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Quick Facts
Best Known For
Singer and actress Diana Ross was part of the 1960s trio the Supremes as well as a solo artist, and starred in such films as Lady Sings the Blues and The Wiz.
Videos see all videos
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The Supremes - Mini Bio (5:28)
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Billie Holiday - Big Break (3:08)
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Billie Holiday - Struggle with Drugs
Even with a successful budding career, Billie Holiday still struggled to maintain her status as a groundbreaking jazz singer because of her addiction to drugs.
Billie Holiday - Big Break
After enduring a difficult childhood, Billie Holiday got her big break after being discovered in a jazz club by John Hammond for her skill at improvising when she sang.
Billie Holiday - Romantic Relationships
Billie Holiday was romantically involved with several different people during her rise to fame, both men and women, including Jimmy Monroe, Orson Welles and Tallulah Bankhead.
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Play NowDiana Ross. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 01:12, Jun 19, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/diana-ross-9464240.
Diana Ross. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/diana-ross-9464240 [Accessed 19 Jun 2013].
"Diana Ross." 2013. The Biography Channel website. Jun 19 2013, 01:12 http://www.biography.com/people/diana-ross-9464240.
"Diana Ross," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/diana-ross-9464240 [accessed Jun 19, 2013].
"Diana Ross," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/diana-ross-9464240 (accessed Jun 19, 2013).
Diana Ross [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 Jun 19] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/diana-ross-9464240.
Diana Ross, http://www.biography.com/people/diana-ross-9464240 (last visited Jun 19, 2013).
Diana Ross. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/diana-ross-9464240. Accessed Jun 19, 2013.
The next year she was arrested for driving under the influence and later convicted. Also in 2000, Ross launched a Supremes tour, which was highly criticized for not including original member Mary Wilson or later addition Cindy Birdsong. After experiencing some problems, the tour was eventually cancelled.
In 2007, Ross suffered a great personal loss. Her father, Fred Ross, died in November of that year. "He touched many lives and he will be truly missed,
" Diana Ross said in a statement. On tour at the time, she returned home to Detroit to be with her family. A few weeks after her father's death, Ross honored by the Kennedy Center for her contributions to the arts. Smokey Robinson and actor Terrance Howard were on hand to provide tributes to the singing superstar, and Ciara, Vanessa Williams, and Jordin Sparks paid homage to Ross in song.
Legacy
Despite her personal and professional ups and downs, Ross has withstood the test of time as a performer with a career that spans more than four decades. She has won several major awards, including a Golden Globe, a Tony Award, and several American Music Awards. Ross was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988 as part of the Supremes. Not one to rest on her laurels, she continues to delight her fans with new recordings, such as 2006's I Love You, a collection of love songs. She was awarded for her hard work again in 2007, when she was presented with Black Entertainment Television's Lifetime Acheivement Award and a John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Honors Award. In 2009, Ross jumped back into the limelight when pop icon Michael Jackson named the diva as an alternate guardian for his children.
Ross has been married twice: in 1971 she married music business manager Robert Ellis Silberstein, and after their divorce she married Norwegian tycoon Arne Næss Jr. in 1986. She split with Næss in 1999. Diana is the mother of five children: Rhonda Suzanne Silberstein, Tracee Joy Silberstein, Chudney Lane Silberstein, Ross Arne Næss, and Evan Olav Næss.
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Apollo Legends
View groupMany African-Americans made their name performing at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, including Ella Fitzgerald, James Brown and Jimi Hendrix. The roster of talented artists who made their careers after a successful amateur night at the Apollo grew so large, that the venue earned a reputation as the place to jump-start the career of an ambitious hopeful. Other performers, like Aretha Franklin and Michael Jackson, came to the theater after experiencing big professional success, adding further credibility to the historic New York concert hall. Explore the biographies of some of the more notable African-Americans who stepped out onto the Apollo stage, making entertainment history.
Apollo Legends 25 people in this group
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- In this group:
- Diana Ross
- Mary Wilson
- Florence Ballard
The Supremes 3 people in this group
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African-American Biopics
View groupWho can forget Angela Bassett as Tina Turner or Jamie Foxx as Ray Charles? Do you remember who played Billie Holiday? Or who Beyoncé performed as in the film Cadillac Records? More recent African-American biopics include the Lifetime original movie Betty & Coretta (2013), starring Angela Bassett as Coretta Scott King and Mary J. Blige as Betty Shabazz, and The Butler (2013), starring Forest Whitaker and based on the life of Eugene Allen.
View our photos of African-American biopics to compare these famous figures to the actors and actresses who have portrayed them.
African-American Biopics 39 people in this group
