Diana

Diana Ross 

There are divas, and then there is Diana Ross.

After defining the sound and look of the 1960s as the lead singer of The Supremes, Ross launched her solo career in 1970 and somehow became an even bigger star. “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” “Touch Me in the Morning,” “Love Hangover,” “Upside Down,” “I’m Coming Out”—the catalog is almost ridiculous.

By the 1980s, Diana had become something beyond a pop star. The enormous hair, Bob Mackie gowns, sequins, feathers, dramatic poses, and complete command of a stage made her one of the decade’s great visual icons. She didn’t walk onstage so much as arrive.

And then there’s “I’m Coming Out.” Released in 1980 and written and produced by Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards of Chic, the song became an enduring LGBTQ+ anthem. Rodgers has said the idea came after seeing several Diana Ross impersonators at a New York gay club—a wonderfully perfect origin story for a song that would become inseparable from Pride and queer celebration.

Her relationship with gay audiences goes much deeper than one song, though. Diana represents glamour, reinvention, confidence, and the joy of making an entrance—qualities we have historically been rather fond of.