Diane Ernestine Earle Ross was born on March 26, 1944, in Detroit, Michigan. Her name was misspelled on her birth certificate and she later decided she preferred the name Diana, anyway. The second of six children, Ross had a tough childhood living in housing projects. She developed an early love of singing, and joined the choir in her local Baptist church. At the age of fifteen she and her friends Mary Wilson and Florence Ballard formed a vocal group, The Primettes. Motown's Berry Gordy discovered the group and renamed them The Supremes, marketing Ross as the focal point of the group because he thought her voice had the crossover appeal to sell to white audiences. Between 1964 and 1967, The Supremes had twelve #1 hits, and became the most successful American pop act of the decade. But Motown had further plans for Ross, and in 1970 she went solo.
Ross' first solo single, "Reach Out and Touch (Somebody's Hand)," was not initially a great success, but her follow-up, a cover of Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell's "Ain't No Mountain High Enough," went straight to #1 and established her beyond doubt as a capable solo artist. She went on to record an album of duets with Marvin Gaye himself, though the two singers never actually shared a studio as Ross was then pregnant and Gaye refused to stop smoking marijuana while he performed. In 1976 Ross took on disco with the seven minute dance hit "Love Hangover," and her later album, Diana, produced by Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards of CHIC, established her as one of disco's greatest divas. This, together with her first 1980s #1 hit, "I'm Coming Out," established her as a gay icon.
When she wasn't achieving chart success, Ross was busy in Hollywood. Critics were decidedly unimpressed when, having only previously acted for television, she was cast as Billie Holliday in the biopic Lady Sings the Blues. But upon seeing the finished product, critics gave Ross great notices. She received an Oscar nomination and won a Golden Globe award for Best Actress. She also went on to appear in Mahogany with Billy Dee Williams and Anthony Perkins, and to star as Dorothy in Sidney Lumet's musical Wizard of Oz adaptation The Wiz, alongside Michael Jackson and Richard Pryor. Later in her career Ross appeared in TV movies and contributed to numerous soundtracks. She also contributed to film scripts and produced several films about the music industry.
In 1981, following a duet with Lionel Richie, Ross left Motown and signed to RCA, with whom she recorded the massive hits "Chain Reaction" and "Why do Fools Fall in Love?" However, with sales dwindling in the late 80s, she returned to Motown to record Working Overtime. Though she continued to enjoy chart success, she was no longer able to create the public response which her early work had generated. After 2002, Ross concentrated on working with other established stars, including Rod Stewart and Westlife.
Ross has been a subject of several books, including her autobiographies Secrets of a Sparrow: Memoirs, and Goin' Back to Indiana: Universe, as well as Mary Wilson's autobiography Dreamgirl: My Life as a Supreme and the popular All That Glitters, and Motown: Music, Money and Power. She was at the center of scandals regarding her sometimes aggressive behavior, rumored drinking problems, and driving offences.
Ross has been married twice. Her first marriage was to music promoter Robert Ellis Silberstein, with whom she has two daughters, Tracee and Chudnee. She also has a daughter with long term friend and record producer Berry Gordi, Rhonda Ross Kendrick. Later she married Norwegian shipping magnate Arne Næss Jr., with whom she had two sons, Ross and Evan. Næss died in a mountain climbing accident a year after their divorce. She has also been romantically linked to Smokey Robinson, Eddie Kendricks, Ryan ONeal, and Gene Simmons.
YUDDY
