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Diana Ross: A Biography

Page 63

by J. Randy Taraborrelli


  From this album, many fans preferred “You Were the One,” an infectious tune Diana was performing at the end of her show at this time. She also included “Lovin’, Livin’ and Givin’” and “To Love Again” from this collection in her shows. It really was the ultimate Diana Ross concert, and even surpassed her last extravaganza. The concert also featured a medley from The Wiz with Diana playing all of the roles from the film. Though most critics were less than enthusiastic about the latest album, they unanimously praised the new stage show.

  More Trivia

  —– Most of the rejected Ross tracks have since been released, including “We’re Always Saying Good-bye” and “Share Some Love” (both on the To Love Again expanded CD), “Sweet Summertime Lovin’,” “We Can Never Light That Old Flame Again,” “Fire Won’t Burn,” “You Build Me Up to Tear Me Down’ (all four on the Diana Deluxe CD) and “For Once in My Life” (available only on vinyl and cassette on Motown Superstars Sing Motown Superstars). Other songs that were considered for inclusion on this album but are still unreleased as of this writing are a remix of the Beatles’ “Come Together” (originally on Everything Is Everything) and Diana’s recording of Elton John’s “Harmony.”

  THE BOSS – 5/79—Pop #14 and R&B #10

  Also, see—“Ryan O’Neal” in Part Five.

  With this album, Diana reteamed with Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson, and the results couldn’t have been more satisfying. Thousands of club fans chanted along with Miss Ross, while dancing to their favorite disco hit during the summer of 1979, “The Boss”—Pop #19, R&B #12, AC #41 and UK #40. The song topped Billboard’s Dance chart and probably could have charted higher in the pop market had it not been receiving split airplay with another song from the album, “No One Gets the Prize”—UK #59. (An extended remix remained unreleased until the 2001 Motown Anthology.) This was a time in pop radio when most stations filled their playlists with dance-oriented records, and “No One Gets the Prize”—though never released as a single in the US—shared the number-one spot on the Dance chart with “The Boss.” Diana soon began performing several of the songs from the LP in her concerts, including the second single, “It’s My House”—R&B #27 and UK #32. In addition to “No One Gets the Prize” and the title track, she also performed “All For One” and “I Ain’t Been Licked.” (An extended remix of the latter track remained unreleased until the 2003 Diana Deluxe.) All songs from the last album, Ross, were now gone from the act, as was The Wiz medley (with “Home” being the only song from the film remaining in the show). This updated version of the concert was taped at Caesar’s Palace for a highly rated Home Box Office special.

  The Boss was certified gold and the CD was remastered in 1999 to include the extended remixes of the title track and “It’s My House.”

  More Trivia

  —– The original cover for The Boss was to be a black-and-white collage featuring dozens of glamorous shots of Diana. This collage was later issued as a poster promoting her 1979 tour.

  —– Diana also performed “Getting Ready for Love” on the HBO special but the song was edited from the broadcast.

  DIANA – 3/80—Pop #2 and R&B #1

  Also, see—“Coming out” in Part Five.

  Conflicts during the making of this album between Diana and producers Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards aside, disc jockeys and the record-buying public were ecstatic about this album from the outset; it was a runaway smash. Once again, Motown waited over a month to issue a single from it. “Have Fun (Again)” had been the initial choice but was put aside in favor of “I’m Coming Out.” The latter song was given a single catalog number, but executives in Motown’s promotion department suddenly changed their minds again and went with “Upside Down”—Pop #1, R&B #1, AC #18 and UK #2. That song leapt to the top of the charts so quickly that the company then quickly issued “I’m Coming Out”—Pop #5, R&B #6 and UK #13. Both singles enjoyed simultaneous radio success and each topped the national dance chart. diana became a platinum album and seemed to have sweeping Grammy potential, but surprisingly only “Upside Down” was nominated, in the category of Best Female R&B Performance.

  In 2003, this LP was reissued as a two-CD deluxe edition that included the unreleased original Nile Rodgers/Bernard Edwards mixes. Disc two features Diana’s popular dance tracks, twelve-inch mixes and previously unreleased songs from the late seventies.

  More Trivia

  —– An extended remix of “Tenderness” remains in Motown’s vaults.

  TO LOVE AGAIN – 2/81—Pop #32 and R&B #16

  Also, see—“Coming out” in Part Five.

