Diana Ross Live in Central Park

Last updated
Live in Central Park
Diana Ross Live in Central Park.jpg
Video by
ReleasedMay 15, 2012 (2012-05-15)
RecordedJuly 21 and 22, 1983 at Central Park (on the Great Lawn) in New York, United States
Label Shout! Factory
Diana Ross chronology
Live From Las Vegas
(2009)
Live in Central Park
(2012)
Diana Ross feat. The Supremes Paris 1968: Broadcast Archives
(2013)

Live in Central Park is a DVD by Diana Ross released in 2012 that followed from a July 21, 1983 concert in The Great Lawn of New York City's Central Park, which was cut short by a massive lightning storm. [1] The concert was staged as a benefit to raise funds for a children's park, later known as the Diana Ross Playground, located inside the park at West 81st Street and Central Park West. [2]

The concerts were aired worldwide on the Showtime cable network and a reported crowd of eight-hundred thousand as For One and For All, while being directed by Steve Binder. [3] That concert lasted 45 minutes before the storm. Winds of nearly 50 mph were reported, and electrical power was disrupted for nearly 40,000 homes throughout the NYC metropolitan area during the storm.[ citation needed ] On July 22, 1983, the New York City Parks Department determined that the ground was dry enough for the crowd to stand on for a second concert, which began at 6pm that evening.

While the concert did not ultimately make a profit due to a number of factors, groundbreaking for the Diana Ross Playground took place in September 1986 after Ross made a personal donation. [4] [5]

These two concerts were part of the Up Front Tour to promote Ross's 1983 album.

TV Land awarded Most Memorable Television Performance in 2006, ABC Network chose it as one of the Top 20 Television Performances and VH1's 100 Greatest Moments on TV.[ citation needed ]

In 2012, the concert received its first official DVD release through Shout! Factory. [6]

In 2019, the concert had its first public showing in movie theaters across the U.S. and around the world, with collaboration from Fathom Events as part of Ross' Diana Ross: Her Life, Love and Legacy celebration coinciding with her 75th birthday. The footage was digitally remastered and was supplemented with new footage of interviews from Ross’ five children. [7]

Set list

[8]

  1. "I'm Coming Out"
  2. "Home" (Stephanie Mills cover)
  3. "Family" (Henry Krieger cover)
  4. "It's My House"
  5. "Let's Go Up"
  6. "Reach Out and Touch (Somebody's Hand)"
  7. "Reflections"/"Baby Love"/"Stop! In the Name of Love"/"Love Is Like an Itching in My Heart" (The Supremes cover)
  8. "Pieces of Ice"
  9. "Lady Sings the Blues" (Billie Holiday cover)/"Ain't Nobody's Business"
  10. "I Cried for You" (Abe Lyman & His California Orchestra cover)
  11. "God Bless the Child" (Billie Holiday cover)
  12. "Mirror, Mirror"
  13. "Maniac" (Michael Sembello cover)
  14. "You Can't Hurry Love" (The Supremes cover)
  15. "Upside Down"
  16. "So Close"
  17. "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" (Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers cover)
  18. "Ribbon in the Sky" (Stevie Wonder cover)
  19. "Beat It" (Michael Jackson cover)/"Muscles"
  20. "Endless Love"
  21. "Theme From Mahogany"/"Ain't No Mountain High Enough" (Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell cover)
  22. "All for One"

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Billie Holiday</span> American jazz singer (1915–1959)

Billie Holiday was an American jazz and swing music singer. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and music partner, Lester Young, Holiday had an innovative influence on jazz music and pop singing. Her vocal style, strongly inspired by jazz instrumentalists, pioneered a new way of manipulating phrasing and tempo. She was known for her vocal delivery and improvisational skills.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diana Ross</span> American singer (born 1944)

Diana Ross is an American singer and actress. She rose to fame as the lead singer of the vocal group The Supremes, who became Motown's most successful act during the 1960s and one of the world's best-selling girl groups of all time. They remain the best-charting female group in history, with a total of twelve number-one hit singles on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, including "Where Did Our Love Go", "Baby Love", "Come See About Me", "Stop! In the Name of Love", and "Love Child".

