Diana Ross, a woman who made her own opportunities and changed the sound of popular music, was born Diane Ernestine Earle Ross (1944-) in Detroit, Michigan.

She once said, "Singing--performing--is a gift. A divine gift."

As the lead singer of the Supremes (with Mary Wilson and Florence Ballard in 1961; Cindy Birdsong replacing Ballard in 1967), the riveting Ms. Ross gathered twelve number one pop hits before launching a lucrative solo career.

But the Supremes in the Sixties were a Cinderella story, dream-come-true... Emerging from the projects of Detroit, the teenagers became the most successful female group in the world...

Identically dressed and bouffanted, their harmonies and choreographed moves were legendary as they made memorable appearances of the Ed Sullivan Show. They dominated the charts with such hits as Where Did Our Love Go?, Baby Love, and Stop! In the Name of Love. They released their last song, Someday We'll Be Together in October 1969.

On this day in 1970, Diana Ross and the Supremes performed their last concert as a group at the Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas. On stage, Ross introduced her replacement, Jean Terrel and Marvin Gaye was a surprise guest.

"You can't just sit there and wait for people to give you that golden dream; you've got to get out there and make it happened for yourself," said Ross. The trio reunited on television in 1983 to celebrate Motown Record's 25th anniversary.

Through the years, the loosely-based Dreamgirls Broadway musical (1981) and motion picture (2006) have kept the story of the Supremes alive.

"Singing," Ross said, "has opened up a world touched by wonder...a world of possibility."

Make Your Own Magic.