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08-22-2013, 01:15 PM
August 21, 2013 at 1:00 am
Susan Whitall
Diana Ross digs into decades of Motown and solo hits for concert outing
The girl from Detroit who became one of the most famous black women in the world decided as a child, after falling in love with Frankie Lymon's voice on "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" to make a career as a singer. [[Clarence Tabb , Jr. / The Detroit News)1 / 42 In the annals of Detroit divadom, there are really two female singers at the pinnacle, the top of the superstar heap.
After a tip of the hat to the Queen of Soul, we have to acknowledge the girl from Detroit who, in the early ’60s, became one of the most famous black women in the world: Diana [[nee Diane) Ernestine Ross.
Ross returns to her hometown for a concert at MotorCity Casino’s Sound Board on Sunday.
She was a pure product of Detroit, a typical overachieving Cass Tech girl [[think Tracy Flick in “Election”), determined to breach the doors of 2648 W. Grand in the same way she mastered high school, sewing, swimming and her innumerable other activities.
Her boss [[and later, paramour) Berry Gordy Jr.’s book for “Motown: The Musical” understandably emphasizes his role as the kingmaker who molded Ross into a superstar, but those who knew her in school describe a girl who was very much in control of her image.
As a child she determined, after falling in love with Frankie Lymon’s voice on “Why Do Fools Fall in Love,” to make a career as a singer. She went on to design and sew the [[pre-Supremes) Primettes’ costumes, practice harmonizing night and day, and befriend accomplished neighbors such as Smokey Robinson, who could help her. How much molding did she need?
And much as Lymon served as a role model for young black singers early on [[before anyone knew of his troubled personal life), showing how a baby-faced child of 13 could become a superstar, Ross served as a potent symbol for young girls, particularly young black girls, and most of all, anybody from Detroit.
Narratives such as the Motown musical are a reminder of how long it took the Supremes to get a hit. After a long time hanging out on the front steps of Motown, they were finally signed in 1961, but didn’t have a Top 40 hit until “When the Lovelight Starts Shining in His Eyes” was released in October 1963 [[followed quickly by “Where Did Our Love Go,” “Baby Love” and “Come See About Me” in 1964).
But once they hit, the Supremes became the best-known of the Detroit label’s mid-’60s lineup.
Both urban and suburban kids pasted photos of them on their bedroom walls, and black and white girls waited breathlessly every Sunday to see what airy chiffon frock or wild, psychedelic number Diana, Mary and Flo would be wearing on “The Ed Sullivan Show.”
In that pre-Oprah era, Ross alone — all cheekbones, big eyes and flirty smile — was one of the most famous black female faces in America. After Gordy successfully transitioned her into movies in the early ’70s [[“Lady Sings the Blues” and “Mahogany”), her fame as a performer, not “just” a pop singer, was assured.
Musically, she’s too often dismissed as a singer by those who make the usual complaints that her voice was too thin with that girlish timbre. Jazzmen like Beans Bowles, who played flute and other instruments on Motown tracks, once snorted “can’t sing,” about Ross.
“Betty Boop with soul” as a friend, the Creem writer and former Detroiter R.A. Pinkston IV [[now known as Rick Allen), describes that voice.
And what jazz musician can deny the absolutely perfect way Ross puts a glottal stop after each “baby” in the Supremes song “Baby Love”?
Her voice shudders to a stop after each “baby,” as if, overcome by emotion, her vocal cords must briefly [[and sequentially) shut down. Could any other Motown female sing, “Baby, baby, baby,” in quite the same way?
And if her talent was so dependent upon Gordy’s star-making machinery and the songwriting ministrations of Holland-Dozier-Holland and Smokey Robinson, how to explain her successful post-Motown career?
Unlike Mary Wells, Ross had no problem adjusting to a post-Motown world. And her current set list is taken up as much with her solo hits — “I’m Coming Out,” “Touch Me in the Morning,” “The Boss,” “Upside Down,” “Love Hangover,” “Reach Out and Touch” — as her Supremes hits [[from her Supremes days, she does “Baby Love,” “Stop! In the Name of Love,” “You Can’t Hurry Love” and “Love Child” in her current show).
On Sunday, fans will get the greatest hits, and they’ll see more than four or five costume changes, as that billowing waterfall of goddess hair hovers over her familiar smile.
With a little luck, prompted by the sight of so many old schoolmates, relatives and friends in the audience, a short distance from her old stomping grounds, maybe we’ll get flashes of the pretty, accomplished girl from Brewster. Maybe Ross will toss aside the script and pay tribute to her old haunts and her first loves in the city where it all began.
Diana Ross8 p.m. Sunday
Motor City Casino Sound Board
2901 Grand River, Detroit
Tickets sold out
[[313) 237-7711
swhitall@detroitnews.com
twitter.com/swhitall
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Purchase Image Zoom Diana Ross has had several hits since her Motown days, including 'I'm Coming Out,' 'Touch Me in the Morning,' 'The Boss,' 'Upside Down' and 'Reach Out and Touch.' / Clarence Tabb Jr. / The Detroit News
Purchase Image Zoom Berry Gordy Jr., left, Mary Wilson, Florence Ballard and Diana Ross work ... [[The Detroit News) More Susan Whitall
Diana Ross digs into decades of Motown and solo hits for concert outing Join the Conversation
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From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130821/ENT04/308210011#ixzz2ciddNfYv
Susan Whitall
Diana Ross digs into decades of Motown and solo hits for concert outing
The girl from Detroit who became one of the most famous black women in the world decided as a child, after falling in love with Frankie Lymon's voice on "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" to make a career as a singer. [[Clarence Tabb , Jr. / The Detroit News)1 / 42 In the annals of Detroit divadom, there are really two female singers at the pinnacle, the top of the superstar heap.
