Diana Ross Net Worth

What is Diana Ross' Net Worth?

Diana Ross is a legendary American singer and actress who has a net worth of $350 million. Diana Ross first became a superstar as a member of The Supremes in the 1960s. She went on to enjoy an extremely successful solo career. She is the only artist in history to have #1 songs as a solo artist, as a member of a duet, and as a member of a trio group. Between her various singing incarnations, Diana has sold more than 100 million albums worldwide.

Diana Ross' illustrious journey began as a founding member of The Supremes, one of Motown Records' most successful acts in the 1960s. With hits like "Baby Love" and "Stop! In the Name of Love," Ross and The Supremes helped define the sound of a generation and paved the way for future African American artists.

In 1970, Diana Ross embarked on a solo career that was marked by immediate success. Her self-titled debut album included hits like "Ain't No Mountain High Enough," and she continued to chart with a series of successful albums throughout the '70s and '80s. Her musical style evolved, embracing pop, soul, R&B, and disco.

Beyond her musical accomplishments, Diana Ross made her mark on the big screen with her role in the 1972 film "Lady Sings the Blues," earning an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. She continued to act in films like "Mahogany" and "The Wiz," further showcasing her talents.

Ross's influence in the music industry is monumental. Her success as a black female artist during a time of racial tension in America is notable and made her a symbol of empowerment and triumph. With numerous awards, including a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Diana Ross's career continues to be celebrated.

In recent years, she has continued to perform, even headlining major festivals, thereby ensuring her music reaches new generations of fans. Despite some ups and downs in her personal life and career, Diana Ross's resilience and unique voice have solidified her as one of the most revered and influential performers in the history of American music.

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Early Life and Career Beginnings

Diana Ross was born on March 26, 1944, in Detroit, Michigan, the second-oldest child of Ernestine and Fred Ross Sr. She grew up in the city's Brewster-Douglass Housing Projects and attended Cass Technical High School in downtown Detroit, graduating in January 1962. At Cass Tech, Ross studied clothing design, millinery, pattern making, and tailoring, with the initial goal of becoming a fashion designer rather than a performer.

At age 15, Ross joined the Primettes, the female counterpart to a male vocal group called the Primes. After winning a talent competition in Windsor, Ontario, the Primettes were invited to audition for Motown Records. Ross approached former neighbor William "Smokey" Robinson, who agreed to arrange the audition in exchange for allowing his group, the Miracles, to hire guitarist Marv Tarplin.

Motown executives were impressed with the Primettes' talent but felt the group was too young to sign. Label founder Berry Gordy encouraged them to return after finishing high school. Undeterred, the Primettes frequently showed up at Motown's Hitsville U.S.A. headquarters, offering to help however they could, from hand claps to background vocals. In January 1961, Gordy signed the group on the condition that they change their name. After original member Barbara Martin departed in 1962, Ross, Florence Ballard, and Mary Wilson continued as a trio under a new name: the Supremes.

The Supremes

The Supremes scored their first significant hit with "When the Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes" in 1963, which reached No. 23 on the Billboard Hot 100. By the end of that year, Gordy designated Ross as the group's lead vocalist, a move that proved transformative. Their next release, "Where Did Our Love Go" in 1964, became their first No. 1 hit.

What followed was one of the most dominant chart runs in pop history. Between August 1964 and May 1967, the Supremes landed ten No. 1 singles, making them Motown's most successful vocal act of the decade and one of the most commercially powerful groups of the 1960s.

Internal tensions and personal struggles eventually took a toll. In 1967, Florence Ballard was removed from the group, and Gordy rebranded the act as Diana Ross & the Supremes. The name change also allowed Motown to command higher performance fees. While Gordy considered launching Ross as a solo artist immediately, he opted to keep the group intact while their popularity remained strong.

During this period, Ross increasingly pursued solo opportunities, including television appearances on shows such as "The Dinah Shore Show." In 1970, she officially left the group, making her final appearance with the Supremes on January 14 in Las Vegas.

