unlike what would later be written
about in Supremes and Diana Ross biographies, Ross and her family grew
up comfortably among the street's working-class residents. By Ross'
teenage years, she had aspirations of being a fashion designer, studying
design, millinery, pattern-making and seamstress skills while attending
Cass Technical High School,
[5] a four-year college preparatory
magnet school, in
downtown Detroit.
Ross joined the swim team, participated in 3–4 other extracurricular
activities (according to their listing in her graduation photo) and took
modeling and cosmetology classes, via a loan provided by former
boyfriend, William "Smokey Boyo" Robinson. Ross also worked at Hudson's
Department Store where, it was claimed in biographies, she was the first
black employee "allowed outside the kitchen".
For extra income, she provided hairdressing services for her neighbors.
Ross graduated from Cass Tech in January 1962, one semester earlier
than her classmates.
Career
The Supremes: 1959–1970
Main article:
The Supremes
Diana Ross (far right) performing with
The Supremes as lead singer
At fifteen, Ross joined The Primettes, a sister group of a male vocal
group called The Primes, after being brought to the attention of music
manager Milton Jenkins by Primes member
Paul Williams. Along with Ross, the other members included
Florence Ballard,
Mary Wilson and
Betty McGlown. After winning a talent contest in
Windsor, Ontario, Canada after Ross led on the song, "
There Goes My Baby", they auditioned for
Motown Records. In Gordy's autobiography,
To Be Loved,
Gordy recalled he was heading to a business meeting when he heard Ross
singing "There Goes My Baby" and Ross' voice "stopped me in my tracks."
He then approached the group and asked them to perform it again.
Learning of their ages, Gordy advised them to come back after
graduation.
[7]
Undeterred, Ross brought the quartet to Motown's
Hitsville U.S.A.
headquarters daily, offering to provide extra help for Motown's
recordings, often including hand-claps and background vocals. That year,
the group recorded two tracks for
Lu Pine Records,
with Ross singing lead on one of the tracks. During the group's early
years, Ross served as hair stylist, make-up artist, seamstress and
costume designer. In late 1960, having replaced McGlown with
Barbara Martin,
the Primettes were allowed to record songs by themselves at Hitsville's
studio. In January 1961, Gordy agreed to sign the group on the
condition they change their name. Eventually
Janie Bradford
had Florence Ballard pick out one of three names, to which Ballard went
with "Supremes". Upon hearing of the new name, the other members
weren't impressed, with Ross telling Ballard she feared the group would
be mistaken for a male vocal group. Gordy signed the group under that
name on January 15. A year later, Barbara Martin left the group,
reducing the quartet to a trio. The group struggled for two years
recording for Motown and were often referred to as the "no-hit
Supremes". In late 1963, the group had their first hit with "
When the Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes".
At the end of the year, Gordy assigned Ross as the group's lead singer,
as the group originally didn't have a designated lead vocalist.
The group scored their first number-one hit with "
Where Did Our Love Go", paving the way for unprecedented success: between August 1964 and May 1967, Ross, Wilson and Ballard sang on ten
number-one hit singles, all of which also made the UK top forty.
[7]
The group had also become a hit with audiences both domestically and
abroad, going on to become Motown's most successful vocal act throughout
the sixties. Following significant issues with her comportment, weight,
and alcoholism, Florence Ballard was fired from The Supremes by Gordy
in July 1967, hiring
Cindy Birdsong from
Patti LaBelle and the Blue-Bells as Ballard's replacement. Simultaneously, Gordy renamed the group
Diana Ross & the Supremes,
made it easier to charge a larger performance fee for a solo star and a
backing group, as it did for other renamed Motown groups. Gordy
initially thought of Ross leaving the Supremes for a solo career in
1966, changing his mind when he figured the group's success was still
too significant for Ross to pursue solo obligations. Ross would remain
with the group until early 1970.
The group appeared as a trio of singing nuns in a 1968 episode of the popular
NBC TV series
Tarzan. Between their early 1968 single "
Forever Came Today" and their final single with Ross, "
Someday We'll Be Together", Ross would be the only Supremes member to be featured on many of their recordings, accompanied by
session singers The Andantes.
[8]
Gordy worked Ross diligently throughout this period and Ross, due to
anxiety arising from Gordy's demands of her, began suffering from
anorexia nervosa, according to her autobiography,
Secrets of A Sparrow.
