I don't think you are born an icon

Miss Ross. The Boss. The most glittering of stars is 80 years old today!

"With the Supremes I made so much money so fast all I wanted to do was buy clothes and pretty things. Now I'm comfortable with money and it's comfortable with me."

"I don't think getting in and out of a limousine has anything to do with being an icon."

"Icon. What is an icon? When someone is iconic it means they have established a certain kind of legacy possibly, and I think it does come with time. I'm not really sure. But I don't think you are born an icon."

"It takes a long time to get to be a diva. I mean, you gotta work at it."

"In the end, you really just need to believe in yourself."

She certainly does that!

By way of a tribute, let's start with two fine examples of the great lady hitting the dressing-up box as only she can [Bob Mackie, I know you're hiding in there somewhere!]:

Getting It Together - Diana Ross - Mame

Getting It Together - Diana Ross - My Fair Lady

Next up, Miss Ross in full "Disco Diva" mode:

Her biggest-selling hit of all, and arguably the point at which she became a global megastar:

Diana Ross - Upside Down

And, finally, the campest of the lot! [Yes, I know I have played it more than once before, but I never tire of it!]

Diana Ross - Chain Reaction

Many happy returns, Diane (Diana) Ernestine Earle Ross (born 26th March 1944)

You took a pedestal and put me on it

Look out Glastonbury - Miss Ross is on her way!

Yes, the living legend that is Diana Ernestine Earle Ross will be occupying the much-vaunted "Legends" slot on the Pyramid Stage at Worthy Farm, only three years after she was first announced [thanks to the dreaded 'Rona]! Ahead of tomorrow's appearance, however, the great lady has been touring the country as part of her "Thank You" tour, not least two nights at the capacious O2 Arena (formerly the Millenium Dome) this week...

From the review by Mark Beaumont in the Evening Standard:

...As her brass fanfare reached crescendo and broke into I’m Coming Out, she flung off her voluminous shawl of curly tangerine frills with such a flourish that her microphone had to be rescued from the front row. One way or another, this Motown legend’s vocals would be a knockout...

...With the first of three gown changes – various sequinned spectacles and one lime green Scarlett O’Hara – she launched into Chain Reaction, Upside Down and Take Me Higher, freshening her throat with a spray she dubbed “Entertainer’s Secret” and encouraging camp dance-offs in the aisles. Though some of the livelier tunes smacked a little of karaoke, Ross’s voice felt reborn on piano-led ballads such as If We Hold on Together and Theme From Mahogany (Do You Know Where You’re Going To), and positively powerful by the time of her showstopping take on Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell’s Ain’t No Mountain High Enough, backed with visuals of Ross in her glory days. Whenever she struggled, as on I’m Still Waiting, the crowd carried the melodies, swept along on a communal will to share such classic songs, and the moment, with this still-gleaming star...

...Six decades in, she continues to relish her music, and remains ravishing in performance. Glastonbury, where she plays the legend’s slot this weekend, should break out its dancing galoshes.

Gawd bless 'er - let's hope [much like our own legend and Patron Saint Dame Shirley Bassey, who appeared in the same slot way back in 2007] she packed some suitably jewel-encrusted wellies!

Diana Ross - Chain Reaction

Glastonbury Festival 2022

There's a new me coming out

Thank goodness for that - this second week of being sat in our living room, plugged into work while staring longingly out of the window at the sunny garden, has been the cruellest of all! And to add to the ignominy, this weekend is forecast to be grey and cold...

Bollocks (as Ms Scarlet would say) to all that, dears! - my sister and hubbie are hosting a "virtual party" via Zoom tonight, so at the very least that gives us an excuse to get dressed.

It also happened to be the birthday yesterday of the sparkling Miss Diana Ross [who must be mightily pissed-off her much-promoted "Legend" headline slot at Glastonbury's been cancelled], so let's ramp up the camp factor by way of a celebration - with not one, but two gay icons taking to the stage, with an anthem I think we'll all be singing once this self-isolation business is over!

Cher feat Diana Ross - I'm Coming Out

...or is there a bit of a trompe-l'œil going on?

Thank Disco It's Friday!

