Name	Florence "Flo" Ballard
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Florence Glenda Ballard
Alias	Florence Chapman
Birth date	June 30, 1943
Origin	Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
Died	February 22, 1976Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
Genre	R&B;, pop, soul, show tunes
Occupation	Singer
Years active	1959–1976
Instrument	Vocals
Label	Lu Pine, Motown, ABC
Associated acts	The Primettes, The Supremes, Diana Ross, Mary Wilson
Website	}}

Florence Glenda Ballard Chapman (June 30, 1943 – February 22, 1976) was an American singer and a founding member of the Motown group The Supremes. From 1963 until 1967, Ballard sang on 16 Top 40 hit Supremes' singles, ten of which hit number-one on the Billboard Hot 100. In 1967, Motown CEO Berry Gordy decided to remove Ballard from the Supremes. After being dropped from the group, Ballard struggled with a solo career in the late 1960s and spent much of the last five years of her life in relative poverty. In 1976, Ballard died of cardiac arrest at the age of thirty-two. Her death has been called "one of rock's greatest tragedies".

Early life

Florence Ballard was born in Detroit in 1943. The ninth of fifteen children, Ballard's parents Lurlee (née Wilson) and Jessie Lambert Ballard had migrated from Rosetta, Mississippi, to participate in Detroit's then booming job market. Jessie Ballard eventually found work at General Motors but still struggled to take care of his growing brood. The Ballards moved constantly around Detroit, living in 7 Mile for a brief time and then living at the Black Bottom projects. Ballard's family eventually settled at the then-newly developed Brewster-Douglass housing projects by the time Ballard was fifteen.

Ballard's cousin was rock 'n' roll and soul music pioneer Hank Ballard. Ballard began singing in church at an early age. Ballard, often called "Flo" by family and friends, also acquired the nickname "Blondie" due to her light auburn hair and fair complexion that reflected her mixed heritage. In 1958, Ballard met Mary Wilson and became acquainted with her after they participated in the same talent competition.

Milton Jenkins, a local man then best known for his work with the all-male group the Primes (who became The Temptations), was scouting for girls to become members of his group's sister act, the Primettes. Jenkins took an interest in Ballard's voice after Ballard auditioned for him and Primes members Paul Williams and Eddie Kendricks. Jenkins recruited Ballard as the first member of the Primettes and asked her to enlist other members. Immediately Ballard convinced Mary Wilson to join the group; Wilson then contacted fellow neighbor Diana Ross. Eighteen-year-old Betty McGlown, who was dating Paul Williams at the time, rounded out the quartet. In 1960, McGlown left and was replaced by Barbara Martin. Martin eventually left in 1962, and the group decided to remain a trio.

Described by Wilson and friend Jesse Greer as having been a generally happy if not somewhat mischievous and sassy teenager, Ballard experienced a change in personality, from which she seemingly never recovered, as the result of an incident that occurred in the summer of 1960. Leaving a sock hop at Detroit's Graystone Ballroom one evening, Ballard accidentally was separated from her brother Billy, with whom she had attended the event. Accepting a ride home from a young man she felt she recognized, local high-school basketball player Reginald Harding, Ballard was instead driven north to an empty parking lot off of Woodward Avenue. There, Harding raped Ballard at knife point.

After weeks of sequestered silence that confused Wilson and Ross, Ballard finally told her groupmates what had happened to her. The girls were sympathetic but as confused as Ballard herself, whom they had considered strong-willed and unflappable. Consequently, Ballard's assault was never mentioned again, either in clinical therapy or in social conversation—something that Wilson believes heavily contributed to the more self-destructive aspects of Ballard's adult personality, such as her cynicism, pessimism, and fear or mistrust of others.

The Supremes (1959-1967)

During their brief tenure as the Primettes, the group did not have a designated lead singer and sometimes sang in unison. While signed to local Lupine Records, Diana Ross and Mary Wilson sang lead on the group's only 45 on that label, "Tears of Sorrow"/"Pretty Baby" though Ballard added a soprano whoop at the beginning of the latter track. Ballard and Ross co-wrote "Tears of Sorrow". Onstage, mainly Ballard, Ross and Wilson switched lead roles. After a couple years performing at sock hops and jubilees, the group signed with the Motown label as ''The Supremes'', a name chosen by Ballard, on January 15, 1961.

While Ross sang lead on the group's debut recording, "I Want a Guy", seventeen-year-old Ballard performed lead vocals on the second single, "Buttered Popcorn". According to Wilson, Ballard's voice was so loud that she was made to stand up to seventeen feet away from her microphone during recording sessions, while the other two Supremes stood directly in front of their microphones. During this period, Ballard also briefly toured with The Marvelettes as a replacement for Wanda Young, who was out on maternity leave. Marvelettes lead singer Gladys Horton later recounted Ballard gave Horton advice before Horton went into the studio to record "Please Mr. Postman".

Though Ballard's voice has been described as "soulful, big, rich, and commanding", ranging from deep contralto to operatic soprano, Ross was made lead singer of the Supremes in late 1963. Assigned to work with songwriting/production team Holland-Dozier-Holland, Ross, Ballard, and Wilson subsequently released ten number-one US pop hits between 1964 and 1967, all of which featured Ross as lead.

Ballard never again sang lead on another released 45, but she had several leads and lead parts throughout her Supreme career on Supremes albums. Most notable are the second verse of "It Makes No Difference Now" from ''The Supremes Sing Country, Western and Pop'', "Ain't That Good News" from ''We Remember Sam Cooke'' plus a few later released Christmas songs, "Silent Night" and "O'Holy Night." Wilson was also given the lead on a song on their debut album; a song on the ''A'Go Go'' album; and a partial lead with Ross on "Falling in Love with Love" on the ''Supremes Sing Rogers and Hart'' album, while Ballard and Ross traded leads on "Manhattan" on the same album. Initially Ballard continued to sing a spotlight solo number, "People" from the Broadway musical ''Funny Girl'', for the Supremes' stage show. In 1966, just prior to opening at the Copacabana supper club in New York City, Ballard complained of a sore throat and insisted that Ross sing the song. Soon afterwards, Gordy assigned "People" to Ross. Thus began a marked decline in effective communication between Gordy and Ballard. Over the next two years, Ballard and Gordy argued frequently, particularly as Ross became the group's centerpiece.

