Pop stars come and go, but Diana Ross has been making hits for more than 60 years and counting. She has released 25 albums over 50-plus years since leaving the Supremes in 1970. Including her work with the Supremes, Ross charted in every decade between the 1960s and 2000s. After a quiet 2010s, she was back on the charts with her 2021 album Thank You and her 2022 collaboration with Tame Impala, “Turn Up the Sunshine.” Yet, one has to wonder how Ross’ career would have progressed if not for teaming up with Chic’s Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards as the ‘70s were coming to a close.
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Even that might not have been enough to keep Ross’ career going. Her comeback hit “Upside Down” stands out as both a turning point and her biggest solo hit. Yet industry heavyweights didn’t think much of the song when they first heard it. “Upside Down” became a chart-topping hit and career-rejuvenating dynamo in spite of the naysayers. Rodgers and Edwards were critical in the making of that hit, and one of the biggest rock stars of the ‘70s may have played a role in its popularity.
[RELATED: Top 10 Diana Ross Songs]
Chic to the Rescue?
It’s an overstatement to say that Ross’ career was on the skids at the end of her first decade as a solo artist. Things, however, were not moving in a positive direction. Ross had a tough time approaching the success of her 1976 self-titled album, which included two hits—”Theme From Mahogany (Do You Know Where You’re Going To)” and “Love Hangover”—that topped the Billboard Hot 100. Over the next three years, Ross hit the Top 40 only twice, with neither “Gettin’ Ready for Love” (No. 27) nor “The Boss” (No. 19) reaching the Top 10.
Motown executive Suzanne de Passe had an inkling that a collaboration with Chic could get Ross’ career moving in the right direction again. She accompanied Ross to a Chic performance in Santa Monica, and afterwards, the singer mentioned to Rodgers and Edwards that she was interested in working with them. Rodgers and Edwards were huge fans of Ross and were excited to have the opportunity to work with her.
Rodgers and Edwards took a novel approach in writing songs for what would become the Diana album. To ensure that she would feel at home recording their songs, they conducted extensive interviews with her. They based each song on something that she talked about in their conversations. Some of the connections between Ross’ responses and Rodgers’ and Edwards’ lyrics were tenuous. “Upside Down” came from Ross saying that she wanted to explore new musical avenues—in other words, to turn her music “upside down.” The song wound up being about someone who is willing to deal with a romantic partner who isn’t monogamous.
Resistance to the New Direction
Ross was thrilled with “Upside Down”…until she heard Rodgers’ and Edwards’ mix of the song. Her doubts were deepened when she shared a mix of the album with Frankie Crocker, a prominent New York DJ. Crocker thought the strong disco influence on “Upside Down” and other album tracks would render Diana a flop, as the backlash against disco was gaining strength. Berry Gordy was also unimpressed with “Upside Down,” and the Motown label cut Rodgers and Edwards out of the remainder of the mixing process. Ross and engineer Russ Terrana remixed the album, and the version of “Upside Down” that they mixed is the one that appears on Diana.
Motown apparently still had doubts about Diana, even in its remixed version. The label made the unusual move of not releasing a lead single before or coinciding with the album’s release. While it appeared that everyone other than Rodgers and Edwards disliked “Upside Down,” the song had at least one other champion. Gene Simmons—that’s right, the Gene Simmons of KISS—told Rodgers and Edwards that the song was great. In his memoir Le Freak: An Upside Down Story of Family, Disco, and Destiny, Rodgers recalled, “We respected Gene, but he was dating Diana Ross at the time, so what else would he say?”
Rodgers and Edwards (and Simmons) Get the Last Laugh
Nearly a month after releasing Diana, Motown relented and made “Upside Down” the first single. Though it was the Ross/Terrana mix that fans sent to No. 1 for four weeks, the basic contours of the original Rodgers/Edwards mix were still intact. “I’m Coming Out” was released as a second single, which went to No. 5. The two smash singles helped Diana to achieve Platinum certification. The album peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, with Queen’s The Game keeping it out of the top spot.
While Simmons may have not had much, if any, pull to get “Upside Down” released as a single, he played a critical role in Ross’ post-Diana success. He encouraged Ross to leave Motown and get a much larger deal from another label, now that her current deal was about to expire. According to Ross biographer J. Randy Taraborrelli, Simmons sent a representative to Gordy to inform him of a $20 million offer she supposedly received from another label.
Berry balked, but within a year, Ross landed a $20 million deal with RCA. She would release one more album, To Love Again, and her No. 1 duet with Lionel Richie, “Endless Love,” with Motown. Then in September 1981, Ross released her first album with RCA, Why Do Fools Fall in Love. Though it would miss the Top 10 (peaking at No. 15), the album went Platinum and yielded two Top 10 singles—the title track (No. 7) and “Mirror, Mirror” (No. 8). Ross’ next RCA album, Silk Electric, produced another Top 10 hit, “Muscles” (No. 10).
Ross should get her due for her stunning performance on “Upside Down” and for prolonging her career with a well-deserved record contract. It didn’t hurt, though, that she had a pair of talented collaborators in Rodgers and Edwards and some helpful advice from a shock rock pioneer.
Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