In 1968, Ross started performing as a solo artist on television specials, including The Supremes' own specials such as
TCB and
G.I.T. on Broadway,
The Dinah Shore Show and a
Bob Hope
special, among others. In mid-1969, Gordy decided that Ross would
depart the group by the end of that year, and Ross began recording her
initial solo work that July. One of the first plans for Ross to
establish her own solo career was to publicly introduce a new Motown
recording act. Though she herself did not claim their discovery, Motown
pinned Ross as having discovered
The Jackson 5. Ross would introduce the group during several public events, including
The Hollywood Palace.
[9] In November, Ross confirmed a split from the Supremes in
Billboard.
Ross' presumed first solo recording, "Someday We'll Be Together", was
eventually released as a Supremes recording and became the group's final
number-one hit on the Hot 100. It was also the final number-one
Billboard Hot 100 single of the 1960s. Ross made her final appearance
with the Supremes at the
Frontier Hotel in
Las Vegas, Nevada on January 14, 1970.
Early solo career: 1970–1981
Ross's debut solo album,
Diana Ross, on Motown Records released in 1970.
Signing a solo contract with Motown in March 1970, Ross released her eponymous
solo debut, which included the hit singles, "
Reach Out and Touch (Somebody's Hand)" and "
Ain't No Mountain High Enough",
the latter of which hit number one on the pop chart and resulted in
Ross' first Grammy Award nomination, also becoming an international hit.
Ross would struggle with her second album,
Everything Is Everything, in the U.S., though its track, "
I'm Still Waiting", became a number-one hit in the UK the following year. Ross' third album,
Surrender, was better received and included the top 20 single, "
Remember Me" and her modestly successful version of "
Reach Out, I'll Be There", which like "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" before it, was produced in a dramatic fashion by
Ashford & Simpson. In 1971, Ross starred in her first TV special,
Diana! In 1972, her soundtrack to her film debut,
Lady Sings the Blues,
became her only number-one album, eventually selling two million
copies. Ross scored her second number-one single in 1973 with the
ballad, "
Touch Me in the Morning". Later that year, Motown issued
Diana & Marvin, a duet album with fellow Motown artist
Marvin Gaye. The album became a hit overseas, eventually being certified gold by the
British Phonographic Industry
for shipments of 100,000 copies. Ross toured throughout 1973 and 1974
in North America and abroad. Later in 1973, Ross became the first
entertainer in Japan's history to receive an invitation to the Imperial
Palace for a private audience with the Empress Nagako, wife of Emperor
Hirohito.
Following the failure of Ross' 1974 album,
Last Time I Saw Him, Ross returned to film with the film,
Mahogany, eventually achieving a third number-one hit on the Hot 100 with "
Theme from Mahogany (Do You Know Where You're Going To)". In 1976, Ross changed genres, recording the disco hit, "
Love Hangover", which became her fourth chart-topper. A year later, her 1977 concert special,
An Evening with Diana Ross, later resulted in Ross winning a
Special Tony Award. Her 1979 album,
The Boss, became the first album where Berry Gordy didn't serve as executive producer.
The Boss was certified gold by the
Recording Industry Association of America for shipments of 500,000 copies. In 1980, Ross issued her best-selling album to date,
diana, which featured her fifth number-one hit "
Upside Down" and the top ten single, "
I'm Coming Out". A year later, she scored her sixth and final number-one single in the duet ballad, "
Endless Love", featuring
Lionel Richie.
As Ross planned to leave Motown, she hired an attorney who saw that
Ross had only $300,000 to her name despite making millions of dollars
for the label. After several labels offered to sign her, Ross agreed to
sign with
RCA Records
for $20 million. Before signing, Ross called Gordy and asked him if he
could match the offer. Despite not being able to match the offer, Gordy
still begged Ross to think it over. Eventually Ross decided to leave and
sign RCA, confirming the deal on May 20, 1981, making it then the most
lucrative deal in music history at the time.
Film career: 1972–1999
In 1971, Diana Ross began working on her first film,
Lady Sings the Blues, which was a loosely based biography on music legend
Billie Holiday.
Some critics lambasted the idea of the singer playing Holiday
considering how "miles apart" their styles were. At one point, Ross
began talking with several of Holiday's acquaintances and listened to
her recordings to get into character. During an audition to acquire the
role, Ross would act on cue to the film's producers's commands, helping
Ross to win her part. When Berry Gordy heard Ross perform covers of
Holiday's material, he felt Ross had put "a little too
much" Holiday in her vocal range, advising Ross to "put a little Diana back into it."
