Having heard Nile Rodgers of Chic's work in the famous Manhattan disco club Studio 54, Ross approached him about creating a new album of material for her that stated where she felt she was in her life and career at the period.
Ross remixed the entire album, assisted by Motown engineer Russ Terrana, removing extended instrumental passages and speeding up the tracks' tempos.
When they were presented with the "official" version of diana, the producers publicly objected and, at one point, even considered removing their names from the album's list of credits.
Rodgers and Edwards were contracted by Motown to produce a follow-up album, but, as Ross left the label, it was never created.
Rodgers and Edwards sued Motown, unsuccessfully claiming that they were owed monies for creating and recording the original version of the album.
Her perky angularity and fit-to-burst verve could have been designed for Rodgers & Edwards's synergy – you'd swear she was as great a singer as Alfa Anderson herself.
[...] The glossy Chic production might sound a bit dated to some ears, but it's matured much better than many similar albums of the era.
"[4] In her 2003 review of Diana's deluxe edition, Daryl Easlea from BBC Music wrote: "Diana is an artistic portrayal of complete freedom; Rodgers and Edwards' writing symbolises Ross' breaking free of the shackles of Motown on one level, but moreover, the work has a universality; celebrating gayness, blackness, equality; an album of challenging ideas, friendship and freedom.
A fourth single, "Tenderness", was also released in certain territories, reaching the top 40 in the Netherlands, and was later included on several greatest hits compilations.
[11] Some thirty years after its release, Diana remains Ross's best-selling studio album to date having sold a total of over 10 million copies worldwide, according to music critic Graham Reid.
[12] Diana was one of four albums written and produced by Edwards and Rodgers in 1980, the other three being Sister Sledge's Love Somebody Today, Sheila and B.
Devotion's King of the World including European hit single "Spacer", and Chic's fourth studio album Real People.