This came to my mind mainly because of the topic on US radio and ageism. Someone mentioned Madonna's diminished fortunes after American Life and someone else mentioned that back in the 90s older stars such as Cher and Tina could still get the occasional hit single. My question regards Diana Ross.
Diana Ross had 23 Top 40 hits from 1970 through to 1984 including 6 number 1s. She had also 18 Top 40 solo albums. In 1985 she participates in USA For Africa's line-up. And her career finishes. From 1986 till today she never scored another Top 40 hit and more strangely yet she only scored 1 Top 40 album (I Love You in 2007). At the same period she kept on having smaller hits in the UK but she still had the occasional smash hit (When You Tell Me That You Love Me for example). So is the demise of Diana Ross an example of ageism or something else happened in 1986?
[Edited 9/4/09 4:29am]

Age mixed with being a cunt when she was on top. They had allot of young 18-25 year old female singers, plus MTV was running everything and not many 40+ year olds females were making the cut. Now add her personality and the way she rubbed people when she was running shit.

Why bother? = the industry.

Not to mention no one was buying her with the Bee Gees, oh, and that Mary Wilson book that came out definitely didn't do her any favors.

and then there was the no-supremes reunion tour. ughh

Whitney Houston

Her sixties nemesis Patti LaBelle. She got a number-one album and hit the same year Diana was struggling in America. Aretha Franklin was still having success as well and let's not forget Tina Turner.

Diana Ross' star faded so quickly. Oh and who can't forget the rise of her former "protege's" sister.

Timmy84 said:

Yea... I always thought Diana vocals were light weight just like Janet's, Pretty but feather like

banks said:

Right, Diana & Janet sounds just alike, it's almost eerily.

Flowerpower said:

She sent alot of broads back to semi-retirement.

Timmy84 said:

You guys are serious?

The ONLY thing in common with those 2 is the range...

Harlepolis said:

That's what we meant.

Timmy84 said:

Honestly it had more to do with the Bee Gees involvement more than "age" which wasnt a factor in the biz yet, that was more a later 90's thing for everyone when teen pop broke sales records. The Bee Gees were blacklisted "though" undercover, well not really. So she did pretty well with "swept Away" but when she worked with the Bee Gees on Chain Reaction, which was huge in the UK, the Bee Gees were struggling in america with getting back on radio, even though they had huge hits in the UK at the time with "You Win Again" and "Esp"

lastdecember said:

They also did "Eaten Alive". Even WITH MJ, she couldn't catch a break.

This Stevie song didn't help her either. Sounds pretty weak I admit.

NMuzakNSoul said:

Yeah I don't know why Stevie gave her that song. What was going on with Diana? She couldn't find decent material and even when she did, she was already at the era where, as lastdecember said, they weren't even looking at anyone over 45.

Yes, I think there were a number of things that lead to her downfall. Mary's book and Whitney Houston being at the top of the list.

Timmy84 said:

I remember that song. It was a minor UK hit even though it came after When You Tell Me (which was massive) but I always liked it. I was in one of her concerts in 2003 or 2004 and she sang it (I was not expecting her to but I was thrilled). She was pretty poor on stage though

1985 - Marries Arne Næss, Jr.
I don't know about 1986, but 1987 she had that really good TV special Red Hot Rhythm And Blues (Remember LL Cool J performing "Go Cut Creator Go"? My mom taped this show and I watched it over and over back then.) To my memory, Diana was still the schitt.
1988 - Gives birth to Evan Ross in August.

ElectricBlue said:

preach.

missfee said:

Alot of folks are finding that out to their cost though, commercially.

Is Prince one of them too? i don't know, he's male, but still a diva, no doubt. Just throwing that out there!.

Marrk said:

Speak on it

I don't buy the "she's a cunt" bandwagon either, she's doing what ALL of them who survived this long did,,,,looked out for herself. Simply put.

Its just happen that Prince is considered a "savvy shrewd business man" while Ms.Ross got slammed with the "cunt" label for doing the EXACT SAME THING.

If anything I command her for it, it shows me that she's a fighter too.

Harlepolis said:

She got called "cunt", "bitch", "slut", "ho", etc. All because she wanted business to be done.

When Diane pissed people off, they all went with that "she sucked Berry Gordy's dick to get far", lol

Timmy84 said:

Oh The BOSS is the queen of FFT of divas I ain't gonna lie,,,,

But one can't shrug the woman off because anybody with good sense can tell right off that she had an overtime working brain between those shoulders.

Harlepolis said:

Having five businesses and investing in real estate so she wouldn't wound up like her Motown colleagues proved that.

Timmy84 said:

And since Marrk already threw Prince' name,,,,,I'm willing to bet my rent money that she's WAAAAAY savvier than him when it comes to that department, just saying

Harlepolis said:

I love Diana. She's will always be the definition of diva. No other can touch her. Perhaps notthe best female vocalist of all time. But her style and class put her above the rest. None of those others can touch her. Not Whitney, Madonna, Beyonce, Mariah, or Celine.

NONSENSE said:

Babs can...did they ever duet? Kinda odd if they didn't cause bab's will duet with anyone...I love Sandra Bernhardt's joke about the Babs/Celine duet. "Get me Celine Dion on the phone. She sounds too much like me. I want to do a sh*tty duet with her and f*ck up her career".

I don't get how the Bee Gees factor into her career downfall

scriptgirl said:

Well I guess they're not a real contributing factor. Maybe it was the material, lol

No one wanted no damn Chain Reaction in 1986.