Ross also talked with doctors at drug clinics in research of the
film, as Holiday had been a known drug addict. Ross would later make a
crucial decision when it came to interpreting Holiday's music: instead
of flatly imitating Holiday, she only focused on Holiday's vocal
phrasing. "Lady Sings the Blues" opened in theaters in October 1972,
becoming a major success in Ross's career. Jazz critic Leonard Feather, a
friend of Billie Holiday, praised Ross for "expertly capturing the
essence of Lady Day." Ross's role in the film won her
Golden Globe Award and
Academy Award nominations for Best Actress. Alongside
Cicely Tyson, who was nominated for her role in the film,
Sounder, they were the first
Black actresses to be nominated for the
Academy Award for Best Actress since
Dorothy Dandridge. The
soundtrack to "Lady Sings the Blues" became just as successful, reaching No. 1 on the
Billboard 200
staying there for two weeks and breaking then-industry records by
shipping 300,000 copies during the first eight days of its release. At
nearly two million in sales, it is one of Ross's best-selling albums to
date.
After the film, Ross returned to her music career, reemerging with another film in 1975 with
Mahogany, her second film, in which she starred alongside
Billy Dee Williams
and whose costumes she designed. The story of an aspiring fashion
designer who becomes a runway model and the toast of the industry,
Mahogany was a troubled production from its inception. 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 was completed, forcing Gordy
to use secretary Edna Anderson as a body double for Ross. While a box
office success, the film was not well received by the critics:
Time magazine's review of the film chastised Gordy for "squandering one of America's most natural resources: Diana Ross."
[11]
In 1977, Motown acquired the film rights to the Broadway play
The Wiz, an African-American reinterpretation of
L. Frank Baum's
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
The film initially was to include the stage actors who had performed on
the play. However, the role of Dorothy, which had been performed
onstage by
Stephanie Mills, would be given to Ross after she convinced film producer
Rob Cohen
to cast her in the role of Dorothy. This decision eventually led to a
change in the film's script in which Dorothy went from a schoolgirl to a
schoolteacher. The role of the Scarecrow, also performed by someone
else onstage, was eventually given to Ross's former Motown label mate,
Michael Jackson. The
film adaptation of The Wiz had been a $24 million production, but upon its October 1978 release, it earned only $21,049,053 at the box office.
[12][13][14] Though pre-release television broadcast rights had been sold to
CBS for over $10 million, the film produced a net loss of $10.4 million for Motown and Universal.
[13][14] At the time, it was the most expensive film musical ever made.
[15]
The film's failure ended Ross's short career on the big screen and
contributed to the Hollywood studios's reluctance to produce the
all-black film projects which had become popular during the
blaxploitation era of the early to mid-1970s for several years.
[16][17][18] The Wiz was Ross's final film for Motown.
Ross had success with movie-themed songs. While her version of Holiday's "
Good Morning Heartache" only performed modestly well in early 1973, her recording of "
Theme from Mahogany (Do You Know Where You're Going To)"
gave Ross her third number-one hit, in late 1975. Three years later,
Ross and Michael Jackson had a modest dance hit with their recording of "
Ease on Down the Road." Their second duet, actually as part of the ensemble of
The Wiz, "Brand New Day," found some success overseas. Ross scored a Top 10 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
Academy Award-nominated
title single
became her final hit on Motown Records, and the number one record of
the year. Several years later, in 1988, Ross recorded the theme song to
The Land Before Time. "If We Hold on Together" became an international hit, reaching number-one in Japan.
Ross would be given movie offers over the years, which she reportedly
rejected because of either contractual obligations or fears of
typecasting. Ross had campaigned to portray pioneering entertainer
Josephine Baker in a feature film even during her later years in Motown. However, in 1991, the feature film turned into a TV film with
Lynn Whitfield playing Baker instead of Ross. Ross was also offered a role in an early adaptation of
The Bodyguard with
Ryan O'Neal.
However, plans for this film fell through and it was never made. Years
later, the script began circulation around Hollywood again and this time
a film studio gave it the green light.
