|
Post by FloKnows on Oct 21, 2016 22:31:58 GMT
|
|
|
Post by vgalindo on Oct 21, 2016 23:51:59 GMT
She hasn't done any acting since 1998. Her last studio album was 2007's "I Love You". Now at the age of 70, fans of Diana Ross fear her career maybe at it's final curtain.
Ross debuted as an actress to behold in 1972, with her Academy award nominated performance as Billie Holiday in 'Lady Sings The Blues'. She lost out to Liza Minnelli ("Cabaret"), but critics believed this was just the beginning for Ross - and there was sure to be an Oscar in her hands in the near future. She did a handful of more movies in the next 26 years, but passed on many more ("The Color Purple" in 1985, "Eve's Bayou" in the mid 1990s, and countless Tyler Perry movies in the past decade). Her much anticipated Josephine Baker musical 'Naked at the Feast' would be dropped once HBO aired a competing Baker musical in 1990. She would later tell Oprah she never enjoyed making movies in the same way she did 'making music' - either in the recording studio or on stage in front of her fans.
That music career she so loved made her the highest paid female recording artist in 1981 when she signed with RCA, but started fading in the late 80s, as tastes changed and so did the medium in which people were listening to music (she was never a big name on MTV or any other video channel). Ross blamed RCA for the way they handled her releases (or lack of handling), and quickly moved back to Motown in 1989. But by then, her recovery became an uphill battle, as the very few albums she did release under Motown (1989 - 1998) barely scratched the top 200.
She stayed away from the recording studio for nine years, finally releasing her album of older love songs , titled "I Love You", in January 2007 (on the heels of the 'Deramgirls' movie release). It gave her the best chart success she had had in 20 years, but hasn't released another new album since then. There have been endless rumors of a new Ross record on the horizon - but nothing has been proven true.
Through it all she has continued to tour - and perform live - though her schedule is slimmer than what it once was in it's heyday. She has curtaled her over-seas concert dates, and this has many long-time supporters upset. Stateside, her fans complain of the same 'gowns' she has been travelling with for years, and the same songlist as well - with a very short concert - and many are vowing to sit out the next tour (this summer).
Others are speculating that she is spending her sunset years with her growing family - new additions have made her a grandmother in the past few years - and closing out her career. Her youngest son is getting ready to marry another celebrity.
Yet 2014 marks an important year for Ross - her Golden Anniversary in music. Many are wondering why it has been ignored (the fall of 1963 marked the beginning of her Golden Anniversary) - no new CD, no worthwhile compilation, no DVD releases of her 1970's television specials. Ross has not mentioned it at all.
Sad to say, but maybe she is close to the final curtain in her career - ready to retire once and for all?
|
|
|
Post by ollie9 on Oct 22, 2016 0:02:36 GMT
Ms. Ross is a superb actress. I know many will disagree with me here, but I dare to say she's a better actress than Barbra, but Barbra has the better voice. Another thing Ms. Ross has over Barbra is the way she has preserved her voice. I attended a Diana Ross concert about 2 years ago and her live voice sounded like it did back in the 80s!!! No age decline whatsoever. Not sure what she is doing but it's working. I really like Diana. She puts
raunchy, degenerate Beyonce and Rhianna to shame.
|
|
|
Post by vgalindo on Oct 22, 2016 0:06:01 GMT
I do agree that vocally Diana voice sounds well preserved (more so than Barbra's voice) but she had less to work with and lose than Aretha or Barbra.
|
|
|
Post by roberta75 on Oct 22, 2016 0:10:55 GMT
1. No - no recording contract. Again, there have been 'rumors' that she has recorded enough songs to fill an album (including the obligatory 'duets' with everyone you can think of these days), but they remain rumors...or wishful thinking on the part of fans?
2. Yes, she had multiple film roles offered to her... She was offered the role of 'Shug Avery' in The Color Purple. It's been said she wanted the character to be rewritten into someone much bigger than originally written, so she would have a starring role (it was really a small supporting character in the book and film), and Alice Walker wisely refused her suggestion, and asked Spielberg to look for someone else (he then offered the role to Tina Turner, who wasn't interested). The same was said about the role she was offered in Eve's Bayou (which then went to Diahann Carroll).