During the first half of 1967, Gordy decided that he would be changing the group's name to ''Diana Ross and The Supremes''. As the year progressed, Ballard frequently missed public appearances; and sometimes missed recording sessions as well. Gordy hired Cindy Birdsong, a singer with Patti LaBelle & the Blue Belles, as a temporary stand-in for Ballard in April 1967. By May, it was agreed that Birdsong would become Ballard's permanent replacement, but Ballard could continue to perform with the Supremes on a "trial" basis. Ballard's final performance with the group was in late June/early July 1967 during their second engagement at the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas. After Ballard unexpectedly stuck out her stomach from between the jacket and pants of her outfit during scripted onstage patter in the first show of the night, Gordy was outraged. He ordered her not to go onstage for the next show and instructed her to take the next plane home to Detroit.

In August 1967, the ''Detroit Free Press'' reported that Ballard was taking a temporary leave of absence from the group because of "exhaustion." Ballard's career as a performing Supreme was over.

Solo career

Ballard married Thomas Chapman, a former chauffeur for Motown, on February 29, 1968, and signed with ABC Records in March 1968, two weeks after having negotiated her release from Motown on February 22, 1968. Ballard's attorney received a one-time payment of $139,804.94 in royalties and earnings from Motown for her six-year tenure with the label.

Billed as "Florence 'Flo' Ballard" and with her husband serving as her manager, Ballard released the singles "It Doesn't Matter How I Say It (It's What I Say That Matters)" and "Love Ain't Love" on ABC Records. The singles failed to chart, and Ballard's album for ABC was shelved. Thus, her musical career went into a rapid decline, and the $139,000 in settlement money was systematically depleted by the Chapmans' management agency, Talent Management, Inc. This agency, created by lawyers who had no previous experience in show business, was headed by Leonard Baun, an attorney Ballard later fired and sued upon discovering he was already facing multiple charges of embezzlement. Furthermore, stipulations in Ballard's contract with Motown prohibited Ballard from mentioning in any promotional materials or noting on the back of her album liner that she had ever been in the Supremes or recorded for Motown. The catalogs of both Motown and ABC are now owned by Universal Music Group, with Motown still being an active part of the company as Universal Motown. The ABC label was shuttered in 1979, with its artists and catalog transferred to MCA Records, and then Geffen Records.

Ballard continued her efforts at a solo career. In September 1968, she performed alongside Bill Cosby at the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago. That same year, Ballard rode on a float in that city's Bud Billiken Parade with comedian Godfrey Cambridge. On October 20, 1968, she was the featured personality of Detroit's magazine, ''Detroit'' and that same month, she gave birth to twin girls, Michelle Chapman and Nicole Chapman, the first two of her three children. She began the new year by performing at one of Richard Nixon's inaugural balls in Washington, DC on January 20, 1969. In 1971, Ballard unsuccessfully sued Motown for additional royalty payments she believed were due.

Decline

In 1971, Ballard gave birth to her third child, Lisa Chapman. Soon after, Thomas Chapman left Ballard and her house was foreclosed.

Over the next few years, Ballard stayed away from all publicity. In 1974, Mary Wilson, who had maintained a rapport with Ballard over the years, invited Ballard to fly out to California to visit. The Supremes, with Cindy Birdsong and new member Scherrie Payne, were performing at Six Flags Magic Mountain, and Wilson invited Ballard on stage to sing with the group. Ballard did join them, but did not sing: instead, she played the tambourine. Although her on-stage appearance brought loud cheers from the crowd, Ballard told Wilson that she had no interest in continuing a career in music.

Upon her return to Detroit, Ballard's financial situation declined further. Uninterested in returning to show business, and with three children to support, she applied for welfare. This news and the story of her downward spiral hit the national newspapers.

Comeback and sudden death

In 1975, Ballard received an insurance settlement from her former attorney's insurance company. With the settlement money, Ballard purchased a small house on Shaftsbury Avenue in Detroit for herself and her children and made a decision to return to singing. Around this same time, she also reconciled with her estranged husband.

Backed by the female rock group The Deadly Nightshade, Ballard performed as a part of the Joan Little Defense League at a concert held at Detroit's Henry and Edsel Ford Auditorium on June 25, 1975. Following the success of this performance, Ballard received requests for newspaper and television interviews, including an appearance on the local Detroit talk show ''The David Diles Show''.

On February 21, 1976, Ballard entered Mt. Carmel Mercy Hospital, complaining of numbness in her extremities. The next day, she died at 10:05 a.m. of coronary thrombosis, a blood clot in one of her coronary arteries, at the age of 32.

Legacy

Florence Ballard's story has been referenced in a number of works by other artists. The 1980 song "Romeo's Tune", from Mississippian Steve Forbert's album ''Jackrabbit Slim'' is "dedicated to the memory of Florence Ballard". The Billy Bragg song "King James Version" on his ''William Bloke'' album contains the line "Remember the sadness in Florence Ballard's eyes". On his 2006 album ''Hip Hop is Dead'', hip-hop artist Nas mentions the Ballard/Ross rivalry in his song "Blunt Ashes": ''"When Flo from the Supremes died/Diana Ross cried/Many people said that she was laughing inside."'' In his short story "You Know They Got a Hell of a Band", Stephen King includes Ballard as one of the deceased artists who performs in a town called “Rock and Roll Heaven.”

