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Today's Artists an American singer, actress, and record producer. Born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, Ross rose to fame as the lead singer of the vocal group the Supremes, which, during the 1960s, became Motown's most successful act, and are the best charting girl group in US history, as well as one of the world's best-selling girl groups of all time. The group released a record-setting twelve number-one hit singles on the US Billboard Hot 100. Following her departure from the Supremes in 1970, she released her eponymous debut solo album that same year, featuring the number-one Pop hit "Ain't No Mountain High Enough". She later released the album Touch Me in the Morning in 1973; its title track reached number 1, as her second solo No. 1 hit. She continued a successful solo career through the 1970s. ...... N Joy

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 Indisputably a legend, Diana Ross achieved stardom with the Supremes, a vocal group who during the 1960s grew from struggling hopefuls to Motown leaders to one of the most successful recording acts of all time. The singer broke from the group in 1970 and had immediate solo triumphs leading to more than two-dozen solo Top 40 pop hits. Among them are "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" (1970), "Love Hangover" (1976), "Upside Down" (1980), and "Endless Love" (1981), chart-topping classics traversing pop-soul, disco, and adult contemporary ballads.

No matter the style or emotion, Ross has exuded uncommon levels of glamour and poise, always sounding connected to her material while conveying a sense of perseverance through even the most distressed romantic scenarios within her rich discography. Nominated for a dozen Grammy awards through her work with and without the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame-inducted Supremes, and nominated for an Academy Award via her starring role in Lady Sings the Blues, Ross has also been honored by the Recording Academy with a Lifetime Achievement Award. Her still-thriving, six-decade career was celebrated in 2019 with the documentary Diana Ross: Her Life, Love and Legacy.

A brief period in Bessemer, Alabama excepted, Diane Ernestine Earle Ross was brought up in Detroit, her place of birth. In 1959, shortly after she and her family had moved to the city's Brewster-Douglass Housing Projects, she joined Florence Ballard and Mary Wilson in the Primettes, who became the Supremes. From 1964 through 1969, the Motown group topped the Billboard Hot 100 a dozen times, beginning with "Where Did Our Love Go." They repeated that feat with the Grammy-nominated likes of "Baby Love" and "Stop in the Name of Love," continued with the immediate classic "Reflections" -- by which point they were billed as Diana Ross & the Supremes -- and concluded their run with "Someday We'll Be Together." Along the way, the Supremes became one of the most commercially successful groups of all time.

Primed for a solo career, Ross performed with the Supremes for the last time in
January 1970. That June, Motown released Diana Ross, the singer's solo debut. Written and produced almost exclusively by Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson, it yielded hit singles with "Reach Out and Touch (Somebody's Hand)" and a remake of "Ain't No Mountain High Enough," previously a smash for Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell. The latter A-side topped Billboard's Hot 100 and R&B charts and earned Ross a Grammy nomination in the category of Best Contemporary Vocal Performance, Female. The three LPs Everything Is Everything, the soundtrack to the television special Diana!, and Surrender (all 1971-1972) quickly followed and were eclipsed by Lady Sings the Blues (1972), the chart-topping soundtrack to the Motown-produced film of the same name. Ross made her acting debut as Billie Holiday and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress.

Touch Me in the Morning, the Marvin Gaye duets LP Diana & Marvin, and Last Time I Saw Him (all 1973) soon followed. The biggest hit off these three was "Touch Me in the Morning" itself, written by Michael Masser and Ron Miller. Ross' second solo number one, it too resulted in a Grammy best-performance nomination, this time in the pop field. Live at Caesars Palace (1974), Ross' first solo concert recording, acted as a stop-gap before the romantic drama Mahogany, another big-screen Motown production with Ross as the lead actor. Composed by Masser and Gerry Goffin, the film's "Theme from Mahogany (Do You Know Where You're Going To)" returned Ross to the top of the pop charts and was Academy Award-nominated for Best Original Song.

