Track Listing:

1.  Reach Out And Touch (Somebody’s Hand)

2.  Now That There’s You

3.  You’re All I Need To Get By

4.  These Things Will Keep Me Loving You

5.  Ain’t No Mountain High Enough

6.  Something’s On My Mind

7.  I Wouldn’t Change The Man He is

8.  Keep An Eye

9.  Where There Was Darkness

10. Can’t It Wait Until Tomorrow

11. Dark Side Of The World

Release Date: 19 June 1970   

Motown (MS 711)

Chart Positions: US Billboard R&B #1    Canada #13    UK #14    US Billboard Pop #19

Singles from Diana Ross

Release Date: April 1970

Motown (M 1165)

B-Side: ‘Dark Side of the World’

Chart Positions: US Billboard R&B #7    US Cash Box #10    US Billboard Adult Contemporary #18    US Billboard Pop #20    Canada #23    UK #33    Australia #56

Release Date: July 1970

Motown (M 1169)

B-Side: ‘Can’t It Wait Until Tomorrow’

Chart Positions: US Billboard Pop #1    US Billboard R&B #1    US Cash Box #1    UK #6    US Billboard Adult Contemporary #6    Canada #7    Ireland #14    Australia #25

Year-end Charts (1970): US Billboard Pop #6    US Billboard R&B #16    Canada #97

As soon as Diana Ross left The Supremes to embark on a high-profile solo career, the media inevitably hyped up supposed competition between her and The “New” Supremes (which is how they were known for a short time after Diana’s exit). Fans also seemed divided as to which act to support.

Indeed, Diana opened her very first solo engagements with the words: “Good Evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the let’s-see-if-Diana Ross-can-make-it-alone show” which was greeted with both laughter and rapturous applause. While cynics speculated she would fail as a solo act, Diana need not have worried. Leaving the number-one girl group of all time may have been a huge gamble, but it marked the beginning of something even bigger.

Her first solo engagements at the Eden Roc Hotel in Miami Beach, Florida, were a success in March 1970 while selling out at the prestigious Waldorf-Astoria in New York every single night for the entire three-week run in September 1970. No expense was spared with the ritzy presentation, Berry Gordy investing over a hundred thousand dollars on the show, which included eight dazzling costume changes, three background singers called The Blackberries, two male dancers and a set that included pop and rhythm-and-blues numbers such as a compulsory Supremes medley, ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’, ‘Don’t Rain On My Parade’ and the Leading Lady medley from the G.I.T On Broadway TV special the previous year in which she had starred alongside The Supremes and The Temptations.

Reviews of the show were quite mixed at first. Her opening act, ventriloquist Willie Tyler, recalled to author J. Randy Taraborelli: “It was as if she had gotten a bad reputation just by leaving the Supremes behind. Also, I think she was trying too hard. Now, she had to prove herself, prove that her ability warranted a solo career, and so she was singing, dancing, changing clothes, doing everything she could think of to razzle-dazzle. I recall her being very disappointed by the reception. Berry told her to take her time and wait it out. Soon, he said, the audiences will come to her side.”

Diana also appeared on the front cover of Ebony magazine, the article heading Why Diana Ross Left The Supremes. In this interview Ms.Ross admitted that this was a daunting move for her: “You know how a runner has somebody to pace him?  Well, Mary [Wilson] and I have been pacing each other for years.  Now, out on my own and without anybody to pace with, it may be a problem for me…” Berry Gordy, on the other hand, was far more confident, telling the media: “She’s not really taking a big chance because people are buying her like mad. Vegas is buying her, Miami is buying her, the Waldorf in New York. Like the stock market, she’s up now because everything she’s done has been a total success. If Diana is going to do it, she’s going to be the best out there. She will be sensational if she does nothing but stand up there and sing.”

