This is Diana Ross!!

Diana Ross was born Diane Ross in Detroit, Michigan to Fred and Ernestine Ross. She is the second eldest of six children.

In 1959 Diana started her long singing career with Mary Wilson & Florence Ballard . Betty Travis & Barbara Martin enjoyed brief spells with the group at the beginning. Although this was her professional begining in showbusiness, her first real taste came when she played one of 14 singing angels in her school opera production of Hansel and Gretel.

The Supremes were known in Motown as "The No Hit Supremes" as the result of the first two singles not doing as well as had been hoped.

The turning point in her career came when she stepped forward as the lead singer and the Holland-Dozier-Holland team were brought in to revamp the groups sound.

Even though the Supremes were making singles of their own, Diana, along with Mary and Florence found themselves providing backing vocals for other Motown Artists like Marvin Gaye & The Four Tops. Between the years 1964 & 1967, Diana was a member of the second most succesful group in America, coming a close second to the Beach Boys.

By 1967 all attention was focused on Diana, who was by this time lead singer of the group now renamed Diana Ross & The Supremes after Florence's departure.

As Diana's seeming hold on the groups future became subject to criticism, some people were surprised that Diana did not break all ties with the Supremes at this point, to begin her solo career.

The reason for this we don't know. Was it Motown's intense interest to give Diana as much exposure as possible, eating financially off her large drive and her "not to be questioned" talent.

What ever it was, either singing, dancing or her comedy performing routines, no expense was ever spared for Diana as Berry Gordy & the Motown Corporation groomed her for super stardom.

In January 1968 Diana exchanged her glamorous, sparkling stage outfits for a Nuns Habit. Taking a guest apperarance role in Tarzan - The Convert. This was filmed in Mexico and Berry Gordy saw it as taking his star, Diana, one step closer to their goal.

Berry Gordy Jr. could not have envisioned that within such a short period of four years, Diana would give the performance of a lifetime and receive a 'Best Actress' Oscar nomination for her portrayal of Billie Holliday in 'Lady Sings The Blues'.

It took the joint talents of The Temptations working alongside Diana Ross and The Supremes to get them back at the pinnacle of the popular music singles charts with "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me" which reached No3 in the UK and one better in the States.

1968 saw Diana achieved her ambition by hosting a T.V special when The Supremes joined The Temptations to stage TCB (Takin' Care of Business), and a year later joined forces again to recreate the phenominal success of TCB by performing a new show "Diana Ross and The Supremes join the Temptations On Broadway".

The next two years, however, were difficult Diana as friction in the group was taking it's toll on the groups performance as was shown by the public's response to their recent releases.

By 1970 the unavoidable parting of Diana Ross & The Supremes happened.On 14th January 1970, they performed their final concert that was held at the Frontier Hotel, Las Vegas.

Diana had achieved her first goal: to be a solo performer. Her ultimate goal was soon to follow when after a slightly shaky start to her solo career, she finally became a superstar in her own right. From when Diana left the group she gained all-round celebrity status through continuing to make audiences ecstatic with her distinctive singing voice.

After quitting the Supremes Diana was assigned to Motown writers/producers Nick Ashford & Valerie Simpson. She began with the single "Reach Out And Touch (Somebody's Hand), though this single fell flat however years later this song was to become her anthem.

At the end of 1970 came the second album of Diana's solo career "Everything Is Everything". Even though the tracks didn't gel, the tracks such as "Long And Winding Road" & "(They Long To Be) Close to You" where good performances, especially so for as covers of the singles.

In January 1971 Diana married Robert Silberstein. On August 14th 1971, she gave birth to Rhonda Suzanne, the first of her three daughters, now known to be the child of Berry Gordy.

Then on the 18th April 1971 came Berry Gordy 's dreams which was for Diana to have her own TV Special entitled "Diana!". 1971 also saw Diana's soulful album "Surrender" released that produced two top 10 singles in the UK "Remember Me" & "Surrender". They also cut a version of "Reach Out I'll Be There".

1972 was the year Diana made her first film 'Lady Sings The Blues'; the bio-pic of the Blues singer Billie Holiday, and this brought her to the silver screen and later earned her an Oscar nomination. The soundtrack to 'Lady Sings The Blues' was also released the same year on a double-album. All this on top of having her second child, Tracee.

As time went on Diana was still releasing singles & Albums and the end of 1975 marked the birth of Diana's third child, Chudney Lane, however her marriage to Bob Silberstein was on the rocks. Indeed, the relationship with Berry was becoming strained. But by this time Diana was ready to take control of her own life & career.

In 1976 she divorced Bob Silberstein which was the same year that Florence Ballard died in tragic, poverty stricken circumstances.

Diana saw the 80's in by once again coming together with Ashford & Simpson. As a result "The Boss" Album was born which some say portrays Diana sounding more relaxed than ever before, attempting notes she never thought were possible before.

In 1984 Diana lost her mother from cancer but Diana had to hide her grief so albums and singles were still released like "Swept Away" LP and the single "Missing You" that Diana dedicates to the late Marvin Gaye.

To mark her 30th year in the music business Diana released the box set "Forever Diana" which contains 78 tracks which include hits from the Supremes days and many of Diana's personal selections.

Currently, Diana is married to Arne Naess whom she married in February 1986. They met while they both were on vacation in the Bahamas and five months later were married.

Diana has a home in London, England and this is were Arne lives with their two young sons - Ross Arne: born October 7 1986 and Evan Olav - born August 7 1988.

To this day Diana has a flourishing career with world tours and sell out concerts. Even with all the work she does on the road and in the studios, she still manages to be a mother to five, the owner and director of Anaid Productions (her own Production company), and an authoress and a hundred and one other things that she wants to be!

As Diana says in her latest single release: " I Will Survive" and she means it!