Original subtitles

[record static]

[upbeat Motown music]

Ms. Ross,

Diana,

"The Boss."

- The camera loved her.

The mic loved her.

From being the queen of Motown-

- That group is so ubiquitous and so powerful

that when the Beatles come to America for the first time,

they wanna meet The Supremes.

- to taking on the world stage,

this supreme diva has sold

over 100 million records worldwide.

Her career has spanned decades,

attracting generation after generation of loyal fans

- Diana Ross was glamorous.

She was able to do that for us Black women.

She showed us how to do it.

Big hair,

sequins,

scandals, and sensational performances.

Diana really did turn the world upside down.

- People think of Diana as like the ultimate diva.

Recording star, a TV star, a movie star.

[camera clicking]

- She just becomes this phenomenon.

[film reel clicking] [slow music]

Diana was born in Detroit, Michigan

on March 26th, 1944.

Detroit is a city in Midwestern America

that was known as the "Motor City."

- Though Diana grew up in Detroit,

for a brief period she was in Alabama

where her mother had TB,

and she was relocated there and lived with her aunt.

And when she came back,

she lived in the Brewster Housing Project.

- Most Black people are working class then,

so we are in what's called "the ghetto."

So we live in areas, I was born in one,

where the whole district was red lined by banks.

So even if you had the money as a Black person,

you couldn't get a mortgage, you couldn't get a loan.

White people started moving out of the areas.

The services were kind of diminished,

and it was just Black people living in dire conditions,

rat-infested, poor sanitation, all of that.

So that's how the ghetto was.

Although many minorities have good jobs,

vast numbers still do not have an equal opportunity.

When Diana was younger,

she had an interest in being a fashion designer.

She took various classes and textiles and clothing design.

She would take modeling and cosmetology classes

in the evenings.

Diana had a Baptist upbringing.

She would begin singing in the gospel choir

alongside her family.

- I grew up in Chicago on the south side,

so Detroit and Chicago, Philadelphia,

these places were kind of the reciprocal cities

for the great migration after World War I.

When people left, technically, they were plantations,

but they weren't, left the south to migrate to the north

to work in the cities, to work in the factories,

and what they brought with them

was their tradition of church.

And so you bring this to the north as a kind of solace,

as a way to connect and stay connected to your roots,

but also as a way to keep communicating to God.

Black people were working in the factories

under really not great conditions.

They were discriminated against.

They were in competition with other ethnic groups

like the Irish and the Poles.

And then you had the racism,

which still exists, of the police.

So therefore, the church becomes this great solace,

this place where you can gather

and not be busted by the cops

or harassed by, you know, people who hate you.

And you can sing to the Redeemer, to God.

Berry Gordy was the son of one of the workers

who came to Detroit during the great migration.

Berry himself would grow up to work

as a car manufacturer in the city.

In the 50s, four out of five cars were made in the USA,

with Detroit as the prosperous center of this.

[film reel clicking] [upbeat music]

And Detroit put the world on wheels.

In one generation,

these and other names created America's number one industry,

birthplace of the production line,

and the unheard of idea that everybody can ride.

Vision with know-how, that's Detroit.

Berry and Diana would both be dreamers,

both envision bigger things for their lives.

In somewhere like the Detroit housing projects,

the odds of success and stardom were stacked

against children like Diana.

Back then, glamor and luxury were something

that would be seen only on television.

- My generation was the first generation

of kids with screens.

We were glued to this huge thing in the middle of the room

called the television.

We were raised by television.

We were plopped down in front of television.

Television, television, television.

I'm sure Diana Ross saw these too,

where these movies started being released

from archives of 20th Century Fox, Metro, Warner Brothers,

these incredibly glamorous movies.

Jean Harlow, Betty Davis, incredible, Ingrid Bergman.

We saw these things on TV

with our milk and cookies as little girls,

and it was like, "my God, they're gorgeous!"