''Dreamgirls'', a 1981 Broadway musical, chronicles a fictional group called “The Dreams,” and a number of plot components parallel events in the Supremes’ career. The central character of Effie White, like Florence Ballard, is criticized for being overweight, and is fired from the group. The film version of ''Dreamgirls'' released in 2006, features more overt references to Ballard's life and the Supremes' story, including gowns and album covers that are direct copies of Supremes originals. Jennifer Hudson won a Golden Globe Award and Academy Award for her portrayal of Effie White in the “Dreamgirls” film. In her Golden Globe acceptance speech, Hudson dedicated her win to Florence Ballard.

The music video for the Diana Ross song "Missing You" pays tribute to Marvin Gaye, Florence Ballard, and Paul Williams, all former Motown artists who had died.

Discography

Lead vocals with The Supremes

Note ''- "Year" represents year song was either recorded, released originally OR supposed to be released (in cases of songs such as "After All" which were released years after they were recorded).''

Year	Title	Album
1959		* B-side to "Tears of Sorrow" - the only single released by The Primettes, the group name The Supremes went by originally.	* Mary Wilson leads most of the song but Ballard leads intro with her soprano vocals and repeats her operatic riff in the break of the song and in the outro.
1961		A-side and B-side>A-side to feature Ballard on lead
	"Let Me Go the Right Way"	* Ballard leads intro singing "A go-go right" with Ross leading the rest of the song; Ballard's Ad libitum
	* Not featured on the original release of ''Meet The Supremes'', but was recorded in the same sessions	* Features all members leading a verse, including fourth member [[Barbara Martin, with Ballard leading the first
"Save Me a Star"	* Not featured on the original release of ''Meet The Supremes'', but was recorded in the same sessions	''The Never-Before-Released Masters''
"Hey Baby"	* Not featured on the original release of ''Meet The Supremes'', but was recorded in the same sessions	The Supremes Lost & Found>Diana Ross & The Supremes - Let The Music Play: Supreme Rarities 1960-1969 (Motown's Lost & Found)''
"Heavenly Father"	* Not featured on the original release of ''Meet The Supremes'', but was recorded in the same sessions
1963	A Breathtaking Guy	* Released as a single, it features each member leading one line of the chorus, though Ross leads all the verses. Ballard leads the line ''"First sight soul-shaking..."''.		rowspan="3"
	"Long Gone Lover"	* Ballard leads the outro while Ross leads the remainder of the song
"Baby Love"	* - Ross leads but Ballard & Wilson each have brief solos (ad-libs) on the released (second) version of the song.	* Ballard sings ''"...need you..."'' twice just before the last verse
"How Do You Do It?"	* All three members of the group sing the song's lead vocal in unison.	''A Bit of Liverpool''
	* Recorded for ''A Bit of Liverpool'' but not featured on album	rowspan="2"
	* Recorded for ''A Bit of Liverpool'' but not featured on album	* A group lead with harmonies throughout but with Ballard most prominent – as she sings the main melody while Ross and Wilson harmonize with her
	"It Makes No Difference Now"	* All members lead a verse with Ballard leading the second	''The Supremes Sing Country, Western and Pop''
"(Ain't That) Good News"	* One of Flo's most notable leads from the group's tribute album to Sam Cooke	''We Remember Sam Cooke''
"Silent Night"	* Wasn't featured on the original release but has been featured on re-releases of the album	* An a cappella version of Ballard singing the first verse can be found on ''Diana Ross & The Supremes: The Never Before Released Masters''
"O Holy Night"	* Recorded most likely in the sessions for the ''Merry Christmas'' album but is yet to be featured on any version/release of that album
	* Ballard leads most of the show-tune made popular by Barbra Streisand while Ross leads one verse towards the end before Ballard ad-libs
"Fancy Passes"	* Ross leads but Ballard & Wilson each are featured on some spoken lines (and a few brief solos).	* Fellow Motown artist Barbara McNair also recorded a version of the song with backing vocals by Ballard and Wilson.	''The Never-Before-Released Masters''
		* Not featured on the original release of ''The Supremes Sing Rodgers & Hart'' but has been featured on re-releases of the album.	* Lead mostly by Ross but Ballard is featured prominently	* Mono mix can be found on ''Diana Ross & the Supremes' 25th Anniversary''	''The Supremes Sing Rodgers & Hart''
"The Ballad of Davy Crockett"	* Ballard does a spoken part (early rap) while Wilson sings lead on the rest of the song.	* Recorded for shelved ''Diana Ross & The Supremes Sing Disney Classics'' album but later released on a compilation album.	''The Never-Before-Released Masters''

Album

2002: ''The Supreme Florence "Flo" Ballard'' (originally shelved by ABC Records in 1968 under the proposed title, ''"...You Don't Have To"'')

Singles

1968: "It Doesn't Matter How I Say It (It's What I Say That Matters)" b/w "Goin' Out of My Head" (ABC Records #45-11074A/B)

1968: "Love Ain't Love" b/w "Forever Faithful" (ABC Records #45-11144A/B)

References

Sources

Wilson, Mary and Romanowski, Patricia (1986, 1990, 2000). ''Dreamgirl & Supreme Faith: My Life as a Supreme''. New York: Cooper Square Publishers. ISBN 0-8154-1000-X.

Taraborrelli, J. Randy (2007) ''Diana: A Biography''. New York: Citadel Press. ISBN 978-0806528496

Wilson, Randall (1999) ''Forever Faithful! A Study of Florence Ballard and the Supremes, 2nd edition''. San Francisco: Renaissance Sound Publications. ISBN 978-0943485034

External links

Category:1943 births Category:1976 deaths Category:ABC Records artists Category:African American female singers Category:American female singers Category:American people of Native American descent Category:American pop singers Category:American rhythm and blues singers Category:American sopranos Category:American soul singers Category:Cardiovascular disease deaths in Michigan Category:Deaths from thrombosis Category:Musicians from Detroit, Michigan Category:The Supremes members

da:Florence Ballard de:Florence Ballard es:Florence Ballard fr:Florence Ballard it:Florence Ballard nl:Florence Ballard no:Florence Ballard pt:Florence Ballard simple:Florence Ballard sv:Florence Ballard vi:Florence Ballard

name	Florence
official name	''Comune di Firenze''
native name	''Firenze''
image shield	FlorenceCoA.svg
region	Tuscany
province	Florence (FI)
mayor party	Democratic Party
mayor	Matteo Renzi
area total km2	102.41
population total	370702
population as of	31 October 2010
population demonym	Fiorentini
elevation m	50
saint	John the Baptist
day	24 June
postal code	50121-50145
area code	055
website
footnotes	}}

Florence ( , alternate obsolete form: ''Fiorenza''; Latin: ''Florentia'') is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with c. 370,000 inhabitants (1,500,000 in the metropolitan area).