Have a good one, dear reader, as far as that is possible in these locked-down times...

Ooh, little girl please don't wait for me

As previously mentioned over at the Dolores Delargo Towers Museum of Camp, it is the seventy-fifth anniversary today of the birth of the one-and-only Miss Diana Ross!

Confirming just why Miss Ross is [as if any question could be raised to the contrary] a gay icon - here's the lady herself, doing what she does best:

Diana Ross - I'm Still Waiting /I Will Survive

Facts about Diana Ross:

• With Mary Wilson, Florence Ballard and Betty McGlown, she was a member of "The Primettes" when they auditioned for Motown; Berry Gordy agreed to sign them as long as they agreed to change the band's name to The Supremes.
• In 1993, the Guinness Book of World Records declared her the most successful female music artist in history, having had more hits than any female artist in the charts in the United States and United Kingdom, with a career total of 70 hit singles with her work with the Supremes and as a solo artist.
• She was born Diane but due to an admin error, her name became Diana.
• She was nominated twelve times for a Grammy without ever winning, but received the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012.
• The $20 million deal she signed when she left Motown for RCA in 1981 was, at the time, the most lucrative deal known in the history of music.
• She received an Oscar nomination for her performance in the film Lady Sings the Blues in 1972.
• During filming for her other star-vehicle film Mahogany, not only was the original director Tony Richardson sacked and replaced by Berry Gordy, but Miss Ross argued so much with Gordy that she quit prematurely, leaving his secretary to act as her body double; the film was not a success.

Many happy returns, Miss Diana!

Muscle man

Viola Morpho in the window-box here at Dolores Delargo Towers

Having spent a lovely day yesterday with Mother [it is Mother's Day in the UK], it was the turn of the garden to get some TLC today - I've moved our huge clump of Montbretia Lucifer, (finally) planted some of the herbaceous plants that have been languishing in pots awaiting attention, emptied a few more pots of dead stuff, and continued the task of digging out and preparing the biggest planters ready to plant up for summer; and together we managed to get two fence panels covered with new netting for the climbers. Whew!



Knackered as I am, I still find time to pay due deference to today's birthday girl "The Boss" Miss Ross - and here's an appropriate song for the aches and pains I feel at the mo; it's Muscles:

Diana Ross - Muscles

Many happy returns, Diane Ernestine Earle Ross (born 26th March 1944)

Chasing the fantasies

It's Miss Ross's birthday!

Bow, bitches.

She always knew where she was going to...

Diana Ross - Theme From Mahogany (Do You Know Where You're Going To)

Do you know where you're going to
Do you like the things that life is showing you
Where are you going to
Do you know?

Do you get
What you're hoping for
When you look behind you
There's no open doors
What are you hoping for
Do you know?

Once we were standing still in time
Chasing the fantasies
That filled our minds
You knew how I loved you
But my spirit was free
Laughin' at the questions
That you once asked of me

Do you know where you're going to
Do you like the things that life is showing you
Where are you going to
Do you know?

Now looking back at all we've planned
We let so many dreams
Just slip through our hands
Why must we wait so long
Before we'll see
How sad the answers
To those questions can be

Do you know where you're going to
Do you like the things that life is showing you
Where are you going to
Do you know?

Do you get
What you're hoping for
When you look behind you
There's no open doors
What are you hoping for
Do you know?

I know where I'm going to, and what I'm hoping for, today - John-John and I are off shopping; raiding the charity shops of London from Chiswick to Camden...

Diana Ernestine Earle Ross (born 26th March 1944)

As long as the sun continues to shine

This has been a particularly slow and arduous week in work. I was beginning to think today would never arrive!

Now, the weekend is finally looming, and there's even more cause for celebration than usual - I am off all next week to celebrate my birthday (as well as traversing the country to go to a family wedding, but least said about that the better)! To get us into a very special party mood indeed, here's the magnificent Miss Ross with her joyful "comeback" hit, entering the UK charts this week thirty years ago - she and I are Upside Down...

Thank Disco It's Friday!