So I'm looking at TV,

looking at these glorious, glamorous stuff, and so is she.

We weren't thinking about,

"Where's the black version of it?"

but Berry Gordy was thinking of it.

And so how do you encompass

that generational feeling into a product?

And so he invents Motown.

[upbeat music]

Motown was a record label started by Gordy

in a modest two-story home in Detroit.

Its studio was called Hitsville USA.

- Well, Berry Gordy was like an entrepreneur, a music man.

He created Motown Records,

which is an incredibly influential record label.

- It's short for Motor City,

'cause all the cars were made in Detroit,

so he called it Motown.

Its unique approach to creating songs

was described as factory-like.

Gordy was inspired by the fast methods of production

in Detroit's motor industry.

Artists at Motown would often go on long tours together,

return to Detroit to record as many songs as possible,

then go back on tour for weeks on end.

The Hitsville Studios were active 22 hours a day.

The aim was to generate

as many chart topping hits as they could.

- That was called the "hit machine."

So that was the job, okay, period.

Motown was known for its rigorous schools of etiquette.

How the acts presented and carried themselves was paramount.

The label had a unique in-house finishing school,

which was run by Maxine Powell.

Diana will call her,

"The person who taught me everything I know."

Like Diana, many of the talented Motown artists

had grown up in the projects.

It was Maxine's job to teach these young people

to carry themselves like royalty.

The visual style and choreography of Motown acts

would become an iconic signifier of the label.

- It was this idea that they would be as good as,

if not better, than the comparable white acts of the day.

The presentation was always immaculate.

The choreography was always perfect.

The hair was always, you know, pristinely done.

It was a big part of the Motown factory.

- Motown records contributed

to Detroit's rich urban tapestry in the 1960s

as the city became the backdrop to Diana's

and many others' careers.

So you've got these really slick, beautiful guys, like The Temptations.

You got Marvin Gaye, and you get a girl group.

You have to have a girl group.

- Paul Williams, who was one of the,

who later became one of The Temptations,

was in a group called The Primes,

and their manager wanted to have a female counterpart,

and so the idea of The Primettes were born,

The Primettes were made up of Diana Ross,

Mary Wilson, Florence Ballard,

and Paul Williams' girlfriend, Betty McGlown.

They were a group of starry-eyed teens

who had grown up in Detroit.

- So by the late 50s,

The Primettes were quite known in Detroit.

And so Diana called up Smokey, an old friend of hers.

They dated when they were kids.

Smokey was already a big star

with The Miracles on Motown Records.

Diana pestered Smokey to get them an audition

with Motown Records.

And eventually,

they auditioned acapella in front of Berry Gordy.

But he thought they were too young, so he didn't sign them.

But it didn't stop them, especially Diana,

'cause Diana's always been known for that absolute focus

and ambition and drive.

The group would begin to hang out at Motown HQ.

They would offer their assistance on tracks,

whether it be clapping, backing vocals,

or playing the tambourine.

- Eventually, by 1961, Berry gave in and signed them.

But not as The Primettes. He wanted to change their name.

Florence Ballad actually chose the name, The Supremes.

Soon Betty would leave The Supremes to get engaged.

She was promptly replaced with Barbara Martin,

who in turn got engaged and left the group.

The Supremes continued as a trio made up of Florence, Mary,

and of course, Diana.

- This group, this girl group,

this super group who were glamorous,

they were glorious looking.

The hair, the sequence, plus they sang like angels.

So it was all perfect.

- Motown was trying to get them a hit for years.

It took about three years

before The Supremes had their first hit.

They were known as the "no-hit Supremes,"

because they kept putting record out after record out

and nothing was happening.

They weren't catching fire.

However, this all changed in 1964

with their first number one, "Where Did Our Love Go."

[upbeat Motown music]

- Diana Ross was glamorous, but she was down to earth.

We could hear in her voice

those sort of same southern resonances

that were in the voices around us.