The city lies on the River Arno; it is known for its history and its importance in the Middle Ages and in the Renaissance, especially for its art and architecture and, more generally, for its cultural heritage. A centre of medieval European trade and finance and one of the wealthiest cities of the time, Florence is considered the birthplace of the Renaissance; it has been called the Athens of the Middle Ages. A turbulent political history included periods of rule by the powerful Medici family, religious and republican revolution. From 1865 to 1870 the city was also the capital of the recently established Kingdom of Italy.

The historic centre of Florence attracts millions of tourists each year, and Euromonitor International ranked the city as the world's 72nd most visited in 2009, with 1.685 million visitors. It was declared a World Heritage Site UNESCO in 1982. Due to Florence's artistic and architectural heritage, it has been ranked by ''Forbes'' as one of the most beautiful cities in the world, and the city is noted for its history, culture, Renaissance art and architecture and monuments. The city also contains numerous museums and art galleries, such as the Uffizi Gallery and the Pitti Palace, amongst others, and still exerts an influence in the fields of art, culture and politics. Florence is also an important city in Italian fashion, being ranked within the top fifty fashion capitals of the world; furthermore, it is also a major national economic centre, being a tourist and industrial hub. In 2008, the city had Italy's 17th highest average income per capita.

History

Name	Historic centre of Florence
State party	Italy
Type	Cultural
Criteria	i, ii, iii, iv, vi
Id	174
Region	Europe and North America
Year	1982
Session	6th }}

Florence originated as a Roman city, and later, after a period as a flourishing trading and banking medieval commune, it was the birthplace of the Italian Renaissance (or the "Florentine Renaissance"). According to the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'', it was politically, economically, and culturally one of the most important cities in Europe and the world from the 14th century to the 16th century.

The language spoken in the city there during the 14th century was, and still is, accepted as a pan-Italian language. Almost all the writers and poets in the Italian literature of the ''golden age'' are somewhat connected with Florence, leading ultimately to the adoption of the Florentine dialect above all the local dialects, as a literary language of choice.

Starting from the late Middle Ages, Florentine money – in the form of the gold florin – financed the development of industry all over Europe, from Britain to Bruges, to Lyon and Hungary. Florentine bankers financed the English kings during the Hundred Years War, as well as the papacy, including the construction of their provisional capital of Avignon and, after their return to Rome, the reconstruction and Renaissance embellishment of the latter.

Florence was home to the Medici, one of history's most important noble families. Lorenzo de' Medici was considered a political and cultural mastermind of Italy in the late 15th century. Two members of the family, were popes as Leo X and Clement VII in the early 16th century. Catherine de Medici, married king Henry II of France and, after his death in 1559, reigned as regent in France. The Medici reigned Grand Dukes of Tuscany starting with Cosimo I de' Medici in 1569, until the death of Gian Gastone de' Medici in 1737.

Roman origins

Florence was established by Lucius Cornelius Sulla in 80 BC as a settlement for his veteran soldiers and was named originally ''Fluentia'', owing the fact that it was built between two rivers, which was later corrupted to ''Florentia''. It was built in the style of an army camp with the main streets, the ''cardo'' and the ''decumanus'', intersecting at the present ''Piazza della Repubblica''. Situated at the ''Via Cassia'', the main route between Rome and the north, and within the fertile valley of the Arno, the settlement quickly became an important commercial centre. The Emperor Diocletian is said to have made Florentia the seat of a bishopric around the beginning of the 4th century AD, but this seems impossible in that Diocletian was a notable persecutor of Christians.

In the ensuing two centuries, the city experienced turbulent periods of Ostrogothic rule, during which the city was often troubled by warfare between the Ostrogoths and the Byzantines, which may have caused the population to fall to as few as 1,000 people. Peace returned under Lombard rule in the 6th century. Florence was conquered by Charlemagne in 774 and became part of the Duchy of Tuscany, with Lucca as capital. The population began to grow again and commerce prospered. In 854, Florence and Fiesole were united in one county.

Second millennium

Margrave Hugo chose Florence as his residency instead of Lucca at about 1000 AD. The Golden Age of Florentine art began around this time. In 1013, construction began on the Basilica di San Miniato al Monte. The exterior of the baptistery was reworked in Romanesque style between 1059 and 1128. This period also saw the eclipse of Florence's formerly powerful rival Pisa (defeated by Genoa in 1284 and subjugated by Florence in 1406), and the exercise of power by the mercantile elite following an anti-aristocratic movement, led by Giano della Bella, that resulted in a set of laws called the Ordinances of Justice (1293).

Middle Ages and Renaissance

Rise of the Medici

Of a population estimated at 94,000 before the Black Death of 1348, about 25,000 are said to have been supported by the city's wool industry: in 1345 Florence was the scene of an attempted strike by wool combers (''ciompi''), who in 1378 rose up in a brief revolt against oligarchic rule in the Revolt of the Ciompi. After their suppression, Florence came under the sway (1382–1434) of the Albizzi family, bitter rivals of the Medici.