Whitney Houston and
Kevin Costner assumed the lead roles in the 1992 film. In 1993, Ross returned to acting with a dramatic role in the television film,
Out of Darkness. Ross won acclaim for her role in the TV movie and earned her third
Golden Globe nomination, although she did not win. In 1999, she and
Brandy Norwood co-starred in the television movie,
Double Platinum, which was aired prior to the release of Ross's album,
Every Day Is a New Day.
Continued solo career and development: 1981–1999
In October 1981, Ross released her first RCA album,
Why Do Fools Fall in Love. The album sold over a million copies and featured hit singles such as her remake of the
classic hit of the same name and "
Mirror Mirror."
At this same approximate time, Ross established her own production
company, which she named Anaid Productions (the "Anaid" being "Diana"
backwards), and also started investing in real estate, while also
touring extensively in the United States and abroad. Before the release
of
Why Do Fools Fall in Love, Ross hosted her first TV special in four years, featuring Michael Jackson in the special. In early 1982, Ross sang the "
Star-Spangled Banner" at
Super Bowl XVI and appeared on the dance show
Soul Train. The program devoted a full episode to her and Ross performed several songs from the
Why Do Fools Fall in Love album.
In 1982, she followed up the success of
Why Do Fools Fall in Love with
Silk Electric, which featured a selection of Michael Jackson's authorship, composition, and music production, "
Muscles,"
resulting in another top ten success for Ross. The album eventually
went gold under the strength of that song. In 1983, Ross ventured
further out of her earlier soul-based sound for a more
pop rock oriented sound following the release of the
Ross album. Though the album featured the hit single, "
Pieces of Ice," which music video garnered heavy rotation on video channel stations, except on MTV, the
Ross
album failed to generate any more hits and failed to go gold, dropping
out of the charts as quickly as it entered. On July 21, 1983, Ross
performed a concert in
Central Park for a taped
Showtime
special. Proceeds of the concert would be donated to build a playground
in the singer's name. Midway through the beginning of the show, a
torrential downpour occurred. Ross tried to keep on performing, but the
severe weather required that the show be stopped. Ross urged the large
crowd to exit the venue safely, promising to perform the next day.
The second concert held the very next day was without rain. The funds
for the playground were to be derived from sales of different items at
the concert; however, all profits earned from the first concert were
spent on the second. When the mainstream media discovered the exorbitant
costs of the two concerts, Ross faced criticism and poor publicity.
Although her representatives originally refused to pay anything for the
proposed playground, Ross herself later paid, out of pocket, the
$250,000 required to build the park. The
Diana Ross Playground was finally built three years later.
[19]
The Diana Ross Playground at 83rd and Central Park West is a beautiful
assortment of wood structures and classic outdoor children's gym
obstacles making it a lovely addition to the park.
In 1984, Ross's career spiked yet again with the release of the million-selling
Swept Away. This featured a duet with
Julio Iglesias, "
All of You," which was featured on both the albums they had then released—his
1100 Bel Air Place as well as her
Swept Away. It and the
title selection both became international hits, as did the chart-topping ballad, "
Missing You," which was a tribute to
Marvin Gaye, who
had died earlier that year after the moving poignant music video made a rare premiere on that year's American Music Awards show.
Swept Away proved to be a major success garnering platinum level sales.
Her 1985 album,
Eaten Alive, found major success overseas with
the title track and "
Chain Reaction,"
although neither of the songs became the best-sellers she was once
accustomed to in America. Both songs had strong music videos that
propelled the tracks to success. The
Eaten Alive video was patterned after 1960s horror film,
The Island of Dr. Moreau, while the
Chain Reaction music video saluted the 1960s
American Bandstand.
"Experience", the third international single's video reignited the
"Eaten Alive" romantic storyline with Diana and American actor,
Joseph Gian. The track,
Eaten Alive,
a collaboration with Barry Gibb and Michael Jackson, became a Top 20
seller across Europe underscoring that she and Michael were bigger
international stars. The
Barry Gibb produced album garnered an international #1 in "
Chain Reaction" and a Top 20 selling album.
Earlier in 1985, she appeared as part of the supergroup
USA for Africa on the '"
We Are the World"' charity single, which sold over 20 million copies worldwide. Ross's 1987 follow up to
Eaten Alive, Red Hot Rhythm & Blues,
found less success than the prior album. However, the accompanying
acclaimed television special was nominated for several Emmys (4).
