Diana Ross Enlists Daughter Tracee Ellis Ross to Sing ‘Lady Sings the Blues’
For most families, holiday traditions center around a specific dish or the retelling of a story. But things are different in the Ross family. At a show in Las Vegas on Nov. 21, Diana Ross pulled her daughter, Black-ish star Tracee Ellis Ross, on stage to sing “Lady Sings the Blues.”
Sharing video of the performance on Facebook, Tracee wrote a sweet note about what the experience meant to her:
Now, I’m not afraid of much. I used to be afraid of everything. I was shy as a child. Probably tough to believe but it’s true. I still get nervous all the time, but I never let it stop me and I’m certainly not afraid of performing. But, somehow, by the time I stepped onto the stage it was as if I was 6 years old again!
All my life I have witnessed her as Diana Ross the icon and Diana Ross the mother, and I have experienced her seamlessly bridge this incredible dichotomy with grace and ease. She is a nurturing and fierce mom, intimate and ancient, in a setting that isn’t meant to support mothering: on stage with the whole world watching. There is a way in which she creates privacy and makes space for the sacred in the most public of settings. It is profound, and defines an infinite depth and wisdom that my mom holds. She has always carved out space for her children. I have always known I was the priority.
“When [Tracee] and Rhonda would come on stage with me and all of the sudden Rhonda, which is my oldest daughter, she would do this: [throws her hands in the air],” Diana joked onstage. “And Tracee would go: [hides her head].”
Earlier this year, as a surprise to her mother, Tracee recorded her own version of her mother’s famous “Work That Body” music video.
Speaking with the New York Times about growing up the daughter of Diana Ross, Tracee said, “My mom had beautiful clothes; my mom is elegant; my mom is glamorous. But my mom is also really real, and I grew up with a mother who had babies crawling on her head and spitting up on her when she was wearing gorgeous, expensive things, and it was never an issue.”
