Diana Ross Biographies -
Turning Them Inside Out

Many Diana Ross biographies exist to inspire the public or diss and dish about the Motown megastar.

Where do you think her autobiographies fall? ;)

I review one of those Ross-written books below.

Diana Ross Biographies -
Diana Ross Memoirs: Secrets of a Sparrow

If you're a die-hard Diana supporter, you may enjoy and recommend this book.

I am not a die-hard Diana supporter.

The Motown artist recounts her childhood, serious steps toward singing, rise at Hitsville, movie career, and beyond. Her professional progress doesn't shunt aside the personal matters, however. Readers hoping to hear about the men in her life--including boss and lover Berry Gordy--will not be disappointed.

Many chapters are brief and pretty focused, topic-wise, despite Ross's jumpy, in-the-moment style. She uses short, dreamy sentences that radiate an earnest passion for her early and later ventures.

On the downside, she sometimes gets redundant or ineloquent. (For instance, she wants girls to be well educated so "they can come out strong and make a statement about being a woman, or about abortion or whatever.") Her poetic inserts merely strive for lyricism, and she drifts into amorphous meditations toward the end of the bio.

I do admire the solitary positive thinker who takes responsibility for her life. I do like the meticulous film role researcher who critiques her projects' themes and characters. And I love the down-to-earth, makeup-free Diana Ross posing for photos in Africa. In those cases, she glows.

Yet she tries too hard to soothe fans with her "I love you alls" and tease them with provocative pictures. The Lifeline at the book's conclusion consists of not only facts, but also self-aggrandizing blurbs ("a stellar performance of her smash hit...") that annoy more than they impress.

As I implied above, my view is skewed because this ex-Supremes singer is not my favorite, even as just a performer. So Diana Ross biographies like this one might not please me as much as other Motown artists' bios.

As a celebrity with many curious readers, Ross doesn't have to spare us from her secrets. Like anyone, she deserves a chance to present her story.

If only she told it better.

Meanwhile, here is my Diana Ross bio, plus my separate biography on the Supremes. Feel free to judge those articles by the standards I just set!

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