THE STORY OF Diana Ross' life and her still-prospering career in the turbulent music industry is a story of survival.
She and friends Mary Wilson and Florence Ballard used their pinpoint harmonies and fresh faces to make it out of the Brewster-Douglass housing projects and into a record contract with Motown as the Supremes. Ross endured the often-grinding machinations of the Motown hit factory during its '60s heyday and gladly drank in the spotlight that always followed her.
She was able to take greater control over her creative life during the '70s, which netted her an Oscar nomination (for the lead role in the 1972 Billie Holiday biopic Lady Sings the Blues) and multiple hit singles along the way. Unlike many of her contemporaries, she swam through the disco and new wave eras with ease, and gracefully pivoted into adult contemporary territory through the '90s and '00s.
Even today, with her commercial prospects long since quieted down and her fierce yet flirty persona having been absorbed and recast by today's pop divas, Ross is still very much in demand. Her current concert tour has been going off and on since 2013 and has included stops around the globe and a small residency in Las Vegas last year.