<i>Lady Sings the Blues</i> (film) 1972 film by Sidney J. Furie

Lady Sings the Blues is a 1972 American biographical drama film directed by Sidney J. Furie about jazz singer Billie Holiday, loosely based on her 1956 autobiography which, in turn, took its title from Holiday's song. It was produced by Motown Productions for Paramount Pictures. Diana Ross, in her feature film debut, portrayed Holiday, alongside a cast including Billy Dee Williams, Richard Pryor, James T. Callahan, and Scatman Crothers. The film was nominated for five Academy Awards in 1973, including Best Actress in a Leading Role for Diana Ross.

<i>Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever</i> 1983 television special

Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever is a 1983 television special, produced by Suzanne de Passe for Motown Records, to commemorate Motown's 25th year. The program was taped before a live audience at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in Pasadena, California on March 25, 1983, and broadcast on NBC on May 16. Among its highlights were Michael Jackson's performance of "Billie Jean", Smokey Robinson's reunion with the Miracles, a Temptations / Four Tops "battle of the bands", Marvin Gaye's inspired speech about black music history and his memorable performance of "What's Going On", a Jackson 5 reunion, and an abbreviated reunion of Diana Ross & the Supremes, who performed their final #1 hit, "Someday We'll Be Together" from 1969. The show was co-written by de Passe with Ruth Adkins Robinson, who would go on to write shows with de Passe for the next 25 years, including the follow-up label tributes—through "Motown 40", Buz Kohan was the head writer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ain't No Mountain High Enough</span> 1966 song by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell

"Ain't No Mountain High Enough" is a song written by Nickolas Ashford & Valerie Simpson in 1966 for the Tamla label, a division of Motown. The composition was first successful as a 1967 hit single recorded by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, and became a hit again in 1970 when recorded by former Supremes frontwoman Diana Ross. The song became Ross's first solo number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Miki Howard</span> American singer-songwriter

Alicia Michelle "Miki" Howard is an American singer and actress who had a string of top 10 hit songs in the mid-1980s and early 1990s, including "Baby, Be Mine" (1987), "Come Share My Love" (1986) and "Love Under New Management" (1990). "Ain't Nobody Like You" (1992) and "Ain't Nuthin' in the World" (1989) both peaked at number one on the U.S. Billboard Top R&B Singles chart.

"They Can't Take That Away from Me" is a 1937 popular song with music by George Gershwin and lyrics by Ira Gershwin. It was introduced by Fred Astaire in the 1937 film Shall We Dance and gained huge success.

VH1 debuted the first annual VH1 Divas concert in 1998. VH1 Divas Live was created to support the channel's Save The Music Foundation and subsequent concerts in the series have also benefited that foundation. The VH1 Divas concerts were a follow-up to the channel's annual VH1 Honors benefit concert that ran from 1994 to 1997, airing annually from 1998 to 2004. After a five-year hiatus, the series returned in 2009 with a younger-skewed revamp. In 2010 the concert saluted the troops and in 2011 it celebrated soul music, doubling the previous year's ratings. After a dance music-focused 2012 edition aired live from the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on December 16, 2012, the show took another hiatus before being revived on December 5, 2016, at the Kings Theatre in Brooklyn, New York with a holiday theme and achieved its highest ratings in over a decade.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diana Ross Playground</span> Playground in Central Park, New York City

The Diana Ross Playground is located in New York City's Central Park, inside the park at West 81st Street and Central Park West.

<i>An Evening with Diana Ross</i> 1977 live album by Diana Ross

An Evening with Diana Ross is a 1977 live double album released by American singer Diana Ross on the Motown label. It was recorded live at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles in December 1976 during the international tour of Ross' one-woman show, for which she was awarded a special Tony Award after the show's run at Broadway's Palace Theater, followed by an Emmy-nominated TV special of the same name. It marked the first time in history a solo female headlined a 90-minute TV special. The album reached #29 in the USA . The album showcased her live performances for the second time as a solo performer, following 1974's Live At Caesars Palace. It was the last live album Ross released until 1989's Greatest Hits Live.

