Diana Ross Wiki, Biography, Age, Spouse, Height, Net Worth, Fast Facts

history,^[2] with a total of twelve number-one hit singles on the US Billboard Hot 100, including “Where Did Our Love Go”, “Baby Love”, “Come See About Me”, and “Love Child”.^[3]

Following departure from the Supremes in 1970, Ross embarked on a successful solo career in music, film, television and on stage. Her eponymous debut solo album featured the U.S. number-one hit “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” and music anthem “Reach Out and Touch (Somebody’s Hand)”. It was followed with her second solo album, Everything Is Everything (1970), which spawned her first UK number-one single “I’m Still Waiting”. She continued her successful solo career by mounting elaborate record-setting world-wide concert tours, starring in a number of highly watched prime-time television specials, and releasing hit albums like Touch Me in the Morning (1973), Mahogany (1975), and Diana Ross (1976) as well as their number-one hit singles, “Touch Me in the Morning”, “Theme from Mahogany (Do You Know Where You’re Going To)”, and “Love Hangover”, respectively. Ross further released numerous top-ten hits on various Billboard charts throughout the 1970s, ’80s, and ’90s. She achieved several more global number-one singles, “Upside Down” (1980), “Endless Love” (1981), “Why Do Fools Fall in Love” (1982), “Chain Reaction” (1986), “If We Hold on Together” (1988) and “When You Tell Me That You Love Me” (1991).

Ross has also achieved mainstream success and recognition as an actor. Her first role was her Golden Globe Award-winning and Academy Award-nominated portrayal of Billie Holiday in the film Lady Sings the Blues (1972); she also recorded its soundtrack, which became a number one hit on the U.S. album chart. She also starred in two other feature films, Mahogany (1975) and The Wiz (1978), and later appeared in the television films Out of Darkness (1994), for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award, and Double Platinum (1999).

Ross was named the “Female Entertainer of the Century” by Billboard in 1976. Since her solo career began in 1970, Ross has released 25 studio albums, numerous singles, and compilations that have sold more than 100 million records worldwide.^[4] She is the only female artist to have had number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100 as a solo artist, as the other half of a duet, as a member of a trio, and as an ensemble member. In 2021, Billboard ranked her the 30th greatest Hot 100 artist of all time.^[5][6] Her hits as a Supreme and a solo artist combined put Ross among the Top 5 artists on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart from 1955 to 2018.^[7] She had a top 10 UK hit in every one of the last five decades, and sang lead on a top 75 hit single at least once every year from 1964 to 1996 in the UK, a period of 33 consecutive years and a record for any performer. In 1988, Ross was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Supremes. She was the recipient of a Special Tony Award in 1976, the Kennedy Center Honors in 2007, the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016.

Diana Ross Wiki, Biography

Diana Ross was born in Detroit, Michigan, on March 26, 1944.^[8][9] She was born the second of six children to Ernestine (née Moten; January 27, 1916 – October 9, 1984) and Fred Ross, Sr. (July 4, 1920 – November 21, 2007). Her mother named her Diane, but the birth certificate was mistakenly filled out with the name Diana. Her family and Detroit friends called her Diane all her life.^[10] Ross grew up with two sisters (Barbara^[11] and Rita) and three brothers: Arthur; Fred Jr.; and Wilbert, also known as Chico.

Ross and her family originally resided at 635 Belmont St., in the North End section of Detroit, near Highland Park, Michigan, where her neighbor was Smokey Robinson. When Ross was seven, her mother contracted tuberculosis, causing her to become seriously ill. Ross’ parents sent their children to live with Ernestine’s parents, the Reverend (pastor of Bessemer Baptist Church) and Mrs. William Moton in Bessemer, Alabama. After her mother recovered, she and her siblings returned to Detroit.

On her 14th birthday in 1958, her family relocated to the working-class Brewster-Douglass Housing Projects settling at St. Antoine Street. Attending Cass Technical High School,^[12] a four-year college and preparatory magnet school, in downtown Detroit, Ross began taking classes including clothing design, millinery, pattern making, and tailoring, as she had aspired to become a fashion designer. She also took modeling and cosmetology classes in the evenings and weekends – for which Ross has written that Robinson loaned her the funds required to attend – and participated in several of the school’s extracurricular activities, including its swim team. In 1960, Hudson’s downtown Detroit store hired Ross as its first African American bus girl.^[13] For extra income, she also provided hairdressing services for her neighbors. Ross graduated from Cass Tech in January 1962.

Personal life

Ross has been married twice and has five children.

Ross became romantically involved with Motown CEO Berry Gordy in 1965. The relationship lasted several years, resulting in the birth of Ross’s 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,^[105] who raised Rhonda as his own daughter, despite knowing her true paternity. Ross told Rhonda that Gordy was her biological father when Rhonda was 13 years old. Beforehand, Rhonda referred to Gordy as “Uncle B.B.”