Tyler Perry has been a frequent gust on Oprah over the years, and has said more than once during his interviews that he had a number of projects with Ross in mind - comedies, musicals, dramas - but she had no interest in even returning his calls - let alone working with him. Ross later went on one of Oprah's final shows, and set the record straight - she never enjoyed making movies.
|
|
|
Post by roberta75 on Oct 22, 2016 0:16:09 GMT
Ollie9 thank you for class and sophistication in such a vile atmosphere.
|
|
|
Post by tonyturner on Oct 22, 2016 0:17:54 GMT
One other MAJOR misstep in Ross' career happened about 20 years ago that I should point out...
ALW chose her to replace Glenn Close back in 1994, in the LA production of SUNSET BOULEVARD. Yes, after auditioning for him, he wanted her to star as 'Norma' in the Los Angeles production, making her the first black actress to play her (which would have preceded Diahann Carroll's 1995 run in Canada). According to reports back then, Ross had a few demands that ALW could not meet...
1. She wanted more money than what he was offering; a salary close to what Glenn Close was getting on B'way (which was considerably more than what Close was getting in LA).
2. She wanted a guarantee she would replace Close on B'way the following year.
3. She wanted a separate deal to have her own complete 'original cast recording' released while she was in the show.
Apparently, ALW said 'No, no, and no'...and then called Faye Dunaway.
|
|
|
Post by ollie9 on Oct 22, 2016 0:32:29 GMT
I've often wondered how she could handle the ALW score. It would have been entertaining, to say the least. The other big 'name' he tried to get was Cher in 1996 for Broadway. He wanted Cher to replace Buckley and apparently insulted her with his offer. When asked about the SB offer a few years later, Cher simply said 'he could never afford me', and left it at that.
|
|
|
Post by roberta75 on Oct 22, 2016 0:35:05 GMT
Wow, is Andrew Lloyd Webber cheap or are these celebrities greedy and vain? Diana and Cher would have done a wonderful job with that production. He knew how to pick them.
|
|
|
Post by soulster on Oct 22, 2016 8:16:16 GMT
Diana would have been a great Norma in "Sunset Blvd." While Diana's name - along with half of Hollywood's, was talked about as taking over Glenn Close, there was no offer on the table for her. This comes straight from 2 friends of mine who were in the LA production. They both did tell me that watching Faye Dunaway rehearse the dramatic scenes was incredible - absolutely riveting! Music rehearsals for her were closed.
I remember also reading that Cher was supposed to take over in New York. When my friend James heard that - he was in the New York company, he said......news to me. Ha, ha...
|
|
|
Post by roberta75 on Oct 22, 2016 8:21:35 GMT
Don't forget - SB was not his most profitable, as he was paying two salaries for the NY production (Glenn Close and his settlement with Patti LuPone). No way could he ever afford Ross and/or Cher's demands at the time. They knew they could fill the seats, and wanted due compensation.
|
|
|
Post by vgalindo on Oct 22, 2016 8:24:05 GMT
I saw her last year and she was in very good voice. The only problem was that she got drowned out by her own band. Barbra would have never let that happen.
|
|
|
Post by FloKnows on Oct 22, 2016 8:26:45 GMT
Though I've never been fortunate enough to see Barbra in concert, from the videos you can tell Barbra's concerts are 'events'. Pure sophistication - a real show. Ross' concerts seem to be all over the place (from what I recall seeing her in the 80s ), with no sophistication at all. Not an event - just a mishmash often interrupted for a costume change.
|
|
|
Post by TearStainedMakeup on Oct 22, 2016 8:29:20 GMT
I've never seen Diana live,but there was a review of one of her shows that mentioned her costume changes,part of it stated that there were 8 or so costume changes and that she seemed to change just for the hell of it. They liked her performance a lot,but they were distracted by the constant changing. I saw Cher in concert in 1990 and she ok,once was enough for me,but like Diana she changed outfits between songs,maybe even during.
|
|
|
Post by ollie9 on Oct 22, 2016 8:34:47 GMT
Seeing Diana Ross live for the first time in 1979 had a similar affect on me like seeing Barbra for the first in 1994 in (The Concert). It was a perfect and surreal experience. Seeing Diana's face projected on the huge screen singing ("If You Need Me, Call Me, No Matter Where You Are, No Matter How Far") and then emerging through the screen was like listening to Marvin's powerful overture and then Barbra appearing on stage in a beam of light like Glenda the Good Witch. Thrilling!
|
|