Back in September 1969, when still officially a Supreme, Diana was teamed with producer Bones Howe. Under his guidance she recorded four excellent tracks, namely Laura Nyro’s ‘Time And Love’ (originally intended as Diana’s debut solo single at one point, it was later rerecorded by The Supremes for their Touch album in 1971, using the exact same backing track as Diana’s, and then rerecorded by Barbra Streisand); ‘Stoney End’ (a Top 10 hit for Ms. Streisand); the endearing ‘The Interim’, written by Jimmy Webb, and the enchanting ‘Love, Lines, Angles And Rhymes’. These all contained excellent vocals from Diana and were all, musically, miles apart from anything she had recorded with The Supremes. Howes had also made instrumental tracks for ‘Ooo Baby Baby’ and ‘Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head’, although at the time of writing this, no vocals from Diana have been found.

Diana’s then-manager, Shelly Berger, was quoted in the CD notes for the 2002 reissue of Diana Ross: “I’d known Bones for a while, and he was very hot at the time, particularly with The 5th Dimension. The thought was we should go outside the company to do something completely different for Diana’s first album.”

As these tracks steered so far away from her style and sound with The Supremes, even though undoubtedly showcasing her versatility and were by far the most mature songs she had recorded at this point, Berry Gordy knew this solo project was so vital. He knew it was imperative at this crucial stage in her career not to alienate Diana’s public. Deciding to play it safe, Berry called upon the ever-reliable Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson to be at the creative helm.

As Diana said to black music journalist and author David Nathan: “Berry called them in. They in turn started planning the album. I wasn’t checked in with, like, which songs do you want to have? And all that kind of thing. They just put together the songs, and we went in and did the album. I just loved working with the two of them.”

Berry told Ashford & Simpson he wanted a little diversion from the Motown sound but needed material that would bring her to the foreground as a solo artist. The pressure was definitely on to deliver. Valerie Simpson remembered that all eyes seemed to be on her and Nick: they knew failure wasn’t an option.

On 20 and 21 January 1970, Ashford & Simpson, in an inspired creative burst, came up with the following tracks: ‘Reach Out And Touch (Somebody’s Hand)’, ‘Keep An Eye’, ‘Something’s On My Mind’ and ‘Dark Side Of The World’, which Valerie Simpson said were universal songs. Diana was immediately captivated by ‘Reach Out And Touch’ as it was a sing-along song with a lasting effect. During a visit to her home town of Detroit, Diana became alarmed (and equally dismayed) at the rising level of poverty, urban decay and the escalating drug problem. She felt strongly about ‘Reach Out And Touch’ because of its universal lyrics, conveying perfectly how she felt about the problems with the youth culture, which she infinitely believed could be solved if people started caring about each other.

Diana insisted upon this be her all-important debut solo single. Despite her good-hearted intentions, it’s a fairly mundane song with a waltzing rhythm that completely defects from the ever-compulsive Motown sound. Yet its anthem-like qualities most definitely grow on you, and Diana’s touching, angelic-sounding performance is so sweet, heartfelt and genuine that it’s nearly impossible to find any fault with the now-legendary recording. A glossy mixture of pop, soul, folk and gospel, Diana delivers a strong, incisive vocal, and her ad-libs towards the end convey a far more commanding quality in her voice that hadn’t been there before with The Supremes.

In April 1970, it was released as her first single, backed with ‘Dark Side Of The World’ as the flip. To tie-in with its release, Diana appeared on the front cover of Cash Box magazine.

Critics were eager to see whether the “New” Supremes or Diana Ross would win the chart battle. Unfortunately, ‘Reach Out And Touch’ wasn’t the big hit everyone expected. In America, it struggled to #20 on Billboard magazine’s Pop chart though fared better on the R&B listing by peaking at #7. In the UK, the single stalled at a meagre #33, which was a huge let-down. After all, this was the lady who had topped the charts twelve times as the lead singer of The Supremes.

To make matter worse, The New Supremes’ ‘Up The Ladder To The Roof’ totally wiped the floor with ‘Reach Out And Touch (Somebody’s Hand)’ shooting into the Top 10 on both sides of the Atlantic. At this point, a question mark still hung over Diana’s solo career as far as critics were concerned while her detractors revelled in what they saw as an abject failure. Regardless of this mediocre start, Diana’s debut has since risen in status as a true classic, remaining a significant highlight of her concerts throughout her long career, in which she enticed her audiences to hold hands and sway and sing along with her.

