|
 As a solo
artist, Diana Ross is one of the most successful female singers of the
rock era. If you factor in her work as the lead singer of the Supremes
in the 1960s, she may be the most successful. With her friends
Mary Wilson, Florence Ballard, and Barbara Martin, Ross formed the
Primettes vocal quartet in 1959. In 1960, they were signed to local
Motown Records, changing their name to the Supremes in 1961. Martin
then left, and the group continued as a trio. Over the next eight
years, the Supremes (renamed "Diana Ross and the Supremes" in 1967,
when Cindy Birdsong replaced Ballard) scored 12 number one pop hits.
After the last one, "Someday We'll Be Together" (October 1969), Ross
launched a solo career.
Motown initially paired her
with writer/producers Nicholas Ashford and Valerie Simpson, who gave
her four Top 40 pop hits, including the number one "Ain't No Mountain
High Enough" (July 1970). Ross branched out into acting, starring in a
film biography of Billie Holiday, Lady Sings the Blues (November
1972). The soundtrack went to number one, and Ross was
 nominated
for an Academy Award. She returned to record-making with the Top Ten
album Touch Me in the Morning (June 1973) and its chart-topping title
song. This was followed by a duet album with Marvin Gaye, Diana &
Marvin (October 1973), that produced three chart hits. Ross acted in
her second movie, Mahogany (October 1975), and it brought her another
chart-topping single in the theme song, "Do You Know Where You're
Going To." That and her next number one, the disco-oriented "Love
Hangover" (March 1976), were featured on her second album to be titled
simply Diana Ross (February 1976), which rose into the Top Ten.
Ross' third film role came in
The Wiz (October 1978). The Boss (May 1979) was a gold-selling album,
followed by the platinum-selling Diana (May 1980) (the second of her
solo albums with that name, though the other, a 1971 TV soundtrack,
had an exclamation mark). It featured the number one single "Upside
Down" and the Top Ten hit "I'm Coming Out."
 Ross scored
a third Top Ten hit in 1980 singing the title theme from the movie
It's My Turn. She then scored the biggest hit of her career with
another movie theme, duetting with Lionel Richie on "Endless Love"
(June 1981). It was her last big hit on Motown; after more than 20
years, she decamped for RCA. She was rewarded immediately with a
million-selling album, titled after her remake of the old Frankie
Lymon and the Teenagers hit, "Why Do Fools Fall in Love," which became
her next Top Ten hit. The album also included the Top Ten hit "Mirror,
Mirror."
Silk Electric (October 1982)
was a gold-seller, featuring the Top Ten hit "Muscles," written and
produced by Michael Jackson, and Swept Away (September 1984) was
another successful album, containing the hit "Missing You," but Ross
had trouble selling records in the second half of the 1980s. By 1989,
she had returned to Motown, and by 1993 was turning more to pop
standards, notably on the concert album Diana Ross Live: The Lady
Sings...Jazz & Blues, Stolen Moments (April 1993).
 Motown
released a four-CD/cassette box set retrospective, Forever Diana, in
October 1993, and the singer published her autobiography in 1994. Take
Me Higher followed a year later, and in 1999 she returned with Every
Day Is a New Day. 2000's Gift of Love was promoted by a concert tour
featuring the Supremes, although neither Mary Wilson nor Cindy
Byrdsong appeared -- their roles were instead assumed by singers Lynda
Laurence and Scherrie Payne, neither of whom ever performed with Ross
during the group's glory days. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide.
 RECORD
REVIEW - "Love Hangover". Setting the mood during a recording
session is important because that "vibe" is what will come across on
the finished record. Recording for Diana Ross' "Love Hangover" was
done at two in the morning with Ross passing out shots of Remy Martin.
Just like with the Jackson 5's "Never Can Say Goodbye," producer Hal
Davis overheard a demo of the Pam Sawyer/ Marilyn McLeod song while at
the Los Angeles offices of Motown Records. The musicians he used on
the session included some of the same ones he would use on Thelma
Houston's 1977 R&B/ pop chart-topping cover of "Don't Leave Me This
Way": drummer James Gadson, bassist Henry Davis, guitarist Art Wright,
and Crusaders pianist Joe Sample. Davis found some resistance from
some of the musicians (who didn't like the change from a cool, languid
groove into a brisk disco workout) and Ross herself who thought that
she was "above" doing disco. The
intervention of Motown founder Berry Gordy set the stage for Ross
having her biggest hit since "Ain't No Mountain High Enough." To bring
the right mood even more to the fore, Davis instructed engineer Russ Terrana (who would later remix Ross' Chic-produced hits "Upside Down"
and "I'm Coming Out" from her platinum Diana LP) to install a
strobe light so that Ross could be in the " disco" mindset. It did the
trick with "Love Hangover" going to number one R&B and number one pop
for two weeks in spring 1976. The 5th Dimension lost the cover battle
with their version issued as an ABC single peaking at number 39 R&B
and number 80 pop around the same time. Ross' "Love Hangover" enjoyed
many remixes over the years including one by Frankie Knuckles found on
Diana Extended: The Remixes. |
