Diana Ross (born Diane Ernestine Earle Ross on March 26, 1944 in Detroit, Michigan) is an African-American soul, R&B and pop singer and actress. Ross is one of the most successful female artists of her era, both due to her solo work and her role as lead singer of The Supremes during the 1960s.

In 1976, Billboard magazine named her the female entertainer of the century. In 1993, The Guinness Book Of World Records pronounced her the most successful female artist ever, partly due to her combined total of eighteen #1 singles, six of them recorded solo and the remaining dozen from her work with the Supremes. Only The Beatles (twenty number ones), Mariah Carey (seventeen number ones) and Elvis Presley (seventeen number ones) have equalled or bettered this accomplishment.

Biography

The Supremes

Fred and Ernestine Ross had named and christened their daughter "Diane"; however, due to a clerical error, "Diana" was what wound up on her birth certificate. Regardless of the mistake, Ross would continue to use the name "Diane" through her teenage years.

Ross began her long music career with Mary Wilson, Florence Ballard and Betty McGlown as the doo-wop quartet the Primettes, a sister group to The Primes in 1959. After signing to Motown Records in 1961 and replacing McGlown with Barbara Martin, they changed the name of the group to The Supremes. Barbara Martin left the group shortly afterwards, and The Supremes carried on as a trio.

Although all the girls originally took turns singing lead, Motown chief Berry Gordy made Diane the permanent lead singer starting in 1964, because he felt her voice had the pop appeal the Supremes needed to cross over to white audiences. Ross also began using the name "Diana" at this time. Between the summer of 1964 and the summer of 1967, the Supremes released ten singles which went to #1 on the pop charts becoming the most successful black group of the decade.

In July 1967, Florence Ballard was fired from the Supremes and replaced with Cindy Birdsong. At this time, the group was officially renamed Diana Ross & the Supr