Solo Career

Ross released her self-titled solo debut album in May 1970, followed quickly by "Everything Is Everything" later that year and "Surrender" in 1971. In late 1971, she starred in her first solo television special, "Diana!," which further cemented her status as a standalone star.

At the end of 1980, Ross began negotiations to leave Motown after two decades with the label. She received a reported $250,000 severance payment and soon signed a seven-year, $20 million contract with RCA Records, which was the largest recording deal in music history at the time. Her RCA debut, "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" (1981), sold over one million copies and reaffirmed her commercial appeal outside of Motown.

Over the course of her solo career, Ross released 25 studio albums. Including live and soundtrack releases, her catalog exceeds 30 albums. She has released more than 90 singles as a solo artist, with 17 reaching the Billboard Top 40, 12 reaching the Top 10, and six hitting No. 1.

In 2022, Ross received a Grammy nomination for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album for "Thank You," marking yet another late-career milestone. She has continued to perform internationally, mounting large-scale tours celebrating her extensive catalog of chart-topping hits.

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Acting Career

Alongside her music career, Ross built a parallel presence in film and television. She made her acting breakthrough starring as Billie Holiday in "Lady Sings the Blues" (1972), a performance that earned her nominations for both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe.

She went on to star in additional feature films, including "Mahogany" (1975) and "The Wiz" (1978), as well as television movies such as "Out of Darkness" (1994) and "Double Platinum" (1999). While acting never eclipsed her music career, her performances reinforced her reputation as a multi-talented entertainer.

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Personal Life

Ross has been married twice and has five children and seven grandchildren. She began dating Motown CEO Berry Gordy in 1965, and together they share a daughter, Rhonda Suzanne Silberstein, who today goes by Rhonda Ross Kendrick (the last name coming from her marriage to Rodney Kendrick). However, Gordy did not help raise Rhonda. Two months into her pregnancy, in 1971, Ross actually married a different man, music executive Robert Ellis Silberstein. Silberstein went on to raise Rhonda as his own despite knowing who her biological father was. Ross went on to have two daughters with Silberstein, Tracee Joy and Chudney Lane. After Ross and Silberstein divorced in 1977, she moved to New York City. From 1980 to 1983, Ross dated Kiss frontman Gene Simmons.

In 1985, she met Norwegian shipping magnate Arne Næss Jr. They married the following year. She became stepmother to Næss' three children, and together they had two sons, Ross Arne and Evan Olav Ross. Evan later married singer Ashlee Simpson. So Ashlee Simpson is Diana Ross' daughter-in-law. Evan and Ashlee have a daughter together, and Evan is the stepfather to Ashlee's child from her first marriage to musician Pete Wentz.

After reports that Næss had fathered another child with a woman in Norway, Ross and Næss divorced in 2000. Næss tragically fell to his death in 2004 in a mountain climbing accident in South Africa.

Real Estate

For much of her adult life, Diana Ross has maintained a high-profile real estate portfolio that spans from the East Coast to the Florida shoreline. Her primary residence is a sprawling five-acre waterfront estate known as Quarry Farm, located in the exclusive Belle Haven enclave of Greenwich, Connecticut. Ross purchased the 12,500-square-foot Colonial-style mansion in the 1980s for approximately $3.5 million. The property, which features 11 bedrooms, a private dock, and a tennis court, was listed for sale in 2007 with an asking price of $39.5 million. When the home did not secure a buyer during the subsequent market downturn, Ross successfully appealed her property tax assessments to better align with contemporary market values.

In late 2022, Ross expanded her holdings with the $15.5 million purchase of a modern waterfront estate on San Marco Island in Miami, Florida. This acquisition features extensive glass architecture and significant waterfrontage on Biscayne Bay. Her past investments include a notable residence on North Maple Drive in Beverly Hills, which she owned for over a decade starting in the 1970s.

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