Full Name: Diana Ernestine Earle Ross. Profession: Singer, Actress, Record Producer, and Entertainer. Nationality: American. Born: March 26, 1944. Birthplace: Detroit, Michigan, United States. Generation: Silent Generation. Chinese Zodiac: Wood Monkey (1944). Zodiac Sign: Aries. Age in 2026: 82. Marital Status: Twice divorced—first from music executive and publicist Robert Ellis Silberstein (married 1971, divorced 1977), and second from Norwegian shipping magnate and world-class mountaineer Arne Næss Jr. (married 1986, divorced 2000); currently single. Children: Five—Rhonda Ross Kendrick (born 1971, with Berry Gordy), Tracee Ellis Ross (born 1972, with Robert Silberstein), Chudney Ross (born 1975, with Robert Silberstein), Ross Arne Næss (born 1987, with Arne Næss Jr.), and Evan Ross (born 1988, with Arne Næss Jr.). Cause of Death: None—living as of 2026. Description: Diana Ernestine Earle Ross, universally hailed as the "Queen of Motown," is widely regarded as one of the most successful, influential, and iconic entertainers in the entire history of American popular music, whose extraordinary career spanning more than six decades has left an indelible mark on the worlds of music, film, television, and fashion. Born on March 26, 1944, in Detroit, Michigan, and raised in the Brewster-Douglass housing projects on the city's east side, Ross demonstrated extraordinary musical talent from a very young age, forming the vocal group the Primettes in 1959 alongside neighborhood friends Mary Wilson, Florence Ballard, and Betty McGhee, performing at local talent shows and social events while still in high school. After persistent efforts to be noticed by Berry Gordy's fledgling Motown Records—including arriving daily at Hitsville U.S.A. to offer handclaps and background vocals, while Ross herself served the group as hairstylist, make-up artist, seamstress, and costume designer—Gordy signed them in January 1961, renaming the group the Supremes. This decision would reshape the landscape of American popular music forever. With Ross installed as lead singer by late 1963, the Supremes rapidly ascended to the pinnacle of pop stardom, scoring their first number-one hit with "Where Did Our Love Go" in June 1964 and going on to record twelve number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100 between 1964 and 1970—a record surpassed among American groups only by the Beatles—including such era-defining classics as "Baby Love," "Come See About Me," and "Stop! In the Name of Love," "Back in My Arms Again," "I Hear a Symphony," "You Can't Hurry Love," "You Keep Me Hangin' On," "Love Child," and "Someday We'll Be Together," with hits also consistently charting in the UK Top 40 and across international markets. The Supremes became Motown's most commercially successful vocal act throughout the 1960s, their crossover appeal transcending racial divides and making them a cultural phenomenon whose flashy gowns, coiffed hairdos, and stylized choreography defined an era. At the same time, their music served as a kind of soundtrack for the civil rights movement, bringing Black popular music to mainstream white audiences on both sides of the Atlantic. In 1967, Berry Gordy renamed the group "Diana Ross and the Supremes," recognizing Ross's singular star power, before ultimately launching her solo career in earnest when she made her final appearance with the group at the Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas on January 14, 1970. Ross's solo debut in May 1970 immediately demonstrated her transcendent appeal, as her second solo single—a sweeping, orchestral reimagining of Ashford & Simpson's "Ain't No Mountain High Enough"—shot to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and earned her first Grammy nomination, establishing the template for her astonishing run of solo success throughout the 1970s and beyond. Over the course of fifteen years as a solo artist, Ross recorded twelve top-ten singles, with six of them—"Ain't No Mountain High Enough" (1970), "Touch Me in the Morning" (1973), "Theme from Mahogany (Do You Know Where You're Going To)" (1975), "Love Hangover" (1976), "Upside Down" (1980), and "Endless Love" (1981, a duet with Lionel Richie)—all reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100, making her at the time the female solo artist with the most number-one songs in United States chart history and placing her in a tie for fifth among all solo artists of any gender. The Guinness Book of World Records in 1993 declared Diana Ross the most successful female music artist in history, citing a total of 18 American number-one singles—12 with the Supremes and 6 as a solo artist—a distinction that underscored her almost unparalleled commercial dominance, while Billboard magazine had already honored her in 1976 by naming her the "Female Entertainer of the Century." Her landmark album Diana (1980), produced by Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards of Chic, became her biggest-selling studio release with nearly five million copies sold and produced the worldwide smash "Upside Down," which topped the charts in both the United States and the United Kingdom, while "I'm Coming Out" from the same album became one of the most enduring anthems in LGBTQ+ culture and American popular music. Ross also achieved enormous international success with songs including "Chain Reaction" (which hit number one in the United Kingdom in 1986), "If We Hold on Together" (which topped the charts in Japan in 1988), "When You Tell Me That You Love Me," and "Force Behind the Power," and over the course of her extraordinary career she has released 67 albums—16 of her first 18 solo studio albums crossing the million-sales mark—accumulating total combined sales estimated at over 100 million records worldwide as both a member of the Supremes and as a solo artist. Beyond music, Ross proved herself an equally formidable actress, making a stunning film debut in Lady Sings the Blues (1972) as the legendary jazz and blues singer Billie Holiday, earning five Academy Award nominations for the film, including Best Actress in a Leading Role, a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Drama, and a BAFTA nomination for Best Actress, and winning the Golden Globe for Most Promising Newcomer (Female), as well as the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture, with critics universally praising her raw emotional power and transformative portrayal of Holiday's turbulent life. She followed this triumph with the starring role in Mahogany (1975) and a celebrated turn as Dorothy in the all-Black Broadway musical film adaptation The Wiz (1978), alongside Michael Jackson. Her one-woman Broadway concert show, "An Evening with Diana Ross," was honored with a Special Tony Award. Her legendary free concert in Central Park in July 1983—which was interrupted by a violent rainstorm yet still saw Ross refusing to leave the stage, conducting the crowd, and eventually returning to complete the performance—has become one of the most iconic and mythologized moments in live performance history, later memorialized in the television special Diana Ross Live from Central Park. Throughout her career, she accumulated a remarkable array of honors and awards, including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award (2012), the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award shared with the Supremes (2023), the Kennedy Center Honors (2007), the BET Lifetime Achievement Award (2007), the American Music Awards Lifetime Achievement Award (2017), an Honorary César Award from France (1976), twelve Grammy nominations as a solo artist spanning five decades, and the rare distinction of holding two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame—one as a solo artist and one as a member of the Supremes—making her one of only a handful of entertainers to receive this honor twice. She was also inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988 as a member of the Supremes alongside Mary Wilson and Florence Ballard. Beyond her artistic achievements, Diana Ross stands as a trailblazing cultural figure whose influence on subsequent generations of entertainers—from Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey to Beyoncé and Jennifer Lopez, all of whom have cited her as a foundational inspiration—is immeasurable, and whose barrier-breaking success as a Black woman navigating and conquering the predominantly white entertainment industry of the 1960s and 1970s laid the groundwork for every artist who followed in her wake.