Diana Ross Biography Quotes 27 Report mistakes

Early Life
Diana Ross was born on March 26, 1944, in Detroit, Michigan, and grew up in the Brewster-Douglass housing projects during the postwar boom that helped shape the city and its music culture. She attended Cass Technical High School, a selective public magnet known for its arts curriculum, where she studied subjects that included fashion and design while nurturing a growing interest in singing. Detroit was then the center of the Motown sound, and Ross and her friends absorbed the harmonies, stagecraft, and discipline that would soon define their careers.

The Supremes and Motown
Ross joined friends Florence Ballard, Mary Wilson, and Betty McGlown to form the Primettes in 1959. With the encouragement of Smokey Robinson, they sought an audition at Berry Gordy Jr.'s Motown Records. Initially told to finish school, they kept returning to Hitsville U.S.A., singing on demos and learning professional polish through Motown's fabled Artist Development, where Maxine Powell coached stage presence and Cholly Atkins refined choreography. When McGlown departed, Barbara Martin briefly joined before the group, soon renamed the Supremes, crystallized around Ross, Ballard, and Wilson.

Holland-Dozier-Holland wrote and produced a run of hits that made the Supremes the most successful American vocal group of the 1960s. With Ross as lead singer, they scored No. 1 singles such as Where Did Our Love Go, Baby Love, Stop! In the Name of Love, You Cannot Hurry Love, and You Keep Me Hangin On, becoming ambassadors of the Motown sound on television and overseas tours. Creative and managerial tensions grew as fame intensified; Ballard left in 1967 and was replaced by Cindy Birdsong, and the act was rebranded as Diana Ross & the Supremes. Their 1969 single Someday We Will Be Together served as a poignant farewell to the original era as Ross prepared to go solo with Berry Gordy championing her next step.

Transition to Solo Stardom
Ross debuted as a solo artist in 1970 with the album Diana Ross. Guided by the songwriting and production team Ashford & Simpson, she released Reach Out and Touch (Somebody's Hand) and a transformed version of Ain't No Mountain High Enough, which became a No. 1 hit and an anthem. She followed with Touch Me in the Morning, produced in part by Michael Masser, establishing herself as a ballad interpreter with dramatic conviction. Throughout the 1970s she balanced lush pop and soulful disco, including Love Hangover and the chart-topping Theme from Mahogany (Do You Know Where You Are Going To). Her repertoire broadened while she retained Motown poise and the exacting standards of performance learned on the Supremes stage.

Acting and Screen Presence
Ross expanded into film with immediate impact. In Lady Sings the Blues (1972), she portrayed Billie Holiday with emotional intensity that earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress and a Golden Globe win early in her screen career. She followed with Mahogany (1975), directed in part by Berry Gordy, playing an aspiring fashion designer swept into the complexities of fame, and The Wiz (1978), a musical reimagining of The Wizard of Oz alongside Michael Jackson, Lena Horne, and Richard Pryor. These projects showcased her ability to translate musical charisma into dramatic roles, and they connected her to a wider Hollywood network while reinforcing her identity as a multifaceted entertainer.

1980s Reinvention and Global Icon
At the turn of the decade Ross collaborated with Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards of Chic on the 1980 album Diana, yielding the worldwide hits Upside Down and I'm Coming Out. The latter became a pop standard and a cultural statement, celebrated across generations. In 1981 she signed a landmark solo deal with RCA, launching with Why Do Fools Fall in Love and Mirror, Mirror. She scored a blockbuster duet with Lionel Richie on Endless Love, a No. 1 single that became one of the decade's signature ballads. The mid-1980s found her experimenting with contemporary producers; Eaten Alive included contributions from Barry Gibb and Michael Jackson, and Chain Reaction, penned by the Bee Gees, topped charts abroad. Her 1983 rain-swept Central Park concert, continued the following day after a storm cut it short, underlined her bond with a vast public audience and the professionalism instilled during the Motown years.

Later Work, Tours, and Honors
Ross returned to Motown in the 1990s, releasing Take Me Higher and Every Day Is a New Day while focusing on touring and television specials that celebrated her catalog. A planned Supremes-themed Return to Love tour in 2000 placed her alongside former group members Scherrie Payne and Lynda Laurence after negotiations with Mary Wilson did not yield an agreement; though short-lived, it highlighted the enduring fascination with the Supremes legacy. Over subsequent decades she continued to tour internationally, curating shows that combined elegant staging with the essential songs of both her group and solo eras.

Recognition accumulated across institutions that had been shaped by her success. Ross was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with the Supremes in 1988. She received the Kennedy Center Honors in 2007, the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016. Honors from organizations across music, film, and television have affirmed a career that helped define the role of a modern pop diva: vocalist, bandleader, fashion influence, and cultural symbol.

Personal Life and Relationships
The people closest to Ross have often intersected with her creative life. Her long professional and personal relationship with Berry Gordy was central to her rise at Motown. In 1971 she married music executive Robert Ellis Silberstein, who supported her early solo period; the couple had daughters Tracee Ellis Ross and Chudney Ross, and he raised her first child, Rhonda Ross Kendrick, whose father is Gordy. After their divorce, Ross married Norwegian businessman Arne Naess Jr. in 1985; they had two sons, Ross Naess and Evan Ross. Although the couple later divorced, family ties remained prominent in her life, and Naess's death in 2004 was a private sorrow. Her friendship with Michael Jackson, which began during their Motown years and continued through shared film and music projects, was well known; he named her as an alternate guardian for his children in his will, a testament to their bond.

Colleagues throughout her career have included Mary Wilson and Florence Ballard, whose harmonies formed the Supremes' foundation; Cindy Birdsong, who helped carry their late-1960s run; and writers and producers like Holland-Dozier-Holland, Ashford & Simpson, Michael Masser, Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards, and Lionel Richie, each shaping different phases of her sound. Peers at Motown such as Smokey Robinson, Marvin Gaye, and Stevie Wonder were part of the creative ecosystem that raised the label to international prominence and provided Ross with a uniquely rich artistic community.

Legacy
Diana Ross stands as one of the most influential singers and performers in American popular music. As lead voice of the Supremes, she helped break racial barriers on television and in venues long closed to Black artists, while the group set records on the charts that placed them alongside the Beatles for 1960s dominance. As a solo artist, she translated that momentum into a decades-spanning career that bridged soul, pop, disco, and adult contemporary styles. Her vocal clarity, dramatic phrasing, and command of the stage set a template for subsequent generations of performers. Just as significantly, her partnerships with figures like Berry Gordy, Mary Wilson, Florence Ballard, Holland-Dozier-Holland, Ashford & Simpson, Lionel Richie, and Nile Rodgers illustrate how enduring artistry is often a collaborative achievement. Through her music, films, and public presence, Ross has remained a symbol of elegance and resilience, a Detroit-born star whose work continues to resonate across audiences and eras.

Our collection contains 27 quotes who is written by Diana, under the main topics: Motivational - Music - Leadership - Parenting - Equality.

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