  Since all of Diana’s recent singles had been dance tracks, Motown wanted to remind record buyers that the versatile Miss Ross was still at home belting out a love ballad. She could have easily continued to hit the charts with singles from the Chic-produced diana, but with the release of the film It’s My Turn it was necessary to issue the theme Diana had recorded for it as a single. Michael Masser composed and produced “It’s My Turn”—Pop #9, R&B #14, AC #9 and UK #16. Amazingly, the lovely ballad charted in the Pop and Adult Top 10 while “Upside Down” and “I’m Coming Out” were still in the Top 40! Mr. Masser was very demanding of Diana in the studio and though the results were some of her most powerful vocals, it was an experience that she has said she doesn’t care to repeat. He pushed her vocal ability to the limit on the next single, “One More Chance”—Pop #79, R&B #54 and UK #49. The final release from this collection, “Cryin’ My Heart Out for You”—UK #58—charted only in England.

  There were additional tracks cut for these sessions but Diana’s vocals were never added to the instrumental tracks. Masser later completed some of these songs for Dionne Warwick and Natalie Cole.

  To fill out the original album Motown padded side two with previously released ballads composed and produced by Michael Masser. In 2002 Motown reissued the LP and expanded it with additional love songs and previously unreleased recordings.

  More Trivia

  —– The original cover concept for this album ended up being the design used on Diana’s Duets later the same year.

  DIANA’S DUETS – 9/81

  This was a collection of previously released tracks dating back to duets with the Supremes and the Temptations. Songs from Diana & Marvin were included as well as the 1979 single “Pops, We Love You”—Pop #59, R&B #26 and UK #66. It would seem that a song such as “Pops, We Love You,” featuring Motown’s biggest superstars, couldn’t miss. But, while Diana Ross, Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson and Stevie Wonder all turned in strong performances, this tribute to Berry Gordy’s father was just too much of a novelty to be taken seriously.

  Diana’s Duets also included “I’ll Keep My Light in My Window,” a duet with Marvin Gaye that was also first issued on the various-artists collection Pops, We Love You—The Album (see All the Great Hits for more details).

  ALL THE GREAT HITS – 10/18/81—Pop #37 and R&B #14.

  Also, see—“Diana leaves Motown” in Part Five.

  At this time, Lionel Richie wrote and produced the Grammy-and Oscar-nominated “Endless Love”—Pop #1, R&B #1, AC #1 and UK #7—which became the perfect swan song to Diana’s historic twenty years with Motown.

  This particular compilation went through several incarnations before its release. At first, “Endless Love” was to be featured on Diana’s Duets, and it ultimately appeared on that album everywhere in the world except in the United States. Then, a Greatest Hits Volume Two was planned and intended, but Motown executives suspected that a single as big as that one (number one for nine weeks!) could carry this double LP. Four of the eight Chic-produced diana tracks were also included as Motown still saw untapped single potential from that album. But it was too late; the momentum for the Rodgers and Edwards’ songs was gone. “My Old Piano”—Pop #109 and UK #5—was eventually released in the US, since it had been a hit the previous year in the UK. Then, “Tenderness”—UK #73—was released internationally. But, truly, radio was already
hot on Diana’s first single for RCA so these final Motown singles meant little to anyone but true fans. Still, this hits collection sold well and went gold, even in direct competition with Diana’s first RCA release, Why Do Fools Fall in Love. The competition prompted RCA to take out trade ads for their own Ross LP and advertise it as: “The only NEW album by Diana Ross.”

  All the Great Hits was eventually reissued on CD with superior mastering, bonus tracks and, mercifully, the deletion of an ill-conceived Supremes medley.

  More Trivia

  —– The original title of this album was: Endless Love and Every Great Motown Hit by Diana Ross.

  —– Diana and Lionel sang two songs on the soundtrack to Endless Love, which was released in August 1981. The second duet, “Dreaming of You,” was only released to disc jockeys as a promotion, yet still received heavy airplay. However, Motown didn’t have the rights to officially release it as a single. The tune finally got a Motown release in 2003 on the expanded reissue of Diana’s To Love Again CD.

  —– There is a spoken passage by Diana in the middle of “Endless Love” that was edited out of the final mix.

  —– Cameras were on Diana at the Academy Awards when it was announced that “Endless Love” had lost the Oscar to “Arthur’s Theme.” Diana smiled and applauded graciously, but could very clearly be seen exclaiming, “Damn!”

  WHY DO FOOLS FALL IN LOVE – 11/81—Pop #15 and R&B #4

  Also, see—“The RCA years” in Part Five.