Her second single, however, brought the commercial success she had become accustomed to with The Supremes: the rip-roaring pop/soul blockbuster ‘Ain’t No Mountain High Enough’. Ashford & Simpson came up with this perfect masterpiece by completely dismantling and re-arranging the version Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell had taken high up the chart in 1967. Given that Tammi Terrell passed away, tragically, that year, Diana was sceptical at first, though on hearing the radical new arrangement, her reservations cleared and she conceded to record it.

Nick Ashford was quoted in the book The Billboard Book of Number One R&B Hits, “At that time, lengthy records were starting to come out: six, seven minutes.  We didn’t have any songs like that, but we wanted Diana to feel she was into new things.  We thought to stretch ‘Ain’t No Mountain High Enough’ and we thought how sexy and silky her voice was.”

The track marked a startling fusion of a highly-charged gospel arrangement, by Paul Riser, with a rousing classical music slant, provided by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, giving the recording a grand, highly theatrical feel. Paul Riser recalled to Billboard: “We cut the rhythm track in Detroit.  The strings and horns were a little too sophisticated for the players there, so we went to New York to do it, to get the best possible performance.” Diana delivers engaging spoken passages in a gloriously sensual voice as the shimmering music, and soaring gospel backing vocals gradually build to an orgasmic climax, where the song’s title is finally and triumphantly sung. Diana’s voice surfboards over the dramatic tidal wave, backed by a thunderous bass line and blaring horns, making for a goose-bump ride that’s still magnificent to this day!

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Berry Gordy didn’t like the version that much when he heard it, particularly the spoken introduction. Ashford & Simpson intended this to be Diana’s first single, but he was too apprehensive about the song and held it back. However, once radio DJs started playing it, the recording was released as a single. The full version featured on her eponymous debut album clocked in at over six minutes long, but for the single, it was edited to the standard three and a half minutes. Nonetheless, it retained its full bombastic effect. Michael Thomas later wrote in Rolling Stone magazine: “That record, ‘Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,’ is one of the ten best singles ever made. Diana Ross, when she talks on a record in that petulant dirty whisper, could sell me anything. Diana’s solo records, under the direction of her new handlers Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson, are some of the most gloriously melodramatic virtuoso pop since Phil Spector did the Righteous Brothers.” 

Lifted in July 1970, the single met with wide critical acclaim, Billboard predicting: “This heavy updating of the past Marvin Gaye-Tammi Terrell hit will prove a sales and chart topper for her first smash.”  They were spot on: The single rapidly hit pole position on both the US pop and R&B charts, to become her first solo chart-topper and first solo million-seller, shifting well over 1.2 million copies in America alone.

Success in the UK was assured; who could honestly resist this? Ain’t No Mountain High Enough raced to #6, heralding the start of a permanent love relationship with the British public. The song also became the first in a long line of Grammy Award nominations. In fact it seems a travesty that this epic masterpiece didn’t win any awards but at the same time anyone who had any doubts Diana Ross couldn’t survive without The Supremes were silenced. Diana Ross the solo star had arrived! Around this time, she graced the cover of Record Mirror and headlined at the Carter Barron Amphitheater under the title The Diana Ross Show.

There were (surprisingly) no other singles issued from her superb debut album (simply titled Diana Ross) which was released in June 1970 (charting at the same time as The “New” Supremes’ debut Right On, and Diana’s farewell performance from the group, released as a double-LP) but that’s not to say there weren’t any other tracks worthy of single release. For instance, a spine-tingling version of Marvin and Tammi’s ‘You’re All I Need To Get By’ proved a great experiment for the new and more powerful Diana Ross sound. The depth, character and drama in her voice pour out on this terrific number, and her version stands, arguably, as the definitive reading. Given a slow-burning approach, the rhythm rises to a stunning climax, Diana’s vocals really hitting their full potential as the arrangement crackles with intensity. The repetitive bass line and bluesy feel are engrossed in a hypnotic style, with a backdrop of dreamy, gospel-infused backing vocals.