Diana Ross - Upside Down

Upside down
Boy, you turn me
Inside out
And 'round and 'round

I know you got charm and appeal
You always play the field
I'm crazy to think you're all mine
As long as the sun continues to shine
There's a place in my heart for you
That's the bottom line

Upside down
Boy, you turn me
Inside out
And 'round and 'round

Upside down
Boy, you turn me
Inside out
And 'round and 'round

Instinctively you give to me
The love that I need
I cherish the moments with you
Respectfully I say to thee
I'm aware that you're cheatin'
But no one makes me feel like you do

Upside down
Boy, you turn me
Inside out
And 'round and 'round

Upside down you're turning me
You're giving love instinctively
'Round and 'round you're turning me
I see to thee respectfully

Come join the party, dear reader...

The Boss

Wow. The sparklingly splendiferous, the one, the only Miss Diana Ross is seventy years old today!

To celebrate such an auspicious milestone, here is "The Boss" live in concert at the legendary Caesar's Palace Las Vegas, from 1979 - in its entirety!

Part 1:


Part 2:


Needless to say, tributes to the great lady are everywhere in the British media - including The Telegraph and The Guardian.

Miss Ross features (once again) as our latest "exhibit" in the Dolores Delargo Towers Museum of Camp. Of course.

Diana Ernestine Earle Ross

Ain't so surprising

I know it is the birthday today of various megastars including Reg Dwight, Aretha Franklin and Richard O'Brien.

However today is Tacky Music Monday, so it is on tomorrow's birthday girl we are going to shine the spotlight instead.

Here's Miss Ross - 69 tomorrow - and her soon-to-be-ex colleagues in the Supremes, with their "Irving Berlin Medley". Look out around 3.30mins in for a very special surprise guest appearance...

Diana Ross and the Supremes - Irving Berlin Medley

...and have a great week, peeps!

Diana Ernestine Earle Ross (born 26th March 1944)

Do the Mash

At the end of what has felt like one of the longest weeks of my life, returning to work, in the dark, after two weeks with my legs up (not as much fun as it sounds), I am in desperate need of some party music to lighten my mood and encourage me into my leopardskin roller-disco boots...

To that end I have discovered a most magnificent disco mash-up by an evident genius of that genre by the name of Robin Skouteris.

It features Miss Ross, Dan Hartman (who would have been 62 tomorrow), Donna Summer, Lipps Inc and many more - Thank Disco It's Friday!

Robin Skouteris - Disco Boys & Girls (70s-80s Mashup)

Hope your weekend's a great one!!

The Boss

As befits any tribute to two divas with birthdays on consecutive days, I tried to find a link between Madge's best friend Dame Elton John (65 yesterday) and The Boss Diana Ross (who celebrates her 68th today).



In fact the only evidence I have of them "performing" together is at the Rock Music Awards in 1976:

Diana Ross and Elton John at the Rock Music Awards

However, it is Diana whose birthday it is today. Over at Dolores Delargo Towers Museum of Camp she is our latest exhibit.

And, most appropriately for what is also Tacky Music Monday, here's Miss Ross, the Supremes and the Temptations (looking as uncomfortable as they could possibly be in the circumstances) giving it their all in the opening medley of Broadway showtunes for their 1969 Getting it Together TV spectacular!

Diana Ross and the Supremes and the Temptations - Getting It Together

I have (of course) featured the divine Miss Ross many times before here at Give 'em the old Razzle Dazzle, and indeed posted more of her camp performances from this show back in December last year.

Always a joy!

You've given us the drive again

Oh dear, where do these bloody weekends disappear to?

On this Tacky Music Monday, let us ease ourselves back into the drudgery of another week tied to our desks in the estimable company of none other than Miss Diana Ross, here doing a few of her spectacular Broadway tributes (from the 70s show Getting It Together)!

Getting It Together - Diana Ross - Annie Get Your Gun

Getting It Together - Diana Ross - Mame

Getting It Together - Diana Ross - My Fair Lady

Enjoy!

If there's a cure for this I don't want it

After a weekend that has flown by, its back to bloody work again. Ho hum.

We can always rely upon Miss Ross to make sure we are cheered up on this Tacky Music Monday, with another of her showbiz spectaculars!

Diana Ross - Love Hangover

All hail "the Boss" Diana, and all hail her queeny dancing boys!