Ross' breathy vocals and natural theatricality proved to be perfectly suited for disco. She made another smooth transition with the Marilyn McLeod/Pamela Sawyer-written, Hal Davis-produced "Love Hangover." One of the style's exemplary epics, it went to the top of Billboard's disco, R&B, and pop charts, sending its parent release, Diana Ross (1976), to the Top Ten of the corresponding R&B and pop album charts, and resulted in Ross' fourth performance-related solo Grammy nomination. The singer responded with Baby, It's Me (1977), on which she was paired with Richard Perry, just before the producer helped revitalize the Pointer Sisters. Among the album's three charting A-sides was another song targeting dancefloors, "Your Love Is So Good for Me," which made Ross a best-performance Grammy nominee yet again. Next up was Ross (1978), evenly split between new recordings and sweetened versions of previously unreleased material recorded earlier in the decade.

Ross continued to alternate between careers with The Wiz (1978), a loose film

adaptation of the like-titled Broadway musical production, itself a re-telling of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz placed within an African-American context. Another Motown production, it was a success outside standard industry box-office measures with an impact deepening across the years. Its soundtrack, certified gold, featured a version of "Ease on Down the Road" -- with Ross joined by co-star Michael Jackson, assisted by co-production from Quincy Jones -- that topped the disco chart and was nominated for a Grammy. Ross' club appeal continued with a further set written and produced by Ashford & Simpson, The Boss (1979), and the following Chic Organization collaboration Diana (1980). The former became her first solo gold album in the U.S. The latter, powered by the number one pop hit "Upside Down" and number five follow-up "I'm Coming Out," trumped it by going platinum, another solo first for the singer. "Upside Down" became her ninth Grammy-nominated recording. The same month the ceremony was broadcast, Motown issued a second patchwork LP of new and polished archival material, To Love Again (1981).

Ross left Motown for RCA, but not before recording "Endless Love," written by duet partner Lionel Richie for the film of the same title. A number one hit on the Hot 100, R&B, and adult contemporary charts, it reappeared on Ross' otherwise self-produced RCA debut, Why Do Fools Fall in Love (also 1981), and was nominated for two Grammy awards: Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal and one of "the Big Four," Record of the Year. Like Diana, Why Do Fools Fall in Love went platinum. Ross continued to crank out albums for RCA on a nearly annual basis. Silk Electric (1982) was the source of "Muscles," a Top Ten pop, Grammy-nominated hit written and produced by Michael Jackson. She then worked with fellow Detroiter Ray Parker, Jr. and Gary Katz on another album titled Ross (1983), released the same year she gave two historic performances in New York City's Central Park. Swept Away (1984) went gold on the strength of the Top 20 title song and number ten hit "Missing You," recorded respectively with the teams of Daryl Hall and Arthur Baker and Lionel Richie and James Anthony Carmichael. Her RCA phase trailed off with Eaten Alive (1985) and Red Hot Rhythm & Blues (1987), highlighted by "Eaten Alive," featuring supporting vocals from Michael Jackson and additional writing from Barry and Maurice Gibb.

In 1988, Ross and her Supremes partners Florence Ballard and Mary Wilson were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Coincidentally, Ross signed a new deal with Motown and made her return to the label with Workin' Overtime (1989), a new jack swing-flavored album produced by Chic's Nile Rodgers. The title track was a Top Ten R&B hit. The Force Behind the Power (1991) began a lengthy association with producer Peter Asher, but Ross also aimed toward the charts throughout the decade by working with other established studio veterans and emergent hitmakers, from Arif Mardin and Nick Martinelli to Al B. Sure! and Chuckii Booker. "No Matter What You Do," a duet with Sure!, became her final Top Ten R&B hit. Through the end of the '90s, Ross issued two more studio albums, Take Me Higher (1995) and Every Day Is a New Day (1999), but she spent the majority of the decade successfully positioning herself as a legacy artist. She celebrated the 20th anniversary of Lady Sings the Blues with a Ritz Theatre concert documented as Stolen Moments: The Lady Sings...Jazz and Blues. Less than three weeks after that performance, she recorded Christmas in Vienna with Plácido Domingo and José Carreras. Around the same time, she published the book Secrets of a Sparrow, synchronized with a career-spanning box set, Forever Diana: Musical Memoirs. The single-disc anthology One Woman: The Ultimate Collection summarized the box and was particularly successful in the U.K., topping the pop chart on its way to quadruple platinum certification.