It was the pitch of her voice, which was,

when I think about it now, extremely interesting,

because it was high pitched, it was...

it was girly.

The success of "Where Did Our Love Go"

was followed by four consecutive US number ones,

including hits like "Stop in the Name of Love"

and "Baby Love."

[upbeat Motown music]

They were no longer the "no-hit Supremes."

The group's popularity was exploding.

[upbeat Motown music]

The Supremes would tour across America,

and then all over the world.

[upbeat Motown music continues]

[traffic noises] [horn honks]

[cameras clicking]

The Motown sound was growing and growing.

The rise of The Supremes coincided

with the rise of television.

They would appear on "The Ed Sullivan Show."

- They were a crossover group,

maybe the first Black crossover group

because they were on this show

called "The Ed Sullivan Show," which was a variety show.

The Beatles were on that show as well.

I mean, he broke all these groups.

These were people we were listening to on radio

who suddenly were on this mainstream

eight or nine o'clock in the evening, Sunday night show.

Big deal. Big, big, big deal.

- I think you can't underestimate how powerful the image

of these three immaculately dressed women

appearing on television.

Three Black women that represented

this sort of aspirational glamor,

this potential to be seen,

to be someone, to be a kind of a superstar.

That really had an impact.

[camera clicking]

- When I think about it now,

it was so flawlessly spot on in terms of marketing,

in terms of understanding, you know, my generation,

Their television appearances were a key part

of their rise to mainstream fame.

People could tune in and see them.

And previously, you know, on television,

you wouldn't really see these representations

of Black people.

[upbeat Motown music]

In the 1940s and 50s, America was racially segregated.

Montgomery, Alabama in 1955

was the beginning.

In the heart of the deep south.

Montgomery's traditional pattern of segregation

touched all forms of the city's life.

The long frustration

which this produced in its negro citizens

erupted when a colored seamstress riding in a bus

refused to honor the traditions of segregated seating.

From this incident,

grew a protest movement headed by Dr. King,

then an obscure pastor of a Baptist church in Montgomery.

The 1960s represented a change

in race relations in the US.

[gospel singing]

On August 28th, 1963,

200,000 Americans came to Washington

to demand complete freedom for everyone.

This is the story... Motown was significant

for being a Black-owned corporation

that had a place in the mainstream.

- I think socially, Motown,

The Supremes contributed a lot to the social movement

of Black people in America.

First of all, prior to that,

you had to drink out of water fountains that said,

"For colored only," or "For white only."

And if you were caught drinking out of a white, you know,

you could be hung or whatever.

I think that our music really came along

at the right time socially.

So it helped the world to see

that Black people were beautiful.

[calm music]

Its songs were written for universal audiences.

They had a simple immediacy that made them hits.

- And music is kind of like an ambassador.

It brings people together, you know? It really does.

No matter what language you speak, no matter what,

music makes you happy.

It's always been that way throughout the years.

The Supremes were a crossover group

in the truest sense of the term,

capturing white and Black audiences equally.

They became a symbol of changing race relations

and the breaking of racial barriers.

- That group is so ubiquitous and so powerful

that when the Beatles come to America for the first time,

they wanna meet The Supremes.

Their high visibility as talented, glamorous,

successful Black women had a groundbreaking cultural impact.

- You know, the big role models are Audrey Hepburn,

Twiggy, Jackie Kennedy,

and then comes Diana Ross, who can do all of those things,

look like that.

She can do the hair, she can do the body,

she can do all of these things,

but she can also sing, which is what they can't do.

We were also as Black girls looking at Vogue.

Diana Ross had to actually be an embodiment of that.

She was able to do that for us Black women.

She showed us how to do it.

Diana and fashion was always interlinked.

I mean, you look at The Supremes,

them all wearing identical gowns and outfits.

It was always very kind of pristine and elegant

and sophisticated and high fashion.