<i>T.A.M.I. Show</i> 1964 American film

T.A.M.I. Show is a 1964 concert film released by American International Pictures. It includes performances by numerous popular rock and roll and R&B musicians from the United States and England. The concert was held at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium on October 28 and 29, 1964. Free tickets were distributed to local high school students. The acronym "T.A.M.I." was used inconsistently in the show's publicity to mean both "Teenage Awards Music International" and "Teen Age Music International".

<i>The Entertainer</i> (Garth Brooks video album) 2006 video by Garth Brooks

The Entertainer is the name of a 5 disc Garth Brooks DVD collection of previously aired television specials and music videos. The collection was released on November 1, 2006 and was sold exclusively at Wal-Mart and Sam's Club stores. Most of the footage is from different angles than seen on the original broadcast.

<i>Stolen Moments: The Lady Sings... Jazz and Blues</i> 1993 live album by Diana Ross

Stolen Moments: The Lady Sings... Jazz and Blues is a 1993 live album by Diana Ross released on the Motown label.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mirror Mirror (Diana Ross song)</span> 1981 single by Diana Ross

"Mirror, Mirror" is a song by American singer Diana Ross. Written by Dennis Matkosky and Michael Sembello, and produced by Ross, the song was released as the second single from her Platinum-certified album Why Do Fools Fall in Love on December 11, 1981, by RCA Records.

"What a Little Moonlight Can Do" is a popular song written by Harry M. Woods in 1934. In 1934, Woods moved to London for three years where he worked for the British film studio Gaumont British, contributing material to several films, one of which was Road House (1934). The song was sung in the film by Violet Lorraine and included an introductory verse, not heard in the version later recorded by Billie Holiday in 1935.

<i>Forever Diana: Musical Memoirs</i> 1993 box set by Diana Ross

Forever Diana: Musical Memoirs is a four-CD box set of recordings by American singer Diana Ross released on October 5, 1993 by Motown Records.

"No More" is a song with music by Toots Camarata and words by Bob Russell. It is usually mentioned in connection with Billie Holiday, who recorded it on October 4, 1944. The song is sometimes listed as "(You Ain't Gonna Bother Me) No More".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">More Today Than Yesterday: The Greatest Hits Tour</span> 2010–12 concert tour by Diana Ross

The More Today Than Yesterday: The Greatest Hits Tour is a concert tour by American recording artist Diana Ross. Primarily visiting the United States and Canada, the tour showcases Ross' greatest hits that span her nearly 50 years in the music industry. The tour was well received by critics and fans. The first leg of the tour earned over four million dollars, finishing at 66th place on Pollstar's "Top 100 North American Tours".

The Essential Diana Ross: Some Memories Never Fade was a concert residency by American singer Diana Ross at The Venetian Las Vegas. The residency features all of the singer's hits with The Supremes and music from her solo career as well.

References

  1. Caramanica, Jon (21 June 2012). "Visions of the '80s Storming Back". The New York Times. Retrieved 15 July 2021.
  2. Reed, Ryan (4 February 2019). "'Diana Ross Live in Central Park' Getting Limited Theatrical Screening". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 15 July 2021.
  3. "Diana Ross: Live In Central Park". The A.V. Club. 16 May 2012. Retrieved 15 July 2021.
  4. Anderson, Susan Heller; Carmody, Deirdre (12 September 1986). "NEW YORK DAY BY DAY; Start at Ross Playground". The New York Times. Retrieved 15 July 2021.
  5. Carmody, Deirdre (3 January 1984). "CITY, AWAITING MONEY FOR A DIANA ROSS PLAYGROUND, IS TOLD THERE ISN'T ANY". The New York Times. Retrieved 15 July 2021.
  6. DUQUETTE, MIKE (1 March 2012). "Come Rain or Shine: Legendary Diana Ross Concert Debuts on DVD". theseconddisc. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
  7. Bronson, Fred (24 March 2019). "Diana Ross' 'Live in Central Park': Director Steve Binder Talks Big Screen Showing Of Her Iconic Concert Film". Billboard. Retrieved 15 July 2021.
  8. "Diana Ross - Jul 22, 1983". wolfgangs.com.