Five years after the release of Michael Jackson’s best-selling album, ‘Thriller’, along came ‘Bad’ in 1987. One of the hit tracks was ‘Dirty Diana’. The lyrics are about a promiscuous woman and her attempts to seduce him. The press instantly assumed that the somewhat derogatory words referred to Jackson’s mentor and good friend, Diana Ross.
Jackson was upset at this insinuation to say the least, and just as upset when he later learnt that other gossip tabloids dismissed the Ross theory, saying that the song was in fact about another friend of his – Diana, Princess of Wales. This prompted his record producer, Quincy Jones, to issue a public statement on the subject.
He stated that the song referred to the many female groupies who continually chased The Jackson Five when they hit stardom. The girls were quite willing to proffer sexual favors to the boys if they were allowed to stay close to them. Jones reminded the public that ‘Dirty Diana’ was not the only song that Jackson had written about groupies of ill repute. In his 1983 monster hit, ‘Billy Jean’, he sings about a female stalker.
Jackson had close platonic relationships with many divas. He liked women who were self-sufficient. He was often seen at awards ceremonies and other celebrity occasions with the likes of Jane Fonda, Elizabeth Taylor, Jackie Kennedy or Liza Minnelli. But Diana Ross was the most important. She had an immense influence on his career since he was just 10 years old.
Ross was the front line singer for the successful 1960s female group, The Supremes. When she first met Michael, she had just broken away from the group to start a solo career. The boys were performing at a charity function and the crowd was raving about the 10 year-old Michael, with an Afro hairstyle, as he sang and danced to standing ovations. He recalled looking into the audience and seeing Diana Ross.
After the performance, she met the group and told them that she had just been signed to the same recording studio as them. She promised to help further their careers. In her hand, she had copy of a telegram that she had sent to all her showbiz connections asking them to attend The Jackson Five’s next gig. The last sentence of the telegram read: ‘featuring the sensational Michael Jackson’.
Berry Gordy, the boss of Motown Music, the label that had signed The Jackson Five, asked Ross if young Michael could live with her for a while to give him some security. The boys had recently moved to Los Angeles and were constantly moving from hotel to hotel. Katherine, Michael’s mother, was eternally grateful when Ross agreed. She was extremely anxious about the wellbeing and stability of her young son.
Jackson often said that, while living with her, Ross had a major influence on his success. Perhaps she only really recognized this after his death. She was named, in his will, as the person to be entrusted with his children should his mother become incapable. Bearing this in mind, one can hardly think that the degrading lyrics in ‘Dirty Diana’ are about Diana Ross, a woman with whom he had shared a special friendship that spanned more than 40 years.
Before you read anything on the internet featuring Michael Jackson, be sure you check out Mark’s King of Pop’s webpage featuring Dirty Diana, and Michael Jackson Dirty Diana