In the 15th century, Florence was among the largest cities in Europe, considered rich and economically successful. Life was not idyllic for all residents though, among whom there were great disparities in wealth. Cosimo de' Medici was the first Medici family member to essentially control the city from behind the scenes. Although the city was technically a democracy of sorts, his power came from a vast patronage network along with his alliance to the new immigrants, the ''gente nuova'' (new people). The fact that the Medici were bankers to the pope also contributed to their ascendancy. Cosimo was succeeded by his son Piero, who was, soon after, succeeded by Cosimo's grandson, Lorenzo in 1469. Lorenzo was a great patron of the arts, commissioning works by Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and Botticelli. Lorenzo was an accomplished musician and brought composers and singers to Florence, including Alexander Agricola, Johannes Ghiselin, and Heinrich Isaac. By contemporary Florentines (and since), he was known as "Lorenzo the Magnificent" (Lorenzo il Magnifico).

Following the death of Lorenzo de' Medici in 1492, he was succeeded by his son Piero II. When the French king Charles VIII invaded northern Italy, Piero II chose to resist his army. But when he realized the size of the French army at the gates of Pisa, he had to accept the humiliating conditions of the French king. These made the Florentines rebel and they expelled Piero II. With his exile in 1494, the first period of Medici rule ended with the restoration of a republican government.

Savonarola and Machiavelli

During this period, the Dominican monk Girolamo Savonarola had become prior of the San Marco monastery in 1490. He was famed for his penitential sermons, lambasting what he viewed as widespread immorality and attachment to material riches. He blamed the exile of the Medicis as the work of God, punishing them for their decadence. He seized the opportunity to carry through political reforms leading to a more democratic rule. But when Savonarola publicly accused Pope Alexander VI of corruption, he was banned from speaking in public. When he broke this ban, he was excommunicated. The Florentines, tired of his extreme teachings, turned against him and arrested him. He was convicted as a heretic and burned at the stake on the Piazza della Signoria on 23 May 1498.

A second individual of unusual insight was Niccolò Machiavelli, whose prescriptions for Florence's regeneration under strong leadership have often been seen as a legitimization of political expediency and even malpractice. Commissioned by the Medici, Machiavelli also wrote the Florentine Histories, the history of the city. Florentines drove out the Medici for a second time and re-established a republic on 16 May 1527. Restored twice with the support of both Emperor and Pope, the Medici in 1537 became hereditary dukes of Florence, and in 1569 Grand Dukes of Tuscany, ruling for two centuries. In all Tuscany, only the Republic of Lucca (later a Duchy) and the Principality of Piombino were independent from Florence.

18th and 19th centuries

The extinction of the Medici dynasty and the accession in 1737 of Francis Stephen, duke of Lorraine and husband of Maria Theresa of Austria, led to Tuscany's temporary inclusion in the territories of the Austrian crown. It became a secundogeniture of the Habsburg-Lorraine dynasty, who were deposed for the Bourbon-Parma in 1801, themselves deposed in December 1807 when Tuscany was annexed by France. Florence was the prefecture of the French département of Arno from 1808 to the fall of Napoleon in 1814. The Habsburg-Lorraine dynasty was restored on the throne of Tuscany at the Congress of Vienna but finally deposed in 1859. Tuscany became a province of the United Kingdom of Italy in 1861.

Florence replaced Turin as Italy's capital in 1865 and, in an effort to modernise the city, the old market in the Piazza del Mercato Vecchio and many medieval houses were pulled down and replaced by a more formal street plan with newer houses. The Piazza (first renamed Piazza Vittorio Emmanuele II, then Piazza della Repubblica, the present name) was significantly widened and a large triumphal arch was constructed at the west end. This development was unpopular and was prevented from continuing by the efforts of several British and American people living in the city. A museum recording the destruction stands nearby today.

The country's second capital city was superseded by Rome six years later, after the withdrawal of the French troops made its addition to the kingdom possible.

20th century

After doubling during the 19th century, Florence's population was to triple in the 20th, resulting from growth in tourism, trade, financial services and industry.

During World War II the city experienced a year-long German occupation (1943–1944) and was declared an open city. The Allied soldiers who died driving the Germans from Tuscany are buried in cemeteries outside the city (Americans about nine kilometres south of the city, British and Commonwealth soldiers a few kilometres east of the centre on the right bank of the Arno). In 1944, the retreating Germans blew up the bridges along the Arno linking the district of Oltrarno to the rest of the city, making it difficult for the British troops to cross. However, at the last moment Charle Steinhauslin, at the time consulate of 26 countries in Florence, convinced the German general in Italy that the Ponte Vecchio was not to be blown up due to its historical value.

Instead, an equally historic area of streets directly to the south of the bridge, including part of the Corridoio Vasariano, was destroyed using mines. Since then the bridges have been restored to their original forms using as many of the remaining materials as possible, but the buildings surrounding the Ponte Vecchio have been rebuilt in a style combining the old with modern design. Shortly before leaving Florence, as they knew that they would soon have to retreat, the Germans murdered many freedom fighters and political opponents publicly, in streets and squares including the Piazza Santo Spirito.

In November 1966, the Arno flooded parts of the centre, damaging many art treasures. Around the city there are tiny placards on the walls noting where the flood waters reached at their highest point.

In November 2002 was the place of birth of the first edition of the European Social Forum.

Geography

Florence lies in a basin among the Senese Clavey Hills, particularly the hills of Careggi, Fiesole, Settignano, Arcetri, Poggio Imperiale and Bellosguardo (Florence). The Arno river and three other minor rivers flow through it.

Climate

Florence is typically considered to have a Mediterranean climate, although under the Köppen climate classification it may be borderline humid subtropical (''Cfa''). It has hot, humid summers with little rainfall and cool, damp winters. Surrounded by hills in a river valley, Florence can be hot and humid from June to August. As Florence lacks a prevailing wind, summer temperatures are higher than along the coast. Rainfall in summer is convectional, while relief rainfall dominates in the winter, with some snow. The highest officially recorded temperature was in 26 July 1983 and the lowest was on 12 January 1985.

Subdivisions

The traditional subdivision of Florence into four quarters dates from the 14th century (that today compose the old town):

Santa Maria Novella

San Giovanni

Santa Croce

Santo Spirito

The modern administrative subdivision into five wards follows the boundaries of the traditional quarters in the outer areas.