In 1988, Ross chose to not renew her RCA contract. Around this same
time, Ross had been in talks with her former mentor Berry Gordy to
return to Motown. When she learned of Gordy's plans to sell Motown, Ross
tried advising him against the decision though he sold it to MCA
Records in 1988. (The first and only single, "
If We Hold on Together", theme song from the Steven Spielberg animated film,
The Land Before Time,
became a huge #1 international single in Japan and currently ranks as
the #24th Best Selling International Single of All Time in Japan).
Following this decision, Gordy offered Ross a new contract to return to
Motown with the condition that she have shares in the company as a
part-owner. Ross accepted the offer.
Despite its heavy promotion, Diana's next album,
Workin' Overtime, was a critical and commercial failure. Subsequent follow-ups such as
The Force Behind the Power (1991),
Take Me Higher (1995), and
Every Day Is a New Day (1999) produced similarly disappointing sales. Ross had more success overseas with the albums than she did in America.
In 1991, Ross became one of the few American artists to have headlined the annual
Royal Variety Performance, when she performed a selection of her UK hits in the presence of
Queen Elizabeth II and
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh at the
Victoria Palace Theatre, London.
"
The Force Behind the Power" sparked an international comeback of sorts, when the album went double platinum in the U.K.
[20] led by the No. 2 U.K. hit single, "
When You Tell Me That You Love Me". Ross would see the album perform successfully across Europe to Japan as "
The Force Behind the Power" went gold there. That single would be a lucky charm when a duet version with Irish group,
Westlife
also hit No. 2 in the U.K. in 2005. The album produced an astounding 9
singles across international territories, including another Top 10, "One
Shining Moment".
Ross had success in international markets through 1994, when "
One Woman",
a career retrospective compilation, would become No. 1 in the U.K.,
selling quadruple platinum in the U.K. That album did well across Europe
and in the
anglosphere. She would sell aggressively in international markets from 1991–94.
Ross performed during the Opening Ceremony of the
1994 FIFA World Cup held in Chicago and during the pre-match entertainment of the
1995 Rugby League World Cup final at
Wembley Stadium.
[21] On January 28, 1996, she performed the Halftime Show at
Super Bowl XXX.
In 1999, she was named the most successful female singer in the
history of the United Kingdom charts, based upon a tally of her career
hits.
Madonna would eventually succeed Ross as the most successful female artist in the UK. Later that year, Ross presented at the
1999 MTV Video Music Awards in September of the year and shocked the audience by touching
rapper Lil' Kim's exposed breast, pasty-covered nipple, amazed at the young rapper's brashness.
[22]
Supremes reunions, Return to Love, 2002 Solo Tour
Ross reunited with
Mary Wilson first in 1976 to attend the funeral service of
Florence Ballard, who had died in February of that year. In March 1983, Ross agreed to reunite with Wilson and
Cindy Birdsong for the television special "
Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever."
Before the special was taped later that evening, Wilson allegedly
planned with Birdsong to take a step forward every time Ross did the
same. This appeared to frustrate Ross, causing her to push Wilson's
shoulder. Later, Wilson was not aware of the script set by producer
Suzanne DePasse, in which Ross was to introduce Berry Gordy. Wilson took
it upon herself to do so, at which point Ross pushed down Wilson's
hand-held microphone, stating "It's been taken care of." Ross, then,
introduced Gordy.
[23][24] 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."
[25]
In 1999, Ross and mega-tour promoter SFX (which later became
LiveNation)
began negotiations regarding a Supremes tour in which all living former
Supremes would participate. Due to personal matters, neither
Jean Terrell nor late 1970s member
Susaye Greene (who was then living in London with her then-husband) participated.
Lynda Laurence and
Scherrie Payne were then touring as members of the
Former Ladies of the Supremes.
Mary Wilson agreed to begin negotiations, as did Cindy Birdsong.
Negotiations however to have the 1967–1970 lineup of the group perform
together for the first time in a concert tour since 1970 died down after
Wilson failed to come to terms with SFX's offer of $4 million, while
Ross had been offered, as co-producer of the tour, to split a percentage
of its profits with SFX; Birdsong accepted a $1 million deal, the
amount offered to all of the group's former members. Wilson eventually
decided against the tour and Birdsong reluctantly dropped out, causing
SFX to hire Payne and Laurence to sing with Ross on the tour. Both had
scored highly on SFX's Supremes name-recognition poll. Wilson came in
fourth. While Ross, Payne and Laurence had never performed together
during their Supremes' tenures, Laurence and Payne would later say they
got on well with Ross. The
Return to Love tour launched in June 2000, to a capacity audience in Philadelphia, PA.
