Call Her Miss Ross: The Unauthorized Biography of Diana Ross

I'm glad JRT chose to do this third installment on Diana Ross. It is another contribution towards her legacy. For me, Diana Ross is the First Lady of Diva. She's also the First Lady of Motown, so she deserves the attention. I was daunted by this tome on Diana Ross and wondered what did JRT add? A lot has happened since Call Her Miss Ross. It pleased me to find this bio tightly written. It's almost as if the author is saying, I've been down this road before, but all pertinent information and facts remain, if you haven't. Front and center is her career. The focus is on her music and how it came to be, beginning with Berry Gordy who wasn't quite sure if Diana could really sing. Her voice was so different, so distinct. But once he's sure, the Supremes are made and dare I say it, so is Motown. There are more details in this book. The love affair between Ross and Gordy is more defined, I felt his passion for her and for her career. I felt his control over her. I understood why she needed to detach from the group and finally, why she had to sever her ties from Motown. JRT excels at fitting it all together. You still get the inside look at the Supremes as the original group, the infighting, gossip and scandals. I was always intrigued with Diana's first marriage to Bob Siberstein; what happened on the set of Mahogany? Why she was not enamored with Billy Holiday's voice? What was the real deal with the Return To Love tour ? All of my burning questions have been answered. The thorough discograhy is a bonus to this book. Kudos, JRT, for making sure it was added. The best thing about this book is that Miss Ross has reflected upon her career and is very happy with it. As an artist, she's always been classy, always been professional about her music. She made a life for herself outside of her career by adding a family that she is proud of.

This must be the ultimate Diana Ross biography. The author of this book seems to know the legendary singer all too well. In fact, if you look at his credentials, I think you'll be quite impressed: Mr. Taraborrelli begin following her career when he was just barely a teenager; he wrote countless of articles on her for various publications; he's interviewed dozens of her closest friends and family members throughout the years, including Diana Ross herself; he wrote two previous books on her, and, as proven with this book; he's an exceptionally talented writer. What's great about this biography - as in the case with virtually all biographies - is that you learn more than just about the "biographee." You learn about other people, places, and events. In this case, you learn about The Supremes, Motown Records, Berry Gordy, the sixties, the music industry, the movie industry, and much more. So to some degree, this biography is really a history book with an emphasis on entertainment, and where Diana Ross is the main subject. This is the sort of book that once you start reading, you can't put it down. And even though I'm not a huge fan of Diana Ross or Motown Records, I found this book captivating, fascinated by her life story. I think readers will be pleased with Taraborrelli's in depth look at Diana Ross' life: her personal life and relationships; her music career and other business ventures; and her family and children. Yet, even though the author admits to be a great fan of Diana Ross, this book doesn't seem to reflect that. The author holds nothing back. In fact, he gives us a very sincere portrayal of Diana Ross, and not a manufactured one. He tells us about her good side and bad side, her failures and successes, her good times and bad times. Some authors may be tempted to be a little bit biased, but not Taraborrelli in this case. My one and only disappointment is that there is no mention of Michael Jackson's song "Dirty Diana." Was it really a song about Diana Ross? I was hoping he would set the record straight and maybe even get Diana's own reaction to the song, but that didn't happen. Maybe he's got something written about that in his Michael Jackson biography, which I'm eager to read. But besides that, I found this book excellent all the way through. If you're even remotely interested in Motown Records, The Supremes, and of course, Diana Ross, I think you'll truly enjoy this book. As for me, I look forward to reading more books from this author.

Even with Randy's third opus on Miss Ross I haven't any more of a clue as to who or what she really is but if you've bought the previous two books don't think this is just a rehash. It's a new book and impeccably researched and impeccably written. He's done his damnest to try to bring the complete person to the pages. Ross' own book showed she hasn't got a clue about who she really is (and, good grief, all the information and dates she had wrong or confused) and that she is the center of her universe, not the most sensitive to the feelings or viewpoint of others she's worked with. Since she'll never write the whole story, this book will do nicely. The most significant observation Randy makes is Ross' multiple personalities--almost every star in show business has them, a combination of sheer guts and ambition and power with total insecurity. It drives everyone around them nuts. (But not every star is a bundle of contradictions--some are in show business but not of show business and live their lives right side up.) As for Ross, I love her work--a fabulous career still chuggin' ahead--but I'd never want to get in her way.

Diana Ross has been a favorite of mine since I first heard her sing on the radio in 1964. I saw the Supremes perform dozens of times, and Diana Ross Solo another dozen, most recently in April 2007 in Atlantic City. I had the pleasure of having dinner with the Supremes at the home of their road manager in Cherry Hill, NJ during their first Latin Casino run. I've read every book written about Diana Ross and the Supremes, and there have been a lot of them. I always felt that they ranged from the banal to the biased-against to the blindly-loyal (for example, the recent A Lifetime To Get Here: Diana Ross: The American Dreamgirl was written by an author with intensely Ross-colored glasses, and Diana's own "autobiographical" Secrets of a Sparrow was simply insipid). The only book of the crop that I thought painted an interesting, complex, full portrait of the diva I love was Call Her Miss Ross, written by J. Randy Taraborrelli in 1989. Now, 18 years later, I can add a second book to the positive list: Diana Ross: A Biography, also by Taraborrelli. Rather than simply tacking on additional chapters covering the last 18 years, Taraborrelli has rethought and restructured the overall work. When Call Her Miss Ross was published, it had been 25 years since the first Supremes hit; the new Diana Ross: A Biography arrives 43 years after that hit, so the history (like me) has become a bit more ancient and can be viewed a bit differently. What is good about the new book? No Diana book has been better researched (see the nine pages of acknowledgements). Taraborrelli had access to every key player in the Motown, Supremes, and Diana Ross saga. He writes quite well, so it is a pleasure to work through the 526 pages (I bought the version published in the UK at the beginning of the year; there it is called Diana Ross: An Unauthorized Biography). The photos are of top quality (not like some books where the photos look like Xerox copies). But most importantly, the book paints a rich, deep, thorough portrait of an amazing woman. She comes off as someone it would be interesting to know. The story is fascinating--the impact of Diana Ross and the Supremes is huge, on music, Broadway, film. This book takes us closer to "reality" than anything else. As Taraborrelli says in his introduction, the name "Diana Ross" prompts a strong reaction from almost anyone who sees it. I'm surprised that his books prompt such anger. Diana Ross: A Biography is a captivating and enthralling story of an amazing woman.