Diana Ross to Headline Motown Weekend On Boogie

By Joett -- Boogie Presenter on Times 100.5 FM (Published in Business Times 13/7/2012) -- The disco album The Boss by Diana Ross, originally released on Motown in May 1979, is to headline Motown Weekend on retro radio show Boogie on Times 100.5 FM this Sunday from 6pm. Featuring, among others, her epic tracks No One Gets The Prize, All For One, The Boss and It’s My House, the one-hour segment will include a vintage interview with superstar Diana Ross, recorded in 1975. Diana Ross has had an illustrious career in show business, cut hugely successful records with the Supremes and as a solo artist. She picked up a Grammy award this year and, famously, Michael Jackson named his mother as guardian of his children and named soul legend Diana Ross as a back-up. His will read… "If Katherine Jackson fails to survive me, or is unable or unwilling to act as guardian, I nominate Diana Ross as guardian..." And in the Airtel-sponsored second hour of the show, Motown Weekend kicks in with a selection of Diana Ross’s Motown label mates… including Smokey Robinson, Jackson 5, Michael Jackson, Marvin Gaye, The Commodores, Stevie Wonder, Eddie Kendricks, Thelma Houston and The Temptations to name but a few.

In last week’s show (July 8th), I featured Madonna’s first album Madonna, released in 1983. In the second hour I featured 80s pop tracks by various artists… including Lisa Stansfield, Princess, Kylie Minogue, Rick Astley, Miami Sound Machine, The Jacksons, Taylor Dayne and Milli Vanilli.   In my closing notes I let slip what was to come in next Sunday’s Boogie radio show. Trust me, I don’t normally do this. I like to keep my playlist under wraps until the day of the show when I post that on my blog at joettmusic.com just hours before I go on air.

Diana Ross was lead singer of the Motown group The Supremes during the 1960s. After leaving the group in 1970, Ross began a solo career that has included successful ventures into film and Broadway. She received a Best Actress Academy Award nomination for her role as Billie Holiday in Lady Sings the Blues (1972), for which she won a Golden Globe award. She has won seven American Music Awards, was honored with a 2012 Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award, and won a Tony Award for her one-woman show, An Evening with Diana Ross, in 1977.

In 1976, Billboard magazine named her the "Female Entertainer of the Century." In 1993, the Guinness Book of World Records declared Diana Ross the most successful female music artist in history due to her success in the United States and United Kingdom for having more hits than any female artist in the charts with a career total of 18 number one records in the United States. Diana Ross has sold more than 100 million records worldwide.

Ross is one of the few recording artists to have two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame—one as a solo artist and the other as a member of The Supremes. In December 2007, she received the Kennedy Center Honors.

Motown is a record company originally founded by Berry Gordy, Jr. and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation in Detroit, Michigan, United States, on April 14, 1960. The name, a portmanteau of motor and town, is also a nickname for Detroit. Now headquartered in New York City, Motown is a subsidiary of The Island Def Jam Music Group, itself a subsidiary of the French-owned Vivendi subsidiary, Universal Music Group. Motown Records was also the name of Gordy's second record label; the first, Tamla Records, began on January 12, 1959. Motown played an important role in the racial integration of popular music, by achieving a crossover success. In the 1960s, Motown and its soul-based subsidiaries were the most successful proponents of what came to be known as The Motown Sound, a style of soul music with a distinct pop influence.

Motown has owned or distributed releases from more than 45 subsidiaries in varying genres, although it is most famous for its releases in the music genres of rhythm and blues, soul and pop. Gordy relocated Motown Records to Los Angeles in 1972 and there it remained an independent company until June 28, 1988, when Gordy sold the company to MCA and Boston Ventures (which took over full ownership of Motown in 1991), then to PolyGram in 1994, before being sold again to MCA Records' successor Universal Music Group, when it acquired The PolyGram Group. As of summer of 2011, Motown has been reactivated under The Island Def Jam Music Group division of Universal Music Group.

This weekend on Boogie will be particularly interesting. Especially because the Queen Of Motown Diana Ross blends tremendously well with fellow Motown artists of the time on the playlist I’ve selected for the show. I have wanted to do this for quite a while. To listen to superb, digitally re-mastered 70s disco 80s pop imports, tune in to Boogie on Times 100.5 FM, or listen live on stream at www.timesfm.co.tz from 6pm Sundays. Presented by myself (a reinvented 80s pop singer) with DJ Cue on the decks, and sponsored by Airtel, Business Times, Majira and SPOTIstarehe, Boogie is fast becoming a great way to spend Sunday evenings chilling out with friends to reminisce on the good old days. For regular blog updates, playlists and to link on to Boogie TZ on Facebook, visit www.joettmusic.com

Be sure to tune in to Times 100.5 FM from 6pm Sunday East Africa Time, Or Listen live on stream at timesfm.co.tz For International listeners, view World Time Zone Map for current time in your area.

Thanks for visiting my blog, catch up with you on the show!

JOETT
Radio Presenter, Recording Artist & Vocal Coach

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