Diana's Dogs: Diana Ross and the Definition of a Diva

The Guinness Book of World Records calls her the best-selling female singer in history. Billboard named her the Celebrity of the Century. Diana Ross, lead singer of the most popular girl group of the 1960s and later a consummate solo artist, has been in the public eye for over four decades. From 1964-when "Where Did Our Love Go?" rose to number one on the pop charts-to the present day, she has been the ultimate diva, an artist worshiped by fanatical fans, yet pilloried in the press for her temper tantrums and untoward demands.

Ed Ifkovic delivers his own spin on this international celebrity, an idiosyncratic collection of short pieces that create a portrait of the mercurial star. From a Detroit housing project to a Connecticut mansion-who is this woman who exacts such loyalty from her fans and such vitriol from her detractors? There are pieces on Diana's tantrums, true, but also jottings on the homes she's lived in, the food she eats, the cars she drives, even her role as muse for writers. There is a collection of poetic similes commentators have employed to describe her, as well as a mind-boggling catalogue of garish tabloid headlines. This off-beat book, admittedly an obsessive fan's unembarrassed send-up-equal parts delight and censure-is a spirited yet sardonic tale that also explores the integration of black music into the white mainstream. Frankly, Diana led that noble charge. What the author delights in is the unorthodox observation and gossipy tidbit that accompanied that revolution.