Read a fab tribute to Diana Ross at Barbarella's Galaxy

A duet made in heaven?

I stumbled across this photo from the archives, and it (of course) set the wheels of my warped imagination running...

One can but wonder what glittering occasion brought Dolly Parton and Diana Ross together for a photo opportunity without hair-pulling and scratching!

Connections between the two divas are few and far between, except:

• Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers' duet Islands In The Stream was written by the BeeGees, as was Chain Reaction by Diana Ross.
• Dolly (with Julio Iglesias) recorded a successful cover of Diana's hit When You Tell Me That You Love Me.
• Both ladies - with their torch songs, spangly frocks, big wigs and on-and-off-stage histrionics - are much-loved gay icons, and favourite targets for drag queen impressionists.

Not least this one...

The one (perverse) connection that I make between the two is courtesy of that stalwart of drag from my earliest days on the scene (still going strong today) - Miss Lizzy Drip!

Lizzy Drip - "Dolly Parton"

Lizzy Drip - "Diana Ross"

Happy weekend everybody!

http://www.lizzydrip.com/

You took a pedestal and put me on it

A quarter of a century ago queens across the world stood back in awe, as Miss Ross proved once more that she was still Mistress of all she surveyed - with this magnificent collaboration with the Bee Gees, a selection of couture frocks and a dry ice machine, she effortlessly dismissed the opposition!

In 1986, the likes of Madonna and Whitney Houston could hardly touch her sparkling gloves...

Diana Ross - Chain Reaction

A Baby Grand Affair

Nostalgia time - is it really thirty years ago that this catchy little ditty was ruling the airwaves, and Miss Ross ruled the world?

Diana Ross - My Old Piano

As long as I know how to love I know I'll stay alive

Gloria Gaynor, whose 60th birthday it is today, was a bonafide soul singer when she began her long showbiz career in the late 60s. However it was the Disco era that brought fame and fortune to this particular diva, "topping and tailing" it as she did - with Never Can Say Goodbye in the mid 70s, and of course her classic I Will Survive at the end of the decade, keeping the flame alive into the 80s with her upbeat version of I Am What I Am.

Unfortunately coinciding with this later success, Miss Gaynor well-and-truly blotted her copybook with her number one buying audience, the gays, when she became a bible-thumper and allegedly said a few disparaging remarks that immediately lost her that treasured "gay icon" status.

So, in this 30th anniversary year of the song - and in honour of my tacky music tradition on a Monday - I thought it best to focus on the (now well-and-truly clichéd) anthem for which she remains famous, in its many incarnations (but not that awful Sugababes song)...

Diana Ross - I Will Survive

Las Seventies - I Will Survive

Puppini Sisters - I Will Survive

k.d. lang - I Will Survive

Cake - I Will Survive

And, finally, the original...

Gloria Gaynor - I Will Survive

Happy birthday, Glo! Even if you're a silly bitch who thinks we all "should be led to your God", we continue to ignore your misguided comments as we lip-synch along to your songs...

It's like a heatwave burning in my heart

We celebrate this week 50 years of Motown Records, the label that launched (predominately) black music into the mainstream - not just in America, but across the world.

Pioneered by no less than Dusty Springfield over here in the UK, the label spawned huge international success for artists such as Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin, Michael Jackson... And the rest is history!

So here are just three of my own favourites from their huge and extensive back catalogue...

Supremes - Where Did Our Love Go?

Martha Reeves and the Vandellas - Heatwave

Aretha Franklin - (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman

Classic Motown website

Dusty Springfield and the Motown invasion

Eek! Caption competition anyone?

I bet "Our Glorious Leader" wishes she'd put some slap on for her visit to the Kabollocks centre with her family...



More on A Socialite Life

But at least Madge isn't the only celeb in the rough-looking stakes:

Oh, Miss Ross!

Diana Ross has had her ups and downs, but alongside a mixed bag of stars like Aretha Franklin, Martin Scorsese, Steve Martin and Beach Boy Brian Wilson, Miss Ross received a Kennedy Centre Honor for her "contribution to American culture". Congratulations.

But what was that dress all about?!