28 Style Moments from Diana Ross

She was one of the most important musical talents to come out of Detroit—no small feat, considering the many artists and influences that the Michigan city has had on America's music history. Motown, soul, pop, and disco were all areas that Diana Ross excelled, and over her lifetime and her time with the Supremes, she recorded 54 albums and sold more than 100 million records. Only the Beatles have more hit singles than Ross.

Ross was born in 1944 in Detroit, one of six children, and grew up in the Belmont neighborhood. While in high school, Ross began singing with a neighborhood group called the Primettes (paired with a male group called the Primes, who later became the Temptations) consisting of Florence Ballard, Barbara Martin, and Mary Wilson. They were renamed the Supremes after signing a record deal with Motow (run by Berry Gordy, later Ross's first husband) in 1960, and the group went on to record many hits like "Stop! In the Name of Love," "Can't Hurry Love," and "Someday We'll Be Together." In 1967, the group was renamed to Diana Ross and the Supremes, before Ross took her singing career solo.

Hit songs like "Ain't No Mountain High Enough," "Love Hangover," and "Endless Love" (a duet she recorded with Lionel Richie) defined Ross's solo work, and she also began to act in films like Lady Sings the Blues, in which she played iconic crooner Billie Holiday. Ross received a Lifetime Achievement award from the Grammys in 2012 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016. The songstress was known for her elaborate, over-the-top style, whether owning the stage or walking the red carpet. Through each decade and its fashions, Ross reigned supreme, from the more prim and proper dresses of the 1950s and the free-spirited separates of the '60s to the disco sequins and feathers of the '70s.