Diana Ross's hair locks alone

is a whole sort of thesis in itself.

- She just becomes this phenomenon.

From the outside,

The Supremes appear to be unstoppable,

but underneath the diamond encrusted gowns

and fastidiously groomed hair,

cracks within the group were starting to show.

- As The Supremes got bigger,

and Diana being the leader of The Supremes,

the media were much more interested in Diana

than the other girls.

So she always became the focus.

When they were doing a photo shoot

or a TV interview, everyone wanted to speak to Diana.

And inevitably, tensions and jealousies arose

because of that.

[camera clicking]

Berry Gordy's relationship with Diana

had always been different

to how he interacted with the other girls.

During the 60s,

Diana and Berry would engage in a romantic relationship.

Barry would father Diana's first child, Rhonda.

- Berry's interest in Diana

became a bit difficult for the other girls.

He saw her star power.

[pensive music]

The camera loved her, the mic loved her.

You know, she had this crystal clear

but strong voice that just cut through on the radio,

and was the perfect sort of vehicle

for the kind of crossover pop records that he was making.

When you watch those clips, those old clips of The Supremes,

your eye always immediately goes to Diana

because she has that charisma.

She has that kind of thousand watts star power

just beaming out of her.

You can't take your eyes off her.

- In 1967, after increasing problems

with alcohol and depression,

Florence Ballard was dismissed from the group.

[somber music]

She would be swiftly replaced with Cindy Birdsong,

a member of Patti LaBelle and the Blue Belles.

Florence Ballard's leaving spelt the beginning of the end

for The Supremes in their current form.

- By the late 60s, by 1967,

Berry made the decision to change the name of the group

to Diana Ross and The Supremes.

- We did begin to see that she was starting to be inched out

of the three of them.

- And they carried on and Cindy joined.

But the tensions didn't go away,

because by this point, you know,

she was having a relationship with Berry as well,

and she was having a very separate life

from the other girls.

They would do TV specials,

and often in the show, Diana will be doing solo numbers,

or Diana will be doing a duet with Sammy Davis

or with Diane Schuur,

whoever was the big star of the day,

it was really the Diana Ross Show co-starring The Supremes.

So it was inevitable that the band would break up

and that she would go solo.

Then the name change of the group fueled rumors

that Diana was being primed for a solo career.

In 1970, The Supremes would perform their last show

with Diana in the lineup.

It was time for Diana to go solo.

- I think she went solo in 1970

because the business had changed.

This whole kind of soul group thing

probably was coming to an end.

Also, it was the era of the singer songwriters, solo woman,

you know, women like Carole King.

So it was quite prescient of whoever decided to put Diana

as herself as a solo act,

because that's what we were listening to.

We were listening to solo singers.

[upbeat music]

She was the only woman, woman of color, Black woman,

who was doing that in the mainstream at that time.

- There was no guarantees you would become a megastar.

And in fact, in the early years

of Diana's solo career in the early 70s,

The Supremes, who carried on on their own,

they were still having hits,

and they were doing pretty well.

And Diana's first single "Reach Out And Touch,"

wasn't the huge hit that they expected it to be.

It just got into the top 20, but it wasn't mega.

There was another track on the album,

"Ain't no Mountain High Enough" that DJs started playing.

It was such a brilliant vehicle for Diana

because it centered her voice.

It was like she was whispering in your ear.

And the majority

of the "Ain't no Mountain High Enough" record

is her speaking.

And it slowly builds and builds.

It's kind of dramatic, climactic moment in the record.

[upbeat music]

And that was what really put her on the map,

actually, that record.

It was her first number one.

- Killer hit, massive hit, and it made perfect sense.

- Diana's musical career in the 70s was interesting

because she had sort of like a big hit,

then some little hits, another big hit.

So it was kind of up and down.

But every couple of years,

Berry made sure she had an amazing record

that broke through, and then she'd have a number one smash.

