Diana Ross
Diana Ross is a Motown legend and entertainer known for her role as the lead singer of the Supremes, as well as a successful solo career. Throughout her career, Ross has demonstrated her personal motto: “You can’t just sit there and wait for people to give you that golden dream. You’ve got to get out there and make it happen for yourself.”
Born in Detroit as the second of six children, Ross looked for her ticket out of poverty and into the limelight. As a student at Cass Tech High School, Ross and friends, Mary Wilson, Florence Ballard, and Betty McGlown formed a singing group named The Primettes. After years of practice and performances, The Supremes, as they were then known, signed on to Motown Records in 1962. They later scored their first number one hit in 1964 with “Where Did Our Love Go?”
Ross’ career skyrocketed in the 1960s and earned her the title of “Female Entertainer of the Century” by Billboard magazine in 1996. In 1970, Ross went solo with the hit single “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.” As an entertainment industry veteran, Ross has served as a mentor for several up-and-coming artists. Ross also had great success as a film and theatre actor.
In 1988, Ross and the other members of the Supremes were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. She was named a Kennedy Center Honoree in 2007 and was given the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012.