After a tip of the hat to the Queen of Soul, we have to acknowledge the girl from Detroit who, in the early ’60s, became one of the most famous black women in the world: Diana [[nee Diane) Ernestine Ross.
Ross returns to her hometown for a concert at MotorCity Casino’s Sound Board on Sunday.
She was a pure product of Detroit, a typical overachieving Cass Tech girl [[think Tracy Flick in “Election”), determined to breach the doors of 2648 W. Grand in the same way she mastered high school, sewing, swimming and her innumerable other activities.
Her boss [[and later, paramour) Berry Gordy Jr.’s book for “Motown: The Musical” understandably emphasizes his role as the kingmaker who molded Ross into a superstar, but those who knew her in school describe a girl who was very much in control of her image.
As a child she determined, after falling in love with Frankie Lymon’s voice on “Why Do Fools Fall in Love,” to make a career as a singer. She went on to design and sew the [[pre-Supremes) Primettes’ costumes, practice harmonizing night and day, and befriend accomplished neighbors such as Smokey Robinson, who could help her. How much molding did she need?
And much as Lymon served as a role model for young black singers early on [[before anyone knew of his troubled personal life), showing how a baby-faced child of 13 could become a superstar, Ross served as a potent symbol for young girls, particularly young black girls, and most of all, anybody from Detroit.
Narratives such as the Motown musical are a reminder of how long it took the Supremes to get a hit. After a long time hanging out on the front steps of Motown, they were finally signed in 1961, but didn’t have a Top 40 hit until “When the Lovelight Starts Shining in His Eyes” was released in October 1963 [[followed quickly by “Where Did Our Love Go,” “Baby Love” and “Come See About Me” in 1964).
But once they hit, the Supremes became the best-known of the Detroit label’s mid-’60s lineup.
Both urban and suburban kids pasted photos of them on their bedroom walls, and black and white girls waited breathlessly every Sunday to see what airy chiffon frock or wild, psychedelic number Diana, Mary and Flo would be wearing on “The Ed Sullivan Show.”
In that pre-Oprah era, Ross alone — all cheekbones, big eyes and flirty smile — was one of the most famous black female faces in America. After Gordy successfully transitioned her into movies in the early ’70s [[“Lady Sings the Blues” and “Mahogany”), her fame as a performer, not “just” a pop singer, was assured.
Musically, she’s too often dismissed as a singer by those who make the usual complaints that her voice was too thin with that girlish timbre. Jazzmen like Beans Bowles, who played flute and other instruments on Motown tracks, once snorted “can’t sing,” about Ross.
“Betty Boop with soul” as a friend, the Creem writer and former Detroiter R.A. Pinkston IV [[now known as Rick Allen), describes that voice.
And what jazz musician can deny the absolutely perfect way Ross puts a glottal stop after each “baby” in the Supremes song “Baby Love”?
Her voice shudders to a stop after each “baby,” as if, overcome by emotion, her vocal cords must briefly [[and sequentially) shut down. Could any other Motown female sing, “Baby, baby, baby,” in quite the same way?
And if her talent was so dependent upon Gordy’s star-making machinery and the songwriting ministrations of Holland-Dozier-Holland and Smokey Robinson, how to explain her successful post-Motown career?
Unlike Mary Wells, Ross had no problem adjusting to a post-Motown world. And her current set list is taken up as much with her solo hits — “I’m Coming Out,” “Touch Me in the Morning,” “The Boss,” “Upside Down,” “Love Hangover,” “Reach Out and Touch” — as her Supremes hits [[from her Supremes days, she does “Baby Love,” “Stop! In the Name of Love,” “You Can’t Hurry Love” and “Love Child” in her current show).
On Sunday, fans will get the greatest hits, and they’ll see more than four or five costume changes, as that billowing waterfall of goddess hair hovers over her familiar smile.
With a little luck, prompted by the sight of so many old schoolmates, relatives and friends in the audience, a short distance from her old stomping grounds, maybe we’ll get flashes of the pretty, accomplished girl from Brewster. Maybe Ross will toss aside the script and pay tribute to her old haunts and her first loves in the city where it all began.
Diana Ross8 p.m. Sunday
Motor City Casino Sound Board
2901 Grand River, Detroit
Tickets sold out
[[313) 237-7711
swhitall@detroitnews.com
twitter.com/swhitall
EmailPrintShare
Tumblr
StumbleUpon
Del.icio.us
Digg
AA
Purchase Image Zoom Diana Ross has had several hits since her Motown days, including 'I'm Coming Out,' 'Touch Me in the Morning,' 'The Boss,' 'Upside Down' and 'Reach Out and Touch.' / Clarence Tabb Jr. / The Detroit News
Purchase Image Zoom Berry Gordy Jr., left, Mary Wilson, Florence Ballard and Diana Ross work ... [[The Detroit News) More Susan Whitall
Diana Ross digs into decades of Motown and solo hits for concert outing Join the Conversation
The Detroit News aims to provide a forum that fosters smart, civil discussions on the news and events that we cover. The News will not condone personal attacks, off topic posts or brutish language on our site. If you find a comment that you believe violates these standards, please click the "X" in the upper right corner of the post to report it.
Policies
Community Policy
Privacy Policy
Terms of Service
From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130821/ENT04/308210011#ixzz2ciddNfYv