So she had "Ain't no Mountain High Enough,"

couple of years later, she had this amazing ballad

called "Touch Me in the Morning," another number one.

When Diana goes solo in the 70s,

she comes into her own really,

in terms of fashion, I think, and it really goes,

if she's already reached the top,

then she goes over the top.

You know, it is the sort of the Bob Mackie gowns

and the sort of sequined cat bodysuits,

and those kind of things.

So that's what Diana really becomes associated with.

It's just like kind of high glamor,

high fashion throughout the 70s.

Diana would soon release the album

"Diana and Marvin" with fellow Motown star, Marvin Gaye.

Diana had known Marvin Gaye for years.

I mean, The Supremes,

sung backgrounds on some of his early hits,

like "Can I Get a Witness."

So she had a long relationship with Marvin.

- Their voices were kind of in the same range,

the masculine, the feminine version of it.

You felt that they liked each other, they loved each other,

they cared about each other in a, not in a romantic way,

but in a comradeship way.

In the 70s,

Diana would break into the world of movies.

- Well, Berry Gordy had this dream

to make Diana the Black Streisand

a recording star, a TV star, a movie star.

So the first project that Berry Gordy got for Diana

was the Billie Holiday life story, "Lady Sings the Blues."

[slow blues music]

At the time when it was announced

that Diana will play this role,

people were very skeptical about it

because Diana had this image

of being slightly frivolous pop music,

it was seen as, unfairly.

But that's how it was seen in comparison to Billie Holiday,

who was this real kind of legend of jazz music, you know,

little depth and pain in her music.

And so how could Diana possibly take this on?

But the film was a triumph for Diana.

I mean, if you see her in those scenes, it's incredible.

She really immersed herself in the role.

[somber blues music]

- She got an Oscar nomination for it, won a Golden Globe.

The album became a Double Platinum hit for her in every way.

"Lady Sings the Blues"

was a kind of a major turning point for Diana.

You know, claiming her sort of power as a superstar.

[crowd chatter] [cameras clicking]

- Then she does "Mahogany,"

which is filmed in my hometown of Chicago.

So everybody's like screaming.

And when she plays what makes sense, a fashion designer.

In "Mahogany,"

Diana's past as a hopeful fashion student came in handy

as she took the lead role and a costume design credit.

Berry Gordy would take over production on the film,

which led to clashes with Ross.

Diana also starred in the film adaptation of "The Wiz"

with Michael Jackson in 1978.

[funky music]

After she collaborated with Marvin Gaye,

Diana released albums such as "Last Time I saw Him"

and "Baby It's Me."

But in 1979, her album, "The Boss,"

asserted herself as a symbol of the rising disco scene.

[upbeat disco music]

She was known to dance at the iconic disco club, Studio 54.

- By the mid 70s, disco was starting to come in,

and Diana really was on the first wave of that.

She recorded a track called "Love Hangover"

that was kind of like a proto-disco track really.

Diana had had already proven

that she could be a disco star in a way.

- Diana goes disco, which made perfect sense,

absolutely perfect sense.

Master stroke, you know, high disco,

high Diana walks, drag.

And she's wise to that. She's very smart about it.

It's a very clever album. Very clever.

- People didn't think it was her at the time

because she's doing these sort of gospel runs

and this kind of powerhouse vocals at the end

that don't seem like what you'd normally expect

from Diana Ross.

[upbeat disco music]

One of the great quality I think of Diana Ross

is that she could, she proved herself be so adaptable

to kind of genres over the years.

You know, she didn't just get fixed in the 60s

and the Motown sound.

She sustained her career over decades

because she could adapt

to whatever was the flavor of the time.

The disco scene was popular with gay men,

an audience with which Diana had already built up

a devout following.

- Disco was massive.

I was a little disco queen myself,

and I had a little cadre of wonderful gay guys

that I ran around with.

For the gay community, the gay male community,

Diana Ross was an icon.