The joyous ‘Now That There’s You’ is another commercially slanted number that remained hidden away on the album. Like ‘Ain’t No Mountain High Enough’, Diana talk-sings through the duration of each verse, before the chorus kicks in, during which she’s backed by a string of gospel harmonies. Ultimately a feel-good number, Diana sways from moments of yearning vulnerability to shining self-assurance in full command of her new vocal style and providing some arresting ad-libs in the last minute of the song. She sounded relaxed and confident throughout the recording and you could hear significant progress as a vocalist. First recorded by Valerie Simpson in 1969, it was later included on her Exposed album in 1971 and used the same backing track as was used for Diana’s. In their review of Diana Ross, Billboard magazine hailed this as one of the stand-out tracks.

Recorded when she was still with The Supremes, ‘These Things Will Keep Me Loving You’ doesn’t actually include Mary Wilson or Cindy Birdsong. The track was originally intended as Diana’s swansong with the trio, but was sidestepped for ‘Someday We’ll Be Together’. It was then scheduled to be her solo debut, but when Diana was adamant ‘Reach Out And Touch (Somebody’s Hand)’ be her first, it was again put on the backburner. By the time her first single had dipped out of the charts, DJs became interested in ‘Ain’t No Mountain High Enough’, so any plans for ‘These Things Will Keep Me Loving You’ being released as a single were shelved.

Interestingly, this was the only song here not written by Ashford & Simpson; the credits read Johnny Bristol (who worked with Diana on ‘Someday We’ll Be Together’) and Harvey Fuqua. Without a doubt this would have been a huge smash if released as a single. That pure Motown sound is evident on the bouncy arrangement, complemented by Diana’s crisp, subdued performance. Some brief backing vocals interludes from Johnny Bristol and gospel harmonies all add to the fire and soulful flavour. As Motown fans know, The Velvelettes recorded the original version in 1966; it represented their third American smash and their only British hit upon its release in 1971.

While the first half of the album holds a commercial quality, the second half is lost amidst a dark and swirling mood, although it begins with the relatively light mid-tempo ‘Something’s On My Mind’. First recorded by Rita Wright (later known as Syreeta) in 1968, Diana’s delivery is refreshing and soulful. Her diction and phrasing is both immaculate and emotive, singing the song with real clarity.

She sounds more brassy and playful on another incredibly contagious number ‘I Wouldn’t Change The Man He Is’. Previously recorded by Blinky Williams back in 1968, the track holds a bluesy feel that encapsulates a swinging and immediately striking jazz-like vibe. Here, Diana is able to cut loose at the bridge, revealing a new confidence in her voice and delivering a tour-de-force performance. These numbers really captured the top end of her vocal range, exactly what Ashford & Simpson were striving for. Never before had she sounded so strong vocally, alternating between a low, subdued and breathy style, to pushing right up to the maximum of her vocal abilities.

‘Keep An Eye’ sends a shiver down the spine as the mood darkens and becomes more sombre and mellow. The song depicts a bitter tale of paranoia and infidelity, which she had previously recorded on The Supremes’ album Love Child. This solo version is more fully formed, holding more fire and flair, and is far more dramatic. The funk-driven rhythm section is highlighted by Diana’s chilly, almost detached, textured delivery as she glides across the musical landscapes with her interpretive craft.

‘Where There Was Darkness’ is hauntingly beautiful, with a divine and passionate performance from Diana. Although the strings at the intro sound odd and distorted (this wailing, ghostly sound is also repeated at the bridge), it leads into an arrangement that drifts along compellingly, before changing tempo as it brings us into the chorus.

Even more dreamy and mellow is the gorgeous ‘Can’t It Wait Until Tomorrow’, which remains mostly calm as it sails along smoothly, leading to an understated saxophone interlude at the bridge. Not the most exciting track on the album to be fair, but certainly continues the high calibre fare, Diana’s vocals sounding like a forerunner to her foray into jazz with Lady Sings The Blues. This track also appeared as the flip side to the number-one hit ‘Ain’t No Mountain High Enough’.

