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Best known as the the lead singer of the popular 1960s singing group The Supremes, Diana Ross was born on March 26, 1944, in Detroit, Michigan, the second of six children born to Fred and Ernestine. She is of African American and Native American descent. After being raised in housing projects for most of the late 1940s and early 1950s, Diana started singing in the gospel choir of a Baptist church. With friends Mary Wilson, Florence Ballard and Barbara Martin, she formed a vocal group, The Primettes, at age 15. After Barbara had departed the group, the remaining three girls inked a deal with Motown Records and were renamed The Supremes. Ross wasn`t picked to become the group`s lead singer until Motown honcho Berry Gordy decided that the time was exactly right, and from then on he described the group as "Diana Ross and the Supremes." From 1965 to 1969 the group had a string of #1 records. In late 1969 Gordy announced that Ross would be leaving the group for a solo career. In the third week of 1970 she played her last concert with The Supremes and started working with the songwriting team of Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson. Ross` first two songs by the team reached #1 on both the pop and R&B charts, justifying her move. Prior to starting a family of her own, she won the title role in the Billie Holiday biopic Lady Sings the Blues (1972)_, which was extremely successful at the box office, and had the distinction of being nominated for an Academy Award for her first film. The movie`s soundtrack reached #1 on the U.S. charts. Despite fame and fortune, her next two big films,Mahogany (1975) and The Wiz (1978), didn`t meet with the same success. However, she had a #1 hit single with "Mahogany" to make up for it. In February 1976, just before another #1 hit with "Love Hangover," she was stunned when her singing partner and friend, Florence Ballard, died after complications from a combination of alcohol abuse and long-term depression, which led to cardiac arrest. Ballard was only 32 years old and Ross was devastated by the loss.
Biography Credit: www.imdb.com/name/nm0005384/bio
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