Ross was born at Women's Hospital in Detroit, Michigan on March 26, 1944. For a time, the Ross family lived on Belmont Street in northern Detroit - directly off of Woodward Avenue - where Ross befriended neighbor Smokey Robinson. Ross' father moved his children to live with relatives in Bessemer, Alabama. Then, her family moved back to Detroit. When Diana was fourteen years old, the family moved Read more...

In 1961, having already replaced McGlown with Barbara Martin, the quartet auditioned for and eventually signed with Motown Records. During the group's struggling early years, all but one of the singles the group released were all sung by Ross,

After Martin's exit in 1962, the group would remain a trio throughout its tenure. In 1963, Motown CEO Berry Gordy made Ross the official lead singer Read more...

Motown began plans to have Ross start a solo career in 1968. Television specials such as TCB (1968) and G.I.T. on Broadway (1969) were designed to spotlight Ross as a star in her own right, and much of the later Ross-led Supremes material was recorded by Ross with session singers The Andantes, not Wilson and Birdsong, on backing vocals.

By the summer of 1969, Ross began her first solo recordings. Read more...