[11] Ross and her family originally resided at 635 Belmont St., in the North End section of Detroit, near Highland Park, Michigan, where her neighbor was Smokey Robinson.

In the evenings and on weekends she also took modeling and cosmetology classes (Ross has written that Robinson loaned her the funds required to attend these), and participated in several of the school's extracurricular activities, including its swim team.

After the Primettes won a talent competition in 1960 in Windsor, Ontario, A&R executive and songwriter, Robert Bateman invited them to audition for Motown Records.

In late 1960, having replaced McGlown with Barbara Martin, the Primettes were allowed to record their own songs at Hitsville studio, many written by "Smokey" Robinson, who, by then, was vice president of Motown ("Your Heart Belongs to Me" and "A Breathtaking Guy").

In June 1964, while on tour with Dick Clark's Cavalcade of Stars, the group scored their first number-one hit with "Where Did Our Love Go", paving the way for unprecedented success.

As the lead voice of the Supremes, she was really only the soul—or perhaps élan vital—of a machine, ready to plug into whatever arrangement, lyric, or show dress Berry Gordy and the Motown organization provided.

In 1971, Diana Ross began working on her first film, Lady Sings the Blues (1972), which was a loosely based biography on singer Billie Holiday.

Touring throughout 1973, Ross became the first entertainer in Japan's history to receive an invitation to the Imperial Palace for a private audience with the Empress Nagako, wife of Emperor Hirohito.

A year later, in 1976, Ross released her fourth solo number-one hit, "Love Hangover", a sensual, dramatic mid-tempo song that bursts into an uptempo disco tune.

In 1977, Motown had acquired the film rights to the Broadway play The Wiz, an African-American reinterpretation of L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

On July 16, 1979, Ross guest-hosted an episode of Johnny Carson's The Tonight Show, featuring Lynda Carter, George Carlin, and Muhammad Ali as guests.

In November of that year, Ross performed The Boss album's title track as a featured artist during the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, in New York City.

Directed by Steve Binder, the concert portions of the special were filmed at Inglewood, California's 17,500-seat The Forum indoor stadium and featured performances by Michael Jackson, Muhammad Ali, Dallas actor Larry Hagman, music impresario Quincy Jones and members of the Joffrey Ballet.

When journalists discovered the exorbitant costs of the two concerts, Ross faced criticism from Mayor Ed Koch and the Parks Department commissioner.

The song "Chain Reaction" reached number one in the U.K., Australia, South Africa, Israel and Ireland, and the title track, a collaboration with Michael Jackson and Gibb, also performed well.

The "Eaten Alive" video was patterned after the 1970s horror film The Island of Dr. Moreau, while the one for "Chain Reaction" saluted the 1960s American Bandstand-style TV shows.

That same year, Ross was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Supremes alongside her former singing partners Mary Wilson and Florence Ballard.

Ross's next album, 1989's Workin' Overtime, was not a commercial success, despite the title track reaching the top three of the Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.

[49] On January 28, 1996, Ross performed at the Super Bowl XXX halftime show, held at the Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona.

[59][60] These moments were excised from the final edit of the taped special, but still made their way into the news media; People magazine reported that "Ross [did] some elbowing to get Wilson out of the spotlight.

The tour was cancelled by SFX shortly thereafter, due to mediocre ticket sales, despite glowing reviews from media as varied as Billboard magazine, the Detroit Free Press, the Los Angeles Times and The Village Voice newspapers.

Two days before the September 11 attacks, Ross performed "God Bless America" at the US Open before the tournament's women's final, between Venus and Serena Williams.

Shortly thereafter, Ross admitted herself into the 30-day substance abuse program at the Promises Institute in Malibu, California, after friends and family began to notice a burgeoning alcohol problem.

Venues, such as Long Island's Westbury Music Fair, California's Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts and Humphrey's Concerts by the Bay, attempted to add extra shows, due to public demand.

That December, during her stay at Arizona's Canyon Ranch Health Resort, Ross was pulled over by Tucson police for driving the wrong way on a one-way street.

[68] In 2005, Ross participated in Rod Stewart's Thanks for the Memory: The Great American Songbook, Volume IV recording a duet version of the Gershwin standard, "I've Got a Crush on You".

[77][78] In October 2009, Ross was the featured performer at the annual Symphonica in Rosso concert series, held at the GelreDome Stadium in Arnhem, Netherlands.

Her eldest grandson, eight-year-old Raif-Henok Emmanuel Kendrick, son of Rhonda Ross-Kendrick and husband, Rodney, performed an impromptu dance behind Ross, which gained attention.

Ross made several hour-long appearances on the network, and also released a tie-in CD retrospective collection of her music titled Diamond Diana.

[138] In 2006, Ross was one of 25 African-American women saluted at Oprah Winfrey's Legends Ball, a three-day celebration, honoring their contributions to art, entertainment, and civil rights.