The five administrative divisions with their neighbourhoods are:

text-align=left>

Ward (''Quartiere'')	Area (km²)	Population (May 2006)	Populationdensity	! style="width:63%;"
				San Jacopino · Il Prato · La Fortezza · Viali · Duomo–Oltrarno · Collina sud · San Gaggio
Quartiere 2 ''Campo di Marte''				Campo di Marte–Le Cure · Viali · La Rondinella · Settignano · Collina nord · Bellariva–Gavinana
Quartiere 3''Gavinana/Galluzzo''
Quartiere 4''Isolotto/Legnaia''				Argingrosso · Cintoia · I Bassi · Il Casone · Isolotto · La Casella · Legnaia · Le Torri · Mantignano · Monticelli · Pignone · San Lorenzo a Greve · Soffiano · San Quirico · Torcicoda · Ugnano
Quartiere 5''Rifredi''				Castello–Le Panche · Piana di Castello · Pistoiese · Brozzi · Peretola · Il Lippi–Barsanti (Florence) · Firenze Nova · Novoli · Parco delle Cascine–Argingrosso · San Jacopino · La Fortezza · Careggi · Leopoldo–Rifredi · Collina nord · Viali
Florence

Main sights

Florence is known as the "cradle of the Renaissance" (''la culla del Rinascimento'') for its monuments, churches and buildings. The best-known site of Florence is the domed cathedral of the city, Santa Maria del Fiore, known as ''The Duomo'', whose dome was built by Filippo Brunelleschi. The nearby Campanile (partly designed by Giotto) and the Baptistery buildings are also highlights. The dome, 600 years after its completion, is still the largest dome built in brick and mortar in the world.

In 1982, the historic centre of Florence (Italian: ''centro storico di Firenze'') was declared a World Heritage Site by the UNESCO. The centre of the city is contained in medieval walls that were built in the 14th century to defend the city.

At the heart of the city, in Piazza della Signoria, is Bartolomeo Ammanati's Fountain of Neptune (1563–1565), which is a masterpiece of marble sculpture at the terminus of a still-functioning Roman aqueduct.

The River Arno, which cuts through the old part of the city, is as much a character in Florentine history as many of the people who lived there. Historically, the locals have had a love-hate relationship with the Arno – which alternated between nourishing the city with commerce, and destroying it by flood.

One of the bridges in particular stands out – the Ponte Vecchio (''Old Bridge''), whose most striking feature is the multitude of shops built upon its edges, held up by stilts. The bridge also carries Vasari's elevated corridor linking the Uffizi to the Medici residence (Palazzo Pitti). Although the original bridge was constructed by the Etruscans, the current bridge was rebuilt in the 14th century. It is the only bridge in the city to have survived World War II intact. It is the first example in the western world of a bridge built using segmental arches, that is, arches less than a semicircle, to reduce both span-to-rise ratio and the numbers of pillars to allow lesser encumbrance in the riverbed (being in this much more successful than the Roman Alconétar Bridge)

The church of San Lorenzo contains the Medici Chapel, the mausoleum of the Medici family – the most powerful family in Florence from the 15th to the 18th century. Nearby is the Uffizi Gallery, one of the finest art museums in the world – founded on a large bequest from the last member of the Medici family.

The Uffizi is located at the corner of Piazza della Signoria, a site important for being the centre of Florence's civil life and government for centuries. The Palazzo della Signoria facing it is still home of the municipal government. The Loggia dei Lanzi provided the setting for all the public ceremonies of the republican government. Many significant episodes in the history of art and political changes were staged here, such as:

In 1301, Dante was sent into exile from here (commemorated by a plaque on one of the walls of the Uffizi).

On 26 April 1478, Jacopo de' Pazzi and his retainers tried to raise the city against the Medici after the plot known as ''The congiura dei Pazzi'' (''The Pazzi conspiracy''), murdering Giuliano di Piero de' Medici and wounding his brother Lorenzo. All the members of the plot who could be apprehended were seized by the Florentines and hanged from the windows of the palace.

In 1497, it was the location of the Bonfire of the Vanities instigated by the Dominican friar and preacher Girolamo Savonarola

On 23 May 1498, the same Savonarola and two followers were hanged and burnt at the stake. (A round plate in the ground marks the spot where he was hanged)

In 1504, Michelangelo's David (now replaced by a replica, since the original was moved indoors to the Accademia dell'Arte del Disegno) was installed in front of the Palazzo della Signoria (also known as Palazzo Vecchio).

The Piazza della Signoria is the location of a number of statues by other sculptors such as Donatello, Giambologna, Ammannati and Cellini, although some have been replaced with copies to preserve the originals.

In addition to the Uffizi, Florence's museums include the Bargello, which concentrates on sculpture works by artists including Donatello, Giambologna and Michelangelo; the ''Accademia dell'Arte del Disegno'' (often simply called the ''Accademia''), whose highlights are Michelangelo's David and his unfinished ''Slaves''; the huge Palazzo Pitti, containing part of the Medici family's former private collection. In addition to the Medici collection, the palace's galleries contain many Renaissance works, including several by Raphael and Titian, large collections of costumes, ceremonial carriages, silver, porcelain and a gallery of modern art dating from the 18th century. Adjoining the palace are the Boboli Gardens, elaborately landscaped and with numerous sculptures.

The Santa Croce basilica, originally a Franciscan foundation, contains the monumental tombs of Galileo, Michelangelo, Machiavelli, Dante (actually a cenotaph), and many other notables.

Other important basilicas and churches in Florence include Santa Maria Novella, San Lorenzo, Santo Spirito and the Orsanmichele, and the Tempio Maggiore Great Synagogue of Florence.

Religious architecture

Santa Maria del Fiore (Cathedral). It is the fourth largest church in Europe, its length being and its height .

San Giovanni Baptistery. Located in front of the Florence Cathedral, it is decorated by numerous artists, notably by Lorenzo Ghiberti with the ''Gates of Paradise''.