Ross has two daughters with Silberstein, Tracee Joy Silberstein (Tracee Ellis Ross) and Chudney Lane Silberstein, born in 1972 and 1975, respectively.^[106] Ross and Silberstein divorced in 1977.^[107]

Ross dated Gene Simmons, bassist and co-lead singer for the band Kiss, from 1980 to 1983.^[108] They began dating after Cher, who had remained friends with Simmons following their break-up, suggested he ask Ross to help him choose her Christmas present. Simmons, in his autobiography, contends that he was not dating Cher when he met Ross. Ross ended her relationship with Simmons when he gave Ross the erroneous impression that he had resumed his relationship with Cher. Simmons’ story differed in 2015 when he revealed that he fell in love with Ross while dating Cher, which ended Ross and Cher’s friendship.^[109]

Ross met her second husband, Norwegian shipping magnate Arne Næss Jr., in 1985, and married him the following year. She became stepmother to his three elder children; Katinka, Christoffer, and folk singer Leona Naess. They have two sons together: Ross Arne (born in 1987)^{[citation needed]} and Evan Olav (born in 1988). Ross and Næss divorced in 2000, after press reports revealed that Næss had fathered a child with another woman in Norway.^[110] Ross considers Næss the love of her life.^[111] Næss fell to his death in a South African mountain climbing accident in 2004.^[112] Ross remains close with her three ex-stepchildren.

Ross has seven grandchildren: grandson Raif-Henok (born in 2009 to her daughter Rhonda); grandsons Leif (born on June 5, 2016) and Indigo (born 2017), born to her son Ross Næss;^[113] granddaughters Callaway Lane (born in 2012) and Everlee (born October 2019) born to Ross’s daughter Chudney;^[114] granddaughter Jagger Snow (born in 2015), and grandson Ziggy (born in 2020) to her son Evan.^[115][116]

Religious views

Diana Ross considers herself a Baptist.^[117] She used to sing in a church, where she gained her initial musical experience.^[118] Her mother Ernestine’s father, Reverend William Moten, served as a pastor in the Bessemer Baptist Church in Bessemer, Alabama. Diana and her siblings spent considerable time with their maternal grandparents during their mother’s bouts with tuberculosis.^[119]

2002 arrest

Diana Ross was arrested for DUI on December 30, 2002, in Tucson, Arizona, while undergoing substance abuse treatment at a local rehabilitation facility.^[120] She later served a two-day sentence near her Connecticut estate.

Ross has influenced many artists including Michael Jackson, Beyoncé,^[122] Madonna,^[123] Jade Thirlwall, Questlove,^[124] Ledisi^[125] and the Ting Tings.^[126]

Several of Ross’s songs have been covered and sampled. “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” has been featured in the film Chicken Little. The song has also been covered live and on albums by Jennifer Lopez and Amy Winehouse. Janet Jackson sampled “Love Hangover” on her 1997 song “My Need” (featured on the album The Velvet Rope), having already sampled “Love Child” and “Someday We’ll Be Together” by Ross & the Supremes on her 1993 tracks “You Want This” and “If” (both released as singles from the Janet album). “Love Hangover” was also sampled in Monica’s 1998 number 1 “The First Night” as well as being sampled by Will Smith, Master P (who also sampled “Missing You”), Heavy D and Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, “It’s Your Move” was sampled in 2011 by Vektroid for her song “Lisa Frank 420 / Modern Computing”, which appeared in her ninth album Floral Shoppe under her one-time alias Macintosh Plus. “It’s My House” was sampled by Lady Gaga for her song “Replay” which appeared on the 2020 album Chromatica.

Various works have been inspired by Ross’s career and life. The character of Deena Jones in both the play and film versions of Dreamgirls was inspired by Ross.^[127]

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. She was portrayed by Valisia LeKae in 2013 and Lucy St. Louis in 2016. Ross was also portrayed by Candice Marie Woods (from 2017 to 2019) and Deri’Andra Tucker (2021) in the stage play Ain’t Too Proud. There have been many other petryals of Ross in films, television and other media including Holly Robinson Peete in The Jacksons: An American Dream (1992) and Michelle Williams of Destiny’s Child on American Soul (2019).

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.^[128] 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”.^[129]

As lead singer of the Supremes and as a solo artist, Ross has earned 18 number-one singles (12 as lead singer of the Supremes and 6 as a solo artist). Ross is the only female artist to have number one singles as a solo artist; as the other half of a duet (Lionel Richie); as a member of a trio (the Supremes); and, as an ensemble member (“We Are the World” by USA for Africa). Ross was featured on the Notorious B.I.G.’s 1997 number-one hit “Mo Money Mo Problems” since 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. 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 her 1983 concert in Central Park, Diana Ross Playground was named in her honor with a groundbreaking opening ceremony in 1986.

Ross was given credit for the discovery of the Jackson 5, although her “discovery” was simply part of Motown’s marketing and promotions plan for the Jackson 5. Consequently, their debut album was titled Diana Ross Presents the Jackson 5. It was actually Motown producer Bobby Taylor who discovered the Jacksons.^[130] Even so, Ross embraced the role and became a good friend of Michael Jackson, serving as a mother figure to him.^[131]

On January 24, 1985, Kaufman Astoria Studios held a dedication ceremony in Astoria, Queens to honor Ross by naming Studio 4 at the studios after her. The Diana Ross Building served as an acknowledgement of Ross’ contribution in bringing the studio back to the forefront after being faced with possible demolition, through her involvement in The Wiz.^[132]

In 2006, Ross 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.^[133]

Awards and nominations

On November 16, 2016, Ross was announced as one of the 21 recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.^[134]