  In the fall of 1981, it seemed as if Diana Ross was everywhere. Soul Train devoted an entire show to her. The news program 20/20 did a special feature interviewing her, her friends and colleagues, and that segment also featured footage of Diana at work in the studio as an artist and producer. She performed “Endless Love” on the Academy Awards with Lionel Richie and also sang the first two singles from this album on The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson. Earlier in the year she had starred in her own CBS-TV special, the first produced by her own production company. Her face was on nearly every entertainment magazine cover in the country, and she was given a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame.

  This self-produced album—Diana’s first for RCA—was an international success. The first two US singles, “Why Do Fools Fall in Love”—Pop #7, R&B #6, AC #2 and UK #4—and “Mirror, Mirror”—Pop #8, R&B #2 and UK #36—were both solid hits. The aerobic “Work That Body”—Pop #44, R&B #34 and UK #7—charted higher in the UK, where a fourth single was also released, “It’s Never Too Late”—UK #41.

  This album was certified platinum and Diana filmed music videos for all three singles. These were her first videos released in the US. (She had done a video in the UK for “My Old Piano” one year earlier.)

  More Trivia

  —– RCA considered releasing Diana’s solo version of “Endless Love” as the second single and even issued the record to disc jockeys on white vinyl with a single edit that deleted the song’s second verse. In the end, though, the release was cancelled.

  SILK ELECTRIC – 10/82—Pop #27 and R&B #5

  Also, see—“The RCA years” in Part Five.

  With the exception of the first single, “Muscles”—Pop #10, R&B #4, AC #36 and UK #15—produced by Michael Jackson, Diana once again served as producer for the eclectic Silk Electric. Fifties pop, hard rock, luscious ballads, disco and even a little reggae were all woven into this, her second LP for RCA. It went on to become a certified gold record.

  The Top 10 “Muscles” (the name of Michael Jackson’s boa constrictor) earned Diana another Grammy nomination for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance. The song became a highlight of her stage show as she invited men to the stage, then proceeded to rip their shirts off and encourage them to flex their muscles. This novelty tune was also perfect for the burgeoning video genre. Certainly seeing Diana in bed surrounded by half-naked muscle men as she was in this video would have been much too provocative an image just a few years earlier, but in 1982 it all just seemed like innocent fun.

  The second single, “So Close”—Pop #40, R&B #76, AC #13 and UK #43—was a 1950s-sounding mid-tempo ballad with background vocals and arrangement by Luther Vandross. The single release was remixed by Richard Perry.

  When Michael Masser submitted “In Your Arms” to Diana for this album, she wanted to record it but chose to produce it herself rather than go back into the studio with Masser. She was still unhappy about how demanding he had been during their previous work together. The following year Masser produced this same song as a duet by Whitney Houston and Teddy Pendergrass for Whitney’s debut album on Arista. The song was re-titled “Hold Me in Your Arms”—which had been Masser’s original title for it—and it became Whitney’s first Top 5 hit.

  More Trivia

  —– An extended remix of “Fool for Your Love” remains unreleased. RCA considered this song for single release but many critics and fans didn’t embrace the hard rock sound from Diana Ross.

  —– Writers Janie Bradford and Freddie Gorman, who wrote the first Supremes single, “I Want a Guy,” submitted “I Am Me” to Diana for this album. They wrote the song for her as a ballad, but Diana changed the entire concept of the tune, altered some of the lyrics and chose a reggae arrangement for it. Bradford has stated that selecting “I Am Me” for use as the B-side to “Muscles” was a benevolent gesture from Diana as she knew that the royalties from its sales would prove to be lucrative for her Motown friends.

  ANTHOLOGY (2 LPs & CDs) – 5/83—Pop #63 and R&B #44

  Nearly ten years after Motown issued the three-LP set Diana Ross and The Supremes: Anthology this double disc of her solo hits was released. Three years later, sixteen additional tracks would be added for its compact-disc release. Motown took care to vary this collection from the recent All the Great Hits by including alternate and rare mixes.

  More Trivia

  —– The original lineup on this LP featured all previously unreleased material on side three. When the album was ultimately released, though, the only unreleased tracks that appeared were “Baby I Love Your Way” and “Young Mothers.” The deleted songs included “Brass Band” and “Country John’ (two tracks produced by Richard Perry that remain unreleased as of this writing), “Share Some Love” (eventually released on the To Love Again reissue) and “Home” (eventually released on The Motown Anthology).