Basilica of Santa Maria Novella- Located in Santa Maria Novella square (near the Firenze Santa Maria Novella railway station) this contains works by Masaccio, Paolo Uccello, Filippino Lippi and Domenico Ghirlandaio. The façade was designed by Leon Battista Alberti.

Basilica of Santa Croce. The principal Franciscan church in the city, it is situated on the Piazza di Santa Croce, about 800 metres south east of the Duomo. The site was in marshland outside the city walls. It is the burial place of some of the most illustrious Italians, such as Michelangelo, Galileo, Machiavelli, Foscolo, Gentile, Rossini, and Marconi, thus it is known also as the Temple of the Italian Glories (Tempio dell'Itale Glorie).

Basilica of San Lorenzo: one of the largest churches of Florence, Italy, situated at the centre of the city's main market district, and the burial place of all the principal members of the Medici family from Cosimo il Vecchio to Cosimo III.

Santo Spirito, in the Oltrarno quarter, facing the square with the same name. The building on the interior is an example of Renaissance architecture.

Orsanmichele. This building was constructed on the site of the kitchen garden of the monastery of San Michele, now demolished.

Santissima Annunziata, a Roman Catholic basilica and the mother church of the Servite order. It is located on the north-eastern side of the Piazza with the same name.

Ognissanti: founded by the lay order of the Umiliati, this was among the first examples of Baroque architecture built in the city. Its two orders of pilasters enclose niches and windows with fantastical cornices. To the left of the façade is a campanile of 13th and 14th-century construction.

Santa Maria del Carmine, in the Oltrarno district of Florence. It is the location of the Brancacci Chapel, housing outstanding Renaissance frescoes by Masaccio and Masolino da Panicale, later finished by Filippino Lippi.

Santa Trinita. It is the mother church of the Vallumbrosan Order of monks, founded in 1092 by a Florentine nobleman. Nearby is the Ponte Santa Trinita over the river Arno. The church houses the Sassetti Chapel, containing Renaissance frescoes by Domenico Ghirlandaio.

Medici Chapel in San Lorenzo. It is the resting place of most of the Medici as Grand Dukes of Tuscany. One is the Sagrestia Nuova, the "New Sacristy", designed by Michelangelo. The other is the Cappella dei Principi, the 16th and 17th-century "Chapel of the Princes", which is covered with a revetment of colored marbles inlaid with pietra dura.

San Marco, which comprises a church and a convent. The convent, which is now a museum, was home in the 15th century to two distinguished Dominicans, the painter Fra Angelico and the preacher Girolamo Savonarola. Also housed at the convent is a collection of manuscripts in a library built by Michelozzo.

Santa Felicita. This is a church in the downtown, probably the oldest in the city after San Lorenzo. It houses the ''Deposition'' by Pontormo

Badia Fiorentina, the parish church of Beatrice Portinari, the love of Dante's life, and the place where he watched her at mass. Dante grew up across the street in what is now called the 'Casa di Dante', rebuilt in 1910 as a museum to Dante.

San Gaetano, an examples of the Baroque style in Florence.

San Miniato al Monte, standing at one of the highest points in the city.

Florence Charterhouse, or Carthusian monastery, located in the suburb of Galluzzo. The building is a walled complex located on Monte Acuto, at the point of confluence of the Ema and Greve rivers.

Great Synagogue of Florence, a large synagogue built between 1874 and 1882. The design integrates Islamic and Italian architectural traditions.

Orthodox Russian church of Nativity. Located in a quarter built in the 19th and 20th centuries, it was erected in the Russian style of the 18th century.

Santa Maria del Carmine, a church of the Carmelite Order, in the Oltrarno district. It includes the Brancacci Chapel, with Renaissance frescoes by Masaccio and Masolino da Panicale, later finished by Filippino Lippi.

Museums

Florence contains numerous museums and art galleries where some of the world's most important works of art are held. The city is one of the best preserved Renaissance centres of art and architecture in the world and has a high concentration of art, architecture and culture. In the ranking list of the 15 most visited Italian art museums, 2/3 are represented by Florentine museums.

Uffizi. It is one of the most famous and important art galleries in the world, with a very large collection of international and Florentine art. The gallery is articulated in many halls, cataloged by schools and chronological order. Engendered by the Medici family's artistic collections through the centuries, it houses works of art by Giotto, Cimabue, Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Donatello, Michelangelo, Raffaello, Tiziano, Caravaggio, Bernini, Beato Angelico, Rembrandt, Peter Paul Rubens, Francisco Goya, Tintoretto, Paolo Uccello, Chardin, Piero della Francesca, Masaccio, Giorgio Vasari, Correggio, Canaletto, El Greco, Dürer, Lucas Cranach, Antonello da Messina, Mantegna, Simone Martini and many others. It has the largest collection of Botticelli's works in the world.

Vasari Corridor, a gallery which connects the Palazzo Vecchio with the Pitti Palace passing by the Uffizi and over the Ponte Vecchio. Was built for the Grand Duke Cosimo I de' Medici.

Galleria dell' Accademia housing a Michelangelo collection, including the David. It has a collection of Russian icons and works by Bronzino, Botticelli, Perugino, Ghirlandaio, Paolo Uccello, Giambologna, Pontormo, Lorenzo Monaco, Lorenzo Bartolini and others artists.

Palazzo Vecchio, the political heart of the city for two centuries, before to become the residence of Grand Duke Cosimo I de' Medici. It homes in numerous halls works by Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Donatello, Baccio Bandinelli, Bronzino, Giambologna, Giorgio Vasari, Ammannati, Francesco Salviati, Pontormo and many florentine artists.