I mean, I was friends with a guy

who did a Diana Ross impersonation act at night.

She accepts the fact that she's a gay icon, a gay male icon.

She accepts it, she loves it, she embraces it.

Diana kept the mirror disco ball rolling

when she collaborated with Nile Rodgers

and Bernard Edwards of Chic.

She stepped away from her usual collaborators,

Brian and Eddie Holland, who defined her sound thus far

with Motown and The Supremes.

The album simply called "Diana" further solidified her

as the ultimate disco diva and gay icon.

- For me, my favorite Diana Ross fashion look

is probably the "Diana· album cover."

The album she did with Chic,

where there was a deliberate attempt

to strip away and deconstruct the glamorous idea of Diana.

And she's presented in jeans

and a white T-shirt with her hair slicked back.

And she's looks very defile in the image.

She's staring down the camera.

That's kind of a look that's been emulated a lot

and copied over the years by different stars.

But Diana, you know, was the first.

One of the biggest hits from the album

was "I'm Coming Out."

[upbeat music]

The lyrics resonated with Diana's gay fans

taking on the meaning of coming out from the closet

- I'm coming out, you know,

gives you everything that you need to know

in terms of her understanding

who one of her core audiences were, the gay male community.

For Diana, it took on an additional meaning.

At this time, Diana was beginning to come out

from Berry Gordy's control of her career.

- Diana's life had been very much controlled by Berry.

He was like her mentor, her husband Gordy,

her father figure throughout her years at Motown.

But there comes a certain point where you wanna break free.

She was working hard album after album,

movie after movie in the 70s.

And by the end of it, she kind of had enough

of not really having a huge say

in where her career was going.

She started making records that were really reflective

of her independence, like "The Boss."

But it was time really for her to leave Motown

Ross would soon begin negotiations

to leave Motown in 1980.

RCA Records offered Ross

a $20 million seven-year recording contract

with full production control of her albums.

Gordy and Motown couldn't compete,

and so the next chapter of Diana's career began.

It was time for Diana to prove she could do it alone again.

- Partly, I would imagine she'd left

because Michael Jackson was leaving.

Michael Jackson was coming out of that.

Marvin Gaye was coming out of that.

And so they were becoming solo acts in of themselves

because the music scene had changed.

"Why Do Fools Fall in Love"

was Diana's first album for RCA.

The leading single of the same name was a cover

of the 1950s Frankie Lymon & The Teenager's classic.

[upbeat music]

With her new independence, Diana became a businesswoman

establishing her own production company

and investing in real estate.

Throughout her career,

Diana Ross has also gained a reputation for being a diva.

From her conflicts in The Supremes to silicious rumors

of backstage tantrums.

- When I hear the word diva outside of the opera, you know,

you think of a man or a woman

who has to have the space around them

totally under their control,

even beyond if they can help it,

and them being the center of the control.

But it had to be like they wanted to be.

And the rumor was that Diana Ross was like that.

- There were a series of things,

particularly in the 80s, I think,

that in the public's mind solidified the idea

of "Diana the Diva," which were the musical "Dreamgirls,"

which is a sort of thinly veiled telling

of the The Supreme story

and about how one girl gets kicked out,

and another girl who's in love with the boss

gets pushed to the front.

It's like, "I wonder who that could be about."

You know, who Diana wasn't that impressed about at the time.

- I saw the opening night of "Dreamgirls,"

the original on Broadway in the early 80s.

And of course, it took that story.

"Dreamgirls" takes a story of the breakout of Diana Ross

from The Supremes.

But I wonder what she must have thought when she saw that

because it was, you know.

I mean, the ruthlessness must've been amazing.

You could tell she was ambitious, that's for sure.

The musical "Dreamgirls"

was later made into a film starring Beyonce.

- It's a musical, it's loosely based off of The Supremes.

