Diane Ernestine Earle Ross. Diana Ross to you. Ms. Ross. The Boss. The grandmother to Ashlee Simpson's latest child.
But enough about that. Born in Detroit in 1944, neighbor to Smokey Robinson. Formed a singing group with two childhood friends. If you don't know about them, eject reject please!
On the single cover of Don't Make Me Over, Warrick's last name was misspelled - Warwick. She kept it!
I can't. That's some kind of sad metaphor for the early music industry: the lack of agency for black artists, whose success nonetheless drove the explosion of popular music.
What the WHAT is this about Ashlee Simpson having Diana's grandchild?
Yeah, Evan Ross impregnated her last year? I think they got married as well.
Speaking of, I love the absolute MATRIARCHY of having five children and giving each and every one of them your last name. **** a father!
So, won't go into the Supremes scandal - except to say that Motown head (and baby daddy number one) Berry Gordy wanted Diana to go solo as early as 1966! It would take into 1970 for her to release her first single, Reach Out and Touch (Somebody's Hand).
Very apropos for the socially conscious times. The next single was more of a BOP, and summarily went to number one!
Fun Fact: Jessica Simpson, the AUNT to Diana's newest grandchild, sampled this for her 2006 smash top 30 hit A Public Affair.
Diana's version of ANMHE is just amazing. Like the original is incredible, but her version is just as essential to me. The amount of emotion she is able to pack in those extended syllables is just incredible. Her voice is so comforting to me.
I'd like to give a shoutout to one of the gayest songs ever released - written by none other than Michael Joseph Jackson.
You're welcome.
Good Lorde, she sounds exactly like Michael here! Are we sure it's actually not just her lip-synching to his vocals? Figures that closet case would write something like this.
Side note: I never knew this is where the iconic Diana Ross flying GIF came from.
At this point, Diana wanted to venture into acting. Her first role, as Billie Holiday in Lady Sings The Blues, could not have worked out any better for her - she got an Oscar nomination for Best Actress, losing to Liza Minelli. Can it get any gayer?!??! (Liv Ullmann was also nominated, satisfying the European loving actressexuals.)
The soundtrack allowed her to explore a different side of her range, with acclaimed results:
That same year, she got her second number one hit.
She also found the time to release a duet album with old pay Marvin Gaye!
Diana moved onto her next picture, Mahogany. The production was troubled (the original director was fired, and replaced by Berry Gordy - imagine that!), but at least she got a number one from it!
The following year, Diana became the first major lady to wade in the disco waters. The result? Her fourth number one, Love Hangover.
Her next few albums flopped, forcing Diana to do a major rethink of her career. Her team reached out to past collaborators Ashford & Simpson, who wrote her a truly stupendous record:
Is it true that Diana recorded I'm Coming Out not knowing about the gay connotations of the phrase and then she freaked when it became a gay anthem?
Freaked out? Not exactly, but she recorded it as her personal statement. I don't suppose she saw it being co-opted by a group she was not a part of.
It meant something to her. A mother of three, at 35, after a failed marriage and a long relationship with her svengali. Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards, of Chic, sat with her, and listened to the topics she wanted to talk about.
Here's what they came up with:
These would be her last records with Motown. She moved onto RCA Records, signing a $20 million contract - the new record for any artist.