Pitti Palace, housing a large art museum, with five main art galleries and eight museums:

The Palatine Gallery, on the first floor of the ''piano nobile'', contains a large ensemble of over 500 principally Renaissance paintings, which were once part of the Medicis' and their successors' private art collection. The gallery, which overflows into the royal apartments, contains works by Raphael, Titian, Correggio, Rubens, and Pietro da Cortona. The character of the gallery is still that of a private collection, and the works of art are displayed and hung much as they would have been in the grand rooms for which they were intended rather than following a chronological sequence, or arranged according to school of art.

Royal Apartments, a suite of 14 rooms, formerly used by the Medici family, and lived in by their successors. These rooms have been largely altered since the era of the Medici, most recently in the 19th century. They contain a collection of Medici portraits, many of them by the artist Giusto Sustermans. In contrast to the great salons containing the Palatine collection, some of these rooms are much smaller and more intimate, and, while still grand and gilded, are more suited to day-to-day living requirements. Period furnishings include four-poster beds and other necessary furnishings not found elsewhere in the palazzo. The Kings of Italy last used the Palazzo Pitti in the 1920s. By that time it had already been converted to a museum, but a suite of rooms (now the Gallery of Modern Art) was reserved for them when visiting Florence officially.

Modern Art Gallery. This gallery originates from the remodeling of the Florentine academy in 1748, when a gallery of modern art was established. The gallery was intended to hold those art works which were prize-winners in the academy's competitions. The Palazzo Pitti was being redecorated on a grand scale at this time and the new works of art were being collected to adorn the newly decorated salons. By the mid-19th century so numerous were the Grand Ducal paintings of modern art that many were transferred to the Palazzo Croncetta, which became the first home of the newly formed "Modern Art Museum". thumb|The interior of the Palazzo Vecchio Following the Risorgimento and the expulsion of the Grand Ducal family from the palazzo, all the Grand Ducal modern art works were brought together under one roof in the newly titled "Modern gallery of the Academy". The collection continued to expand, particularly so under the patronage of Vittorio Emanuele II. However it was not until 1922 that this gallery was moved to the Palazzo Pitti where it was complemented by further modern works of art in the ownership of both the state and the municipality of Florence. The collection was housed in apartments recently vacated by members of the Italian Royal family. The gallery was first opened to public viewing in 1928. Today, further enlarged and spread over 30 rooms, this large collection includes works by artists of the Macchiaioli movement and other modern Italian schools of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The pictures by the Macchiaioli artists are of particular note, as this school of 19th-century Tuscan painters led by Giovanni Fattori were early pioneers and the founders of the impressionist movement. The title "gallery of modern art" to some may sound incorrect, as the art in the gallery covers the period from 1700 to early 1900. No examples of later art are included in the collection since In Italy, "modern art" refers to the period before World War II; what has followed is generally known as "contemporary art" (''arte contemporanea''). In Tuscany this art can be found at the Centro per l'arte contemporanea Luigi Pecci at Prato, a city about from Florence.

Silver Museum contains a collection of silver, cameos, and works in semi-precious gemstones, many of the latter from the collection of Lorenzo de' Medici, including his collection of ancient vases, many with delicate silver gilt mounts added for display purposes in the 15th century. thumb|Palazzo Pitti These rooms, formerly part of the private royal apartments, are decorated with 17th-century frescoes. The Silver Museum also contains a fine collection of German gold and silver artifacts purchased by Grand Duke Ferdinand after his return from exile in 1815, following the French occupation.

Costume Gallery. Situated in a wing known as the "Palazzina della Meridiana", this gallery contains a collection of theatrical costumes dating from the 16th century until the present. It is also the only museum in Italy detailing the history of Italian fashions. One of the newer collections to the palazzo, it was founded in 1983 by Kristen Aschengreen Piacenti; a suite of fourteen rooms, the Meridiana apartments, were completed in 1858. In addition to theatrical costumes, the gallery displays garments worn between the 18th century and the present day. Some of the exhibits are unique to the Palazzo Pitti; these include the 16th-century funeral clothes of Grand Duke Cosimo I de' Medici, and Eleonora of Toledo and her son Garzia, both of whom died of malaria. Their bodies would have been displayed in state wearing their finest clothes, before being reclad in plainer attire before interment. The gallery also exhibits a collection of mid-20th century costume jewellery. The ''Sala Meridiana'' originally sponsored a functional solar meridian instrument, built into the fresco decoration by Anton Domenico Gabbiani.

Porcelain Museum. First opened in 1973, this museum is housed in the Casino del Cavaliere in the Boboli Gardens. The porcelain is from many of the most notable European porcelain factories, with Sèvres and Meissen near Dresden being well represented. Many items in the collection were gifts to the Florentine rulers from other European sovereigns, while other works were specially commissioned by the Grand Ducal court. Of particular note are several large dinner services by the Vincennes factory, later renamed Sèvres, and a collection of small biscuit figurines.

Carriages Museum. This ground floor museum exhibits carriages and other conveyances used by the Grand Ducal court mainly in the late 18th and 19th century. The extent of the exhibition prompted one visitor in the 19th century to wonder, "In the name of all that is extraordinary, how can they find room for all these carriages and horses". Some of the carriages are highly decorative, being adorned not only by gilt but by painted landscapes on their panels. Those used on the grandest occasions, such as the "Carrozza d'Oro" (golden carriage), are surmounted by gilt crowns which would have indicated the rank and station of the carriage's occupants. thumb|San Firenze complex Other carriages on view are those used by the King of the Two Sicilies, and Archbishops and other Florentine dignitaries.

*Boboli Gardens. Connected to the Belvedere fort, the garden receives every year further 800.000 visitors, and it's one of the most important Italian garden in the world. It's real open-air museum, due to the architectural and landscape's layout, and the sculptures collections, since the roman antiquity to the XIX century. Among other building we can find the historical Kaffeehaus (built in rococò style) or the Limonaia.

Bargello. This museum houses artworks by Michelangelo, such as his ''Bacchus'', ''Pitti Tondo'' (or ''Madonna and Child''), ''Brutus'' and ''David-Apollo''. Its collection includes Donatello's ''David'' and ''St. George Tabernacle'', Vincenