DIANA ROSS: I'M GONNA MAKE YOU LOVE ME
"I've dreamed of this ever since skinny little kid growing up in the Brewster projects in Detroit." Diana (nee Diane) Ross believed in the Motown star system and saved her overtime for working on making her dreams come true. Twenty years and 52 albums worth of grooving down that road, she's svelte (that's French for skinny) and wildly glamorous, still cooing seductively as she spreads the umbrella of the newly formed Diana Ross Enterprises, which incorporates recording, music publishing, concert promotions, films, video, fashion and cosmetics companies.
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DIANA ROSS: I'M GONNA MAKE YOU LOVE ME
DAVID KEEPS
"I've dreamed of this ever since skinny little kid growing up in the Brewster projects in Detroit."
Diana (nee Diane) Ross believed in the Motown star system and saved her overtime for working on making her dreams come true. Twenty years and 52 albums worth of grooving down that road, she's svelte (that's French for skinny) and wildly glamorous, still cooing seductively as she spreads the umbrella of the newly formed Diana Ross Enterprises, which incorporates recording, music publishing, concert promotions, films, video, fashion and cosmetics companies.
Yet she still retains that childlike quality of demanding to be the center of attention. On the TV special that reunited Berry's kids in celebration of Motown's 25th anniversary, her seizures of limelight-grabitis became embarrassingly public. Imagine a great star like her being compelled to upstage poor Adam Ant by sneaking onstage while he plowed through a pathetic version of "Where Did Our Love Go?" Later, she sabotaged a Supremes reunion by inviting everyone onstage to swarm around her former comrades. A year ago, she bitched out her road crew in front of the audience at Shea Stadium. She's even had her picture taken on dates with that' creature from Kiss!
Ah, but it wasn't always so. The Supremes, who began life as the Primettes (female adjuncts to the pre-Temptations Primes) almost had their first hit back in '62, but Gordy decided not to push the tune because Florence Ballard sang lead. Grooming Diana for the center spotlight, despite some early limitations in her vocal powers, Berry succeeded in creating the ultimate crossover ghetto girl group, with a solid string of hits that lasted beyond Diana's departure for a solo career in 1969.
In their heyday, the Supremes played state fairs, supper clubs (c.f. 1965's The Supremes Live At The Copa), and countless installments of Ed Sullivan; they met royalty, endorsed Coca-Cola and even plugged Supremes white bread. In 1967, Flo Ballard left the trio, replaced by Cindy Birdsong (a member of Patti Labelle And The Bluebells) and the newly christened Diana Ross and the Supremes released mild "psychedelia" like "The Happening" and "Reflections," along with classic true confessionals like "Love Child" and "I'm Livin' In Shame." Diana was replaced by Jean (no relation to Tammi) Terrell after "Someday We'll Be Together" (don't bet on it); ironically, the lone surviving Supreme Mary Wilson's first publicly available lead vocal was for a Tuscan Supreme ice cream commercial.
Miss Ross's discovery of the Jackson Five helped propel Motown's prosperous relocation to Los Angeles, where Gordy produced Lady Sings The Blues, her dramatic film debut (she'd appeared with the Supremes in teen trash like the TAMI Show). Our Lady Di was nominated for an Academy Award for her stunning portrayal of the Billie Holiday legend (it was a tad glamorous for the facts) and followed up with Mahogany, the story of a modelturned-fashion designer (featuring her own creations) in 1975. In '78, she bobbed her hair to play Dorothy in The Wiz, and is now in pre-production on the long-promised Josephine Baker story, Naked At The Feast.
There have been imaginatively titled TV specials: Diana (ABC, 1971), An Evening With Diana Ross (NBC, 1977), diana (CBS, 1981) and Standing Room Only: Diana Ross (HBO, 1982). And million-selling records: Diana Ross (1970, 1976), Diana (1980) and Ross (1978, 1983). The extensive Ross repertoire now includes classic disco ("Love Hangover"), torchers ("Touch Me In The Morning") and tortuous ballads ("Endless Love"). Stops in the name of love: husband Robert Silberstein, hightly publicized liaisons with Ryan O'Neal and Gene Simmons, and an obviously platonic affair with Michael Jackson (who wrote "Muscles" especially for her). And, finally, baby love: daughters Rhonda Suzanne, Tracy Joy and Chudney Lane (so named because mama had a yen for chutney, the "d" is for—you guessed it—Diana).
Looking back, the sparkling, spangled, bouffanted Supremes seem the epitome of girl group camp, but somehow they always sounded perfectly natural. Just like the folks at McDonalds, Diana Ross has learned to package an image and a product that delivers an average of two mega-hits each year, even if she sometimes has to show her producers who's The Boss (just ask the Chic organization). That image, that product, that sound are all part and parcel of D.R.'s philospphy, articulated in her 1968 hit with the Supremes and Temptations, "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me."