The 2000s began with a Supremes tour for which Ross was joined by later members Lynda Laurence and Scherrie Payne, and continued with numerous high-profile solo performances and accolades. Most notably, Ross performed "God Bless America" at the 2001 U.S. Open women's singles final and two weeks later sang the same song at the first professional baseball game in New York -- at Shea Stadium -- following a break prompted by the September 11 terrorist attacks. Duets with Rod Stewart and Westlife were followed by Blue (2006), a standards-oriented project that had been shelved for three-and-a-half decades, intended as the follow-up to Lady Sings the Blues. Shortly thereafter came I Love You (also 2006), Ross' first studio album in seven years. Produced by Peter Asher, the set consisted of covers of classic love songs, including Burt Bacharach and Hal David's "The Look of Love," Harry Nilsson's "Remember," and Heatwave's "Always and Forever." Ross' contributions to the performing arts were subsequently acknowledged at the annual Kennedy Center Honors, and she earned a Lifetime Achievement Award from both the Recording Academy and BET. Over the course of the 2010s, Ross toured regularly and held multiple Las Vegas residencies. President Barack Obama awarded her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016. Motown continued to issue catalog titles, including Diamond Diana: The Legacy Collection (2017). The documentary Diana Ross: Her Life, Love and Legacy closed out the decade.

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Arriving after Lady Sings the Blues, Touch Me in the Morning trades easily on Diana Ross’ status as a superstar. Grandiose and slick without being cloying, soft and seductive while retaining soul, the album veers away from R&B toward adult contemporary, a sound fitting a cross-platform, cross-genre star such as Ross, and the telling thing about Touch Me in the Morning is that for as soft as its surfaces are, this isn’t quite a makeout record thanks in part to the trace DNA from its origins as a concept album Diana Ross conceived for her children. This record, fittingly called To the Baby, didn’t appear until Hip-O Select reissued Touch Me in the Morning as an expanded double-disc Expanded Edition in 2010, whereupon it was easy to see just how much the two albums shared: “Brown Baby” shows up as its own track, “My Baby (My Baby My Own),” while “Imagine” is part of the medley with “Save the Children.” Apart from such specifics, the overall tone is indeed similar, particularly in how the music is sentimental without being syrupy, pushing the idea of Diana as a diva who can do it all, but there is a reason why To the Baby was scrapped in favor of Touch Me in the Morning: it lacked a single as sweeping as “Touch Me in the Morning” itself, a signal that it was just slightly too inward-looking to sustain Ross’ monumental success. Sensing that, Berry Gordy once again displayed remarkable commercial instincts, rejiggering the project just enough to turn the LP into something rich, gorgeous, and romantic, something of a slow-dance classic.

 Diana Ross - Touch Me In The Morning    (flac   220mb)

01 Touch Me In The Morning 3:26
02 All Of My Life 3:31
03 We Need You 3:44
04 Leave A Little Room 3:37
05 I Won't Last A Day Without You 3:49
06 Little Girl Blue 3:58
07 My Baby (My Baby My Own) 2:45
08 Imagine 3:01
09 Medley: Brown Baby / Save The Children 8:17

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This self-titled release, issued in February 1976, was Diana Ross' first album since December 1973's Last Time I Saw Him. It followed Ross' starring role in the Berry Gordy-directed Mahogany. That film's theme, a sweeping Gerry Goffin/Michael Masser ballad sung by Ross, topped Billboard's Adult Contemporary and Hot 100 charts; though it appeared on the Mahogany soundtrack, it was also included here and leads a set that's as diverse as Last Time I Saw Him, with a total of nine songs involving 16 songwriters. "I Thought It Took a Little Time (But Today I Fell in Love)," a stately ballad with a commanding chorus, was a Top Five Adult Contemporary hit but wasn't nearly as successful with R&B radio. "Love Hangover," with its extended lead-in and hurtling and thumping yet graceful groove, was Ross' entry into the disco market, where she proved to be a natural fit, and it not only topped the dance chart but the R&B and pop ones as well. "Kiss Me Now" is another highlight, a frisky, showbiz jazz number where Ross feels free enough to throw in a quick impression of Louis Armstrong. That covers the album's first side. Side two is much more focused, generally sticking to contemporary soul. "One Love in My Lifetime," yet another one of Ross' Top Ten R&B singles, is the most notable of the five songs, with the Ashford & Simpson-penned "Ain't Nothin' But a Maybe" a close second. Subsequently mired in a couple unfocused patchwork recordings, Ross wouldn't make another truly fine album until The Boss, written and produced in its entirety by Ashford & Simpson.