  —– In 1982 Motown released “We Can Never Light That Old Flame Again” as a single from the vaults. Insiders at the company stated that Berry Gordy was still looking out for his star, Diana, even though she was no longer on his label. In fact, he had such a watchful eye on the products still being released by her at Motown that “Old Flame” was taken off the 1986 CD Anthology because he wasn’t happy with the mix. It was replaced with “My Man,” a song that has always been one of his favorites. Also, see—“The RCA years” in Part Five.

  —– Around this time, Motown started issuing a series called Two Classic Albums on One CD, including many by Diana Ross and the Supremes. Fans often questioned why certain LPs were coupled. At the time the CD format was new and nobody knew how long the craze would last. Sometimes the decisions were made because of time constraints. (Which two LPs would fit on one compact disc?) Though some of the couplings were perfectly suited to each other, others were simply put together because the person making the decision wanted to get his or her favorite album out on compact disc as soon as possible—thus, strange couplings such as TCB (1968) with A Bit of Liverpool (1965).

  ROSS – 7/83—Pop #32 and R&B #14

  Also, see—“The RCA years” in Part Five.

  Diana’s second album to be titled Ross was overshadowed by the controversy of her Central Park concert. As explained in this book’s text, when it became clear that Mother Nature was definitely going to rain on her parade, Diana defied the elements and sang in the wind and pouring rain until it was impossible to continue with the show. Also see—“No wind, no rain can stop me” in Part Five.

  Steely Dan’s Gary Katz produced the fir
st five tracks on this album. The avant-garde “Pieces of Ice”—Pop #31, R&B #15 and UK #46—was the lead single and video. After a strong start it seemed as if RCA lost interest in the album after the Central Park concerts; the single stalled outside the Pop Top 20. Because critics praised “Up Front”—R&B #60—produced by Ray Parker Jr., RCA responded by releasing it as a single, but the company then did little to promote it. It failed to even chart in the Pop category. The third release, “Let’s Go Up”—Pop #77—had actually been Diana’s choice to be released as the second single. The song made a dent in the Pop charts and stayed in her stage act for the next few years. Ross eventually slipped off the charts, becoming Diana’s first album in four years to not produce a Top 20 Pop single.

  Diana wasn’t particularly happy with this album. Shortly after its release, she began assembling what she believed to be the right ingredients to ensure that her next effort for RCA would be a hit.

  More Trivia

  —– Ross was Diana’s first album to be released on CD.

  SWEPT AWAY – 9/84—Pop #26 and R&B #7

  Also, see—“The RCA years” in Part Five.

  A lot of effort went into Diana’s fourth album for RCA and for it she worked with some of the top producers of the day. Richard Perry had produced “All of You”—Pop #19, R&B #38, AC #2 and UK #43—as a duet between Diana and Julio Iglesias nearly a year earlier. Although Diana liked the song, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to approve it for a single release on Iglesias’ label, CBS Records. When the record was finally cleared for release, it immediately began to move steadily up the charts at about the same time that RCA released “Swept Away”—Pop #19 and R&B #3—a rocking dance production by Daryl Hall of Hall and Oates and Arthur Baker. Competition between the two songs ultimately slowed down the momentum of “All of You.” In the end, the duet charted in the Pop Top 20 and became an Adult Contemporary hit, but most pop and R&B radio stations turned their attention to “Swept Away.” That song quickly bulleted to number one on Billboard’s national Dance charts. “Touch by Touch”—UK #47—was the first single from the album that was issued internationally, and though it didn’t chart well in the UK it was a Top 10 hit in Holland. With the untimely death of former label mate Marvin Gaye, attention turned to “Missing You”—Pop #10, R&B #1 and AC #4. This was a song that Lionel Richie wrote and produced as a tribute from Diana to Marvin. When “Missing You” was finally released as a single, it had trouble cracking the pop market. But, once the song made the Top 10 on the R&B charts and Diana performed it on the American Music Awards, things began to turn around for it. Diana soon found herself back in the Pop Top 10. Directly following her appearance on the AMAs, she joined several fellow music superstars to record “We Are the World,” which soared immediately to number one. Diana was the only star on that record who had her own song in the Top 10 at the same time. “Missing You” also bore the distinction of being the very first video broadcast on MTV’s newly formed VH1, a video channel geared to a more adult audience. The original video paid tribute to many of Diana’s friends and colleagues who had passed away, including of course Marvin Gaye, Florence Ballard, Paul Williams of the Temptations, Tammi Terrell and even her own mother, Ernestine, who had recently lost her battle with cancer. The video was later re-edited using only footage of Diana and Marvin.

 

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