In 2002, Ross entered rehabiliation in May, launched and cancelled a
North America solo tour, and was arrested for a DUI in December. Ross
cancelled the remaining dates of her summer concert tour of the United
States and Canada two months after entering drug and alcohol
rehabilitation centre Promises, in Malibu, California in May to "clear
up some personal issues." No reason was given for halting the 10-city
North American tour, which began in April at New York's Westbury Music
Fair. The 58-year-old singer performed gigs in Boston, Massachusetts and
Ontario, Canada before her spokeswoman confirmed reports she had
cancelled the rest of the dates.
Later career: 2004–present
In 2002, after spending two years away from the spotlight and after a stint in jail for committing a
DUI,
Ross returned to live touring, first in Europe and then in the United
States all within the same year. In 2005, she participated in
Rod Stewart's
Thanks for the Memory: The Great American Songbook, Volume IV recording a duet version of the Gershwin standard, "
I've Got a Crush on You".
The song was released as promotion for the album and later reached
number 19 on the Billboard's Hot Adult Contemporary chart, marking her
first Billboard chart entry since 2000. Ross was featured in another hit
duet, this time with
Westlife, on a cover of Ross' 1991 hit, "
When You Tell Me You Love Me", which repeated the same chart success of the original just fourteen years before.
In June 2006, Universal released Ross' shelved 1972
Blue
album. It peaked at No. 2 on Billboard's jazz albums chart. Later in
2006, Ross released her first studio album in seven years with
I Love You. It would be released on
EMI/
Manhattan Records in the United States in January 2007.
[26] EMI Inside later reported the album had sold more than 622,000 copies worldwide. Ross later ventured on a world tour to promote
I Love You which garnered rave reviews. In 2007, she was honored twice, first with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the
BET Awards and later was one of the honorees at the
Kennedy Center Honors.
In January 2008 at the Air Jamaica Jazz & Blues festival in
Jamaica it was reported "in the (Jamaica)Observer, where Diana Ross (The
Diva) was booed relentlessly Sunday at the Festival. It seems the Diva
did not want her image recorded anywhere, so she was adamant about no
big screens inside the venue. <
http://iriejamaica.blogspot.com/2008/01/diana-ross-booed-at-air-jamaica.html>"
In 2010, Ross embarked on her first headlining tour in three years titled the
More Today Than Yesterday: The Greatest Hits Tour. She dedicated the entire concert tour to her late friend,
Michael Jackson, who
died in June 2009. Ross has garnered critical success as well as commercial success from the now two-year tour.
In February 2012, Diana Ross received her first ever
Grammy Award, for
Lifetime Achievement, and announced the nominees for the
Album of the Year. In May, a DVD of Ross' Central Park concert performances,
For One & For All, was released and featured commentary from
Steve Binder, who directed the special. On November 6, 2012, Ross performed for a crowd in India for
Naomi Campbell's
then billionaire boyfriend, Vladimir Doronin's at his 50th birthday,
earning $500,000 for the performance. Following her final stage exit,
Ross tripped and broke her ankle. A month later, on December 9, Ross
performed as the marquee and headlining performer at the
White House-hosted
Christmas in Washington charity concert where she performed(in a leg cast)for President
Barack Obama, America's first African American president, during his second term. The event was later broadcast as an annual special on
TNT.
Diana continues to tour and recently completed a 2013 South American
tour, a multi-city U.S. late summer tour which launched August 2 in Los
Angeles through September 13 in Dallas. Several dates were sellouts.
2014 in Montreal, on July 3,Diana Ross is awarded with the
Ella Fitzgerald Award for " her extraordinary contribution to contemporary jazz vocals ", at the
Festival International de Jazz de Montréal .
So far she wants to visit
Japan next year.
Personal life
Ross has been married twice and has five children.
In 1965, Ross became romantically involved with Motown CEO
Berry Gordy. The relationship lasted several years, resulting in the birth of Ross' eldest child,
Rhonda Suzanne Silberstein,
in August 1971. Two months into her pregnancy with Rhonda, in January
1971, Ross married music executive Robert Ellis Silberstein, who chose
to raise Rhonda as his own daughter. With Silberstein, Ross has two
additional daughters,
Tracee Joy and Chudney Lane Silberstein, born in 1972 and 1975 respectively.