The project then winds down with the spellbinding ‘Dark Side Of The World’. This song had first been cut by The Velvelettes in 1967 under the title ‘Bring Back The Sunshine’ before Ashford & Simpson completely transformed the arrangement for Marvin Gaye in 1969 (although his take would remain unreleased for several years). Diana’s version is completely immersed in the stirring, atmospheric and soulful arrangement, delivering one of her most impressive vocal performances on the album, the track itself most definitely a highlight. With swirling strings and a distinctly sombre feel, this serves as a superb end to a thoroughly compelling album.

Overall, the Diana Ross album is a thrilling debut, drawing mostly positive reviews from critics, and this has since gone on to be lauded as some of her most stunning solo work. A fantastic start to Diana’s solo career, and something of an underrated masterpiece to say the very least! It stands as an artistic statement, letting the world know that Diana Ross the solo star was a force to be reckoned with.

The album’s startling front cover shows Diana dressed as a child, wearing cut-off shorts and T-shirt, holding an apple and gazing into the air with an impish grin on her face…a far cry from the glamorous diva we all know and love. According to Harry Langdon, the photograph was intended to go back to basics, stripping her of the showbiz trappings, to reflect her humble beginnings in Detroit. When Berry Gordy had summoned Langdon to his office demanding to know what on earth the logic was behind the photo session, he explained to Mr. Gordy: “Diana Ross has been so successful with all of the extremely fortunate people in the world, I wondered what it would be like to appeal to her own people? The black people in the projects and the people who don’t have the money to see her perform? The people who can only buy her records? Here, in my photo of her, she looks like one of the masses. She’s one of them.” After all, she was in effect starting again as a soloist and had to prove herself all over again. Years later, in 2007, during an interview with Gay Times magazine , Diana was asked to name her favourite album sleeve and replied that it was her solo debut.

Diana Ross wasn’t quite the blockbusting success it deserved to be although it was a strong seller, later certified Gold by the RIAA in the US. It peaked in the US chart at #19 while topping the R&B chart. It was also a well-deserved Top 20 success in the UK, where it peaked at #14.

On 26 March 2002, when Diana celebrated her fifty-eighth birthday, this was rereleased to include the original Bones Howe sessions. It also boasted a live version of ‘Something’s On My Mind’, recorded at the The Grove in Los Angeles on 7 August 1970 and alternate mixes of ‘These Things Will Keep Me Loving You’ and ‘Ain’t No Mountain High Enough’. There’s also an alternate vocal of ‘Now That There’s You’. Following its welcome reissue, the album garnered even more glowing reviews than it had upon its original release.

Critical reaction to her solo debut has been mostly positive over the years with AllMusic Guide hailing this as being her most stunning work during her Motown era. Robert Christgau in his review for Village Voice was less enthused, writing: “The sound of young America grows older, replacing momentum with progress and exuberance with nuanced cool. Producers Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson provide all but one of the songs–they’ve written a couple of great ones for Marvin & Tammi in the past. Unfortunately, the same couple (of songs) provide two of the three high spots here. And there ain’t no high spot high enough.” Billboard magazine was far more complimentary, writing “Diana Ross is as potent on the solo trail as she was when leading the Supremes.”

On 1 October 1970, Diana appeared on The Merv Griffin Show for performances of ‘Reach Out And Touch (Somebody’s Hand)’ and ‘Ain’t No Mountain High Enough’, plus an interview.

In an interview with David Nathan for Blues & Soul magazine, Diana reflected on her first year as a solo artist: “I spent ten years building a name, you know…an image…and we became successful. But it was a change that just had to happen. I couldn’t have stayed where I was. The fear was, you know, will I be okay? Will my records be hits? People had done some of the same things and weren’t successful. Mary Wells left Motown and went to other companies and tried, and nothing materialised. I think the same thing (happened) with Florence Ballard. When she left, she was going to get married and have children, and then she went to other record companies. When you make a decision to split, you need to take responsibility that you’ve caused and created whatever happens.”

The following videos are from the Merv Griffin Show in 1970