Famous African Americans

Diana Ross was born March 26 1944 in Detroit, Michigan. She is the second of six children, three girls and three boys, from factory worker Fred Ross and teacher Ernestine Earle Ross.

For Diana, her sucess did not come easy. She was born and raised in a housing project in Detroit. Her musical talents were rejected in high school when she rejected from a musical she tried out for.

Ross began her long music career with Mary Wilson, Florence Ballard and Betty McGlown as the doo-wop quartet the Primettes, a sister group to The Primes in 1959. After signing to Motown Records in 1961 and replacing McGlown with Barbara Martin, they changed the name of the group to The Supremes. Barbara Martin left the group shortly afterwards, and The Supremes carried on as a trio.

Although all the girls originally took turns singing lead, Motown chief Berry Gordy made Diane the permanent lead singer starting in 1964, because he felt her voice had the pop appeal the Supremes needed to cross over to white audiences. Ross also began using the name "Diana" at this time. Between the summer of 1964 and the summer of 1967, the Supremes released ten singles which went to #1 on the pop charts becoming the most successful black group of the decade.

In July 1967, the group was officially renamed Diana Ross & the Supremes recognizing Ross as the focal point of the group.

In January 1970, Ross officially departed from the Supremes after a January 14 Farewell concert at the Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas. The group moved on with new lead singer Jean Terrell, while Ross put the finishing touches on her debut album.

In the spring of 1970, Diana Ross, Ross' debut solo album, was released. After the initial moderate success of what turned out to be Ross' signature concert song, "Reach Out and Touch (Somebody's Hand)" (US #20, US R&B #7), Ross broke out of the pack with her cover of Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell's 1967 classic "Ain't No Mountain High Enough".