Born on March 26, 1994. Diana Ross is one of the most successful American singers and artists of all time. She became popular because she was the lead singer of the 1960 all-female vocal group, The Supremes. The girl group is one of Motown’s most successful artists and one of the best charting groups and best-selling groups in the world. Diana Ross was responsible for the hit songs “Reach Out and Touch (Somebody’s Hand)”, “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”, “Touch Me in the Morning”, “I’m Coming Out” and “Love Hangover”.
Diana Ross is also an actress who won a Golden Globe Award for her amazing performance in the movie “Lady Sings The Blues”. Diana also joined the cast of “Mahogany”, and “The Wiz”. The Guinness Book of World Records hailed Diana Ross as the most successful female music artist in history because of the success she garnered in the United States and the UK. She had spawned more hits songs in the charts compared to other female artist.
Albums and Hit Singles
Diana Ross had a total of seventy hit singles as a solo artist and as a member of the Supremes and she had a total of twenty three successful albums namely.
- Diana Ross (1970)
- Everything Is Everything (1970)
- Surrender (1971)
- Touch Me in the Morning (1973)
- Diana & Marvin (with Marvin Gaye) (1973)
- Last Time I Saw Him (1973)
- Diana Ross (1976)
- Baby It’s Me (1977)
- Ross (1978)
- The Boss (1979)
- Diana (1980)
- Why Do Fools Fall in Love (1981)
- Silk Electric (1982)
- Ross (1983)
- Swept Away (1984)
- Eaten Alive (1985)
- Red Hot Rhythm & Blues (1987)
- Workin’ Overtime (1989)
- The Force Behind the Power (1991)
- A Very Special Season (1994)
- Take Me Higher (1995)
- Every Day Is a New Day (1999)
- Blue (2006)
- I Love You (2006)
Hit Singles
- Endless Love
- Ain’t No Mountain High Enough
- If We Hold On Together
- When You Tell Me That You Love Me
- I’m Coming Out
- Upside Down
- Love Hangover
- Amazing Grace
- Missing You
- I Will Survive
- Do You Know Where You’re Going To
Career
Diana Ross was part of the girl group The Supremes together with her friends Florence Ballard, Barbara Martin and Mary Wilson. They were originally named as the Primettes but Motown decided to change their name to The Supremes. And when Barbara Martin left the group and Florence Ballard was replaced by Cindy Birdsong, the girl group decided to change their name to Diana Ross and the Supremes. After they released their last single “Someday We’ll Be Together” in 1969, Diana decided to leave the group and embark on her solo career.
Motown had Diana Ross working with producers Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson who helped her earn four top 40 hit singles including the iconic “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” that was released in 1970. She also embarked into acting which did not disappoint the public. She starred in the documentary biography of Billie Holiday and the Academy Award nominee movie “Lady Sings the Blues”.
When Diana Ross returned to making music, she came back with the massive hit album “Touch Me In The Morning” that was released on June 1973 and reached the top ten on the charts. This album was followed by a duet album with Marvin Gaye entitled “Diana and Marvin” that was released on October 1973. After that, she starred in another film entitled “Mahogany”. The film gave Diana another international chart topping single entitled “Do You Know Where You’re Going To” and Diana’s disco oriented hit “Love Hangover”. Her follow up to this album was a self-titled album which was released on February 1976, also received commercial success and climbed the top ten spot of the charts.
Diana Ross’ came back to Hollywood when she got a role in the movie “The Wiz” in 1979. The following year, she released her gold album The Boss which was followed by her platinum selling album entitled “Diana”. It featured the international hit “I’m Coming Out”. Diana Ross scored another hit single when she sang the title theme song of the movie “It’s My Turn”. And then it was followed by another hit song from the soundtrack a movie with the same name entitled “Endless Love”. Ross’ collaborated with Lionel Richie on the song. “Endless Love” was her last song she released with Motown Records before signed a contract with RCA records.
In October 1982, Diana Ross released her album Silk Electric. It became a certified gold album and spawned the top ten hit “Muscles” which was written and produced by Michael Jackson. In 1984, she released another successful album with the title “Swept Away”. In 1989, she returned to Motown Records and released a boxed set retrospective album with the title “Forever Diana”.
Diana Ross continued to release albums throughout the years like “Take Me Higher”, “Everyday is a New Day”, “Blue” and “I Love You”. She toured regularly and she even held a residency at The Venetian hotel in Las Vegas. Billboard magazine hailed Diana Ross as the “Female Entertainer of the Century” in 1993 and was also awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016 by President Barack Obama.