My father worked hard, but we were still very poor; and I didn't want anybody arguing about money, so I became the entertainer, the one who wanted everyone to be happy. I didn't want there to be any problems.
I have never gotten into the label thing.
I want to live in Paris for a couple of years. I'm dying to do the Josephine Baker story. I really want to be there and do it. It's certainly my intention to do it.
I want to go Africa. I want to go to China. There are some places I want to go not to work, but to really explore and to see for my own education.
I really think I want to live in a lot of places.I don't want possessions to hold me down.
My name, Diana Ross, is my name and nobody should be able to use that for exploitative purposes but me.
It seems like I don't have a lot of time for all the things I need to do. I'm spreading myself fairly thin. I have responsibilities to my children. I have a big staff that works for me. And when you have a staff, and I'm sure you know this, you're always concerned with everybody's life all the time.
When I'm working I actually forget to eat. I don't eat sweets because I don't care about them. I have no real secrets. I just realize that as I get older I should stay strong so I exercise more.
I always wanted to be a fashion designer and I learned costume illustration in high school. That was an incredible high school. It was more like a college. I'm moving more in that direction, just kind of merchandising my name.
I don't know what my life would have been like if I'd never gotten into show business.
I even thought of adopting a child as a single mother.
My children come first and the career comes in around that.
I don't like to have too many makeup artists around, so I always like to do my own.
I majored in fashion design in school, and I have always wanted to design my own line of clothing, jewelry, and stuff like that; so this was just a step for me in that direction.
I am in prayer for his kids and the family.
I think a responsibility comes with notoriety, but I never think of it as power. It's more like something you hold, like grains of sand. If you keep your hand closed, you can have it and possess it, but if you open your fingers in any way, you can lose it just as quickly.
I know that my fans want to know who I'm sleeping with, but it's really none of their business.
So every time I make a new circuit, a new time around, then I change the show. You can't change the songs; people still want to hear "Lady Sings the Blues" and they still want to hear some of the oldies.
The only recording studio was in Motown - it was called Tamla/Motown at that time and we used to audition there because Smokey Robinson was at that studio and Berry Gordy was the president. I remember asking Smokey to listen to my group and he did. For the first couple of years we were just singing background. We used to back up Marvin Gaye; Mary Wells was there then, Marv Johnson, the Marvelettes, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, Junior Walker and the All-Stars.
I keep a great organiser, I try to keep my priorities in the right place.
I think that if my voice for some reason changes - because your voice does change - then it's time for me not to sing.
Being a parent is very important to me.
I'd traveled a lot, was going temporarily insane and became very successful, but there was no one to take that all home to.
I don't have to sit around and wait for the next movie to come along, I can go out and sing.
I just think Josephine Baker life story needs to be done. I think she was an extraordinary woman. To see someone who was basically a showgirl have the kind of lifestyle she had was extraordinary. I really think she made her own lifestyle.