[27] Ross and Silberstein divorced in 1977,
[28]
and Ross moved to New York City in the early 1980s, after living in Los
Angeles since Motown relocated to the area in the early 1970s.
[citation needed]
Ross met her second husband, Norwegian billionaire shipping magnate
Arne Næss, Jr. in 1985 and married him the following year. They have two sons together: Ross Arne (born in 1987)
[citation needed] and
Evan Olav (born in 1988). Ross and Næss divorced in 2000.
[29] Ross considers Næss the love of her life.
[citation needed] Næss was later killed in a South African mountain climbing accident in 2004.
[30]
Ross has two grandchildren: grandson Raif-Henok (born in 2009 to
Ross's daughter Rhonda) and granddaughter Callaway Lane (born in 2012 to
Ross's daughter Chudney).
[31] In 2014, singer
Ashlee Simpson became Ross's daughter-in-law, through her marriage to Ross's son Evan.
[32]
Ross was arrested for
DUI on December 30, 2002 in
Tucson, Arizona, while undergoing substance abuse treatment at a local rehabilitation facility.
[33] She later served a two-day sentence near her Connecticut estate.
[citation needed]
Legacy
Ross has influenced many artists including
Michael Jackson,
[34] Beyoncé,
[35] Janet Jackson,
Whitney Houston,
Mariah Carey,
Kelly Rowland,
Lil' Kim,
Solange,
Taylor Swift,
Ashley Tisdale,
Madonna,
Katy Perry,
Fergie,
Jennifer Lopez,
Mary J Blige,
Leona Lewis,
RuPaul,
Rihanna and
Nicole Scherzinger.
As a member of the Supremes, Ross helped influenced other
African-American women who have succeeded the Supremes in popular music,
such as
The Three Degrees,
The Emotions,
The Pointer Sisters,
En Vogue,
TLC,
Destiny's Child and
Cleopatra.
Various works have been inspired by Ross' career and life. The character of Deena Jones in
Dreamgirls was inspired by Ross herself.
[36] As well,
Sparkle
was influenced by Ross and the Supremes as the name of the group was
"Sister & The Sisters", in reference to "Diana Ross & the
Supremes".
Motown: The Musical
is a Broadway musical that launched on April 14, 2013. It is the story
of Berry Gordy's creation of Motown Records and his romance with Diana
Ross.
As a member of The Supremes, her songs "Stop! In the Name of Love"
and "You Can't Hurry Love" are among the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's
500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.
[37] They were inducted into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988, received a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1994, and entered into the
Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1998. In 2004,
Rolling Stone placed the group at number 96 on their list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time".
[38]
As lead singer of the Supremes and as a solo artist, Ross has earned
18 number-one singles. Ross is also credited for singing on the
number-one single "
We Are the World" as part of the
USA for Africa collective. Ross was featured on
The Notorious B.I.G.'s 1997 number-one hit, "
Mo Money Mo Problems" as her voice from her 1980 hit, "
I'm Coming Out",
was sampled for the song. Billboard magazine named Ross the "female
entertainer of the century" in 1976. In 1993, she earned a
Guinness World Record,
due to her success in the United States and United Kingdom for having
more hits than any other female artist in the charts with a career total
of 70 hit singles. Ross is also one of the few recording artists to
have two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame—one as a solo artist and
the other as a member of The Supremes. After Diana Ross' 1983 concert in
Central Park,
Diana Ross Playground was named in her honor with a ground breaking opening ceremony in 1986.
The Jackson 5's debut album,
Diana Ross Presents the Jackson 5,
title suggested that Ross had discovered the group, as do the
Ross-penned liner notes on the back album cover. Ross' "discovery" of
the Jackson 5 was part of Motown Records marketing and promotions plan
for the Jackson 5, however, Ross did introduce the group to the public
both in concert and on television.
In 2006, Diana was one of 25 African American women saluted at
Oprah Winfrey's Legends Ball, a three-day celebration, honoring their contributions to art, entertainment and civil rights.
Diana Ross was named one of the
Five Mighty Pop Divas of the Sixties along with
Dusty Springfield,
Aretha Franklin,
Martha Reeves and
Dionne Warwick.
Tours
Solo discography
Filmography
Television
Theater
Autobiographies
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