It's kind of, it's about the upsides and the downsides,

all the negative things that come along with fame.

And it's just an incredible energy

and it makes you leave the theater feeling

like anything's possible.

It's a family movie, but it's so entertaining,

and the way the director cut the music with the scenes,

it's just brilliant, and I'm so happy to be a part of it.

- Couple years after that,

Mary Wilson wrote a tell-all book called "Dreamgirl,"

where she bitched

and complained about how Diana Ross had been,

treated better than the rest of the girls

during The Supremes.

Which is unfair. I don't think she deserves that at all.

She was ambitious and she was talented,

and she was the best singer in the group, really.

And so, of course she's gonna get the spotlight.

[camera clicking] [piano music]

In 1985, Barry Gibb produced her album,

"Eaten Alive," which got a UK number one

with "Chain Reaction."

[upbeat music]

- But as the decade went on,

the records weren't as big hits.

There was a decline really in her commercial fortunes.

She would continue

to release albums in the realm of pop music

with reduced commercial success.

- She was making really interesting pop records,

but they weren't necessarily connecting.

But of course, she was getting older as well.

There were so many contemporaries

that were coming out at that point.

You know, people like Whitney Houston were emerging.

And so Diana was kind of being

slightly pushed out the spotlight, particularly in America.

However, by now, Diana was seen as an icon

and would continue

to carry out hugely successful world tours.

- She's a great performer.

I mean, you can't take that from her at all.

She loves audiences, and you can feel that.

- Absolutely amazing.

I can't put into words how I felt. It was so emotional.

And it's what I've grown up with.

You know, I'm a child born in the 60s,

growing up with Diana Ross and Motown,

and I honestly, I was so overwhelmed.

But it doesn't matter what age you are

'cause everyone around me was enjoying it as well.

And she's multi-generational.

She's just, my God, such an icon. I loved it.

Age is no barrier.

So she's as good now as she was in the 70s.

And I love her, absolute icon.

I'm actually crying, sorry. She's brilliant.

- She really connects with her audience.

There's a kind of always a point in the show

where she encourages the audience to hold hands

and sing together.

She'll do "Reach Out and Touch,"

and she'll guide the audience with a microphone,

encourage everyone to kind of join hands.

And she kind of is this goddess of love.

- What I would like to do

is hear all the voices in the house sing with me

on "Reach Out and Touch."

Let's see if we can get every voice in the house.

Okay? Everybody.

[calm music]

Sing it now.

Through her illustrious career,

Diana Ross has emerged as a true icon.

- One way you could describe Diana Ross

is "Queen of Motown,"

'cause she was the biggest star of the Motown era.

Without a doubt, I mean, The Supremes were huge.

They were the biggest recording group

in America in the 60s.

[upbeat music]

One of the most important things about Diana's legacy

is that she was the first Black female

crossover artist, really.

There've been artists,

there've been people before like Lena Horne

and Anna Fitzgerald and Dorothy Dandridge,

other women that were stars and people knew them,

but they hadn't really conquered

as many fields as Diana did.

You know, she was a recording star, a TV star, a movie star.

And in that way, she really paved the way

for a load of women that followed,

you know, from Janet Jackson through to Beyonce.

- Well, Diana Ross experienced the challenges

of being a Black woman.

Music career was not built for Black women,

for sure, Black people, period.

So she faced that challenge.

Her music has transcended both genre and generation.

- Diana Ross was pop, so she could go from Berry Gordy

and that whole production number of Motown

to Nile Rogers.

She could sing Broadway, which she did, Broadway ballads.

She could do all of those things.

What others would see as boundaries,

Diana saw as a green light.

Her life has been a high speed ride

from the Detroit projects to global stardom.

- That's her key legacy, I think. She's a living legend.

She deserves to have that role, the living legend.

You know, I don't think she's necessarily

has fairly given the props she deserves.

[upbeat disco music]

[upbeat music]

[upbeat music continues]