W&M - The Supreme Diana ROSS (excerpts)

After a more than successful career as lead vocalist of the Supremes, Diana ROSS goes solo.

Husband and wife lyricist-composer Nicholas ASHFORD and Valerie SIMPSON are commissioned to write her first 1970 album to win her her first Grammy Award… topped up with no less than seven American Music Awards and a Special Tony Award… Kennedy Center Honours… acclaimed by the Guinness Book of World Records declared Diana Ross the most successful female music artist in history due to her success in the United States and United Kingdom for having more hits than any female artist in the charts with a career total of 70 hit singles… and by Billboard magazine named her the Female Entertainer of the Century in 1976 included in the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame for her contribution to the Supremes… has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame…  culminating to a Lifetime Achievement Grammy in 2012…

She’s well on the road to success and nothing’s gonna stop her now… she has passed the 100 million album sales mark –even if the later albums have resulted in poor sales-… and still counting…

If size matters, it is more the size of her talent than her petite silhouette that will lead her… she will work with songs, shows, and films…

Diana ROSS radiates love in a most impressive way…

I’ll never forget that concert in Central park –a must see for all fans and not-yet-fans alike- Diana has just under a million people in control ! And they love it !

I like to say I was breast fed to Diana my mother loved her so much she couldn’t stop listening to her… and she certainly passed that love on down to me…

Diana ROSS has lent her voice to a great many songwriter with more or less success but always that unfailing talent… teaming up with the greatest acts in the music business…

Early in her career she lends her acting to impersonate Billie Holliday in The Lady Sings The Blues (Golden Globe and Best Actress Academy Award Nomination)… a stunning and endearing performance…

She played the lead in Mahogany… she discovered the Jackson 5 and Michael Jackson with whom she when on to star in The Wiz… Many stars in the US alone claim to have been influenced by her… including the major influence in the original DreamGirls musical…

Jesse CRAIGNOU