 Diana Ross - Diana Ross      (flac   216mb)

01 Theme From Mahogany (Do You Know Where You're Going To) 3:23
02 I Thought It Took A Little Time 3:33
03 Love Hangover 7:48
04 Kiss Me Now 2:42
05 You're Good My Child 3:35
06 One Love In My Lifetime 3:40
07 Ain't Nothin' But A Maybe 3:27
08 After You 4:13
09 Smile 2:55

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A moderately successful late-'70s album for Diana Ross. She was evolving into celebrity/stardom status, and her albums were increasingly filled with less soulful, more sophisticated, heavily produced and arranged ballads and light pop. She still sounded glorious on most of them, but now the edge, sensuality, and energy that had made her Motown songs classics was steadily eroding in favor of a more stylized, almost show-business kind of singing.

Diana Ross - Baby It's Me (flac   228mb)

01 Gettin' Ready For Love 2:45
02 You Got It 3:55
03 Baby It's Me 3:09
04 Too Shy To Say 3:15
05 Your Love Is So Good For Me4:14
06 Top Of The World3:06
07 All Night Lover 3:33
08 Confide In Me 3:32
09 The Same Love That Made Me Laugh 3:56
10 Come In From The Rain 3:58


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As a solo artist Diana Ross' ‘70s recording career was often marred by lack of inspiring material and her film career. Even with her busy schedule she could always release good to great singles like 1976's "Love Hangover" and "I'm Getting Ready for Love." As an album artist, at this point, only Lady Sings the Blues, Diana and Marvin and 1977's Baby It's Me had displayed all of her gifts. While Ross doesn't attain that high standard, it at least offers some thoughtful performances. This 1978 set mixes six new tracks with earlier unreleased tracks. Like the Temptations 1975's House Party, this "throws together" tracks from different years. Although it could be reflected as a desperate tactic, Ross shows that often it can work. The ballads here tend to show her in the best light. The hypnotic and sensual "Never Say I Don't Love You" boasts one of her most subtle performances. That track along with "Where Did We Go Wrong" and "To Love Again" suggests that a great weepy album filled with strong ballads was just within reach. 1974's country styled offering, "Sorry Doesn't Always Make It Right" mixes in extremely well. The dance tracks aren't as good "Lovin', Livin' and Givin' and a discofied "What You Gave Me" both from 1978, has Ross going through the motions and feigning enthusiasm. (Oddly enough those two tracks appeared on her 1995 anthology.) While Ross isn't a full-fledged effort, it often captures enough of Ross' essence to make it recommended.

 Diana Ross - Ross (flac   253mb)

01 Lovin', Livin' And Givin' 5:11
02 What You Gave Me 4:57
03 Never Say I Don't Love You 3:50
04 You Were The One 4:01
05 Reach Out, I'll Be There 5:30
06 Sorry Doesn't Always Make It Right 3:28
07 Where Did We Go Wrong 4:24
08 To Love Again 4:04
09 Together 3:31

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Ashford & Simpson, who had produced Diana's eponymous debut nine years earlier, teamed with her again on this 1979 release. The results, of course, were sensational: a #14 album with unforgettable R&B hits like the title track and It's My House. The Boss is simply a great pop and straight-ahead soul album, with the accent on the soul. It is mystifying that this album didn't enter the pop top 10 and go multi-platinum at the time of it's release. This worthy effort surely deserved to remain on the charts for an extended period. Ashford and Simpson's tune-crafting and production have never been better (and that's saying a lot!!) and Ms. Ross has never topped this vocal performance, in terms of strength and delivery---ever! She gave this 1000%. Ross' performance on the title tune should have garnered her a Grammy for best r&b performance, but wasn't even nominated. "It's My House" is a reggae-fied beauty. "I Ain't Been Licked" is a powerful song of self-affirmation, perfectly and soulfully delievered. "Once in The Morning" is solid. "All for One" is "Reach Out And Touch" updated, and very strong. "No One Gets The Prize" is incredibly powerful and soulful, and has a nice lesson for the greedy.

 Diana Ross - The Boss (flac   237mb)

01 No One Gets The Prize 4:37
02 I Ain't Been Licked 4:00
03 All For One 4:13
04 The Boss 3:42
05 Once In The Morning 4:49
06 It's My House 4:29
07 Sparkle 5:19
08 I'm In The World 3:56

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