Diana Ross

American singer and Academy-Award nominated actress who was one-third of the elegant Supremes trio in the '60s and went on to become a superstar stylist on her own.

Born the second of six children to Fred and Ernestine in the Brewster-Douglass housing projects of Detroit, Michigan, she had a poor but happy childhood in a musically-inclined family. During her early teens, she began singing more formally with several girls from her neighborhood. Their group became the Primettes, created by a local manager who wanted them to appear with his local male singing group, the Primes, later the Temptations. Motown's Berry Gordy saw them in 1961, and signed the group which included Mary Wilson, Florence Ballard and Ross, and they became the Supremes. The trio scored No. 1 hits in 1964 with "Where Did Our Love Go" and "Baby Love." In total, the group's nine-year career achieved 14 number-one hits.

In the late '60s, Ross' drawing power was such that Motown changed the group's name to Diana Ross and the Supremes. Ross made her final appearance with the Supremes before doing solo in 1970. Her first solo album, "Diana Ross," and first solo single "Reach Out and Touch" made the top 20. She won a Grammy in 1970.

She was nominated for an Academy Award for her starring role as Billie Holiday in "Lady Sings the Blues," in 1972. The album for the movie topped the charts the following year. In 1975, she starred in "Mahogany" which got mixed reviews. In 1978, she starred as Dorothy in the movie version of the Broadway musical, "The Wiz," a black version of "The Wizard of Oz." The project was a disaster, and helped derail her movie career.

Ross left Motown for RCA and EMI/Capital Records, immediately producing hits such as "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" and "Muscles," which was written by Michael Jackson. Her last Top 10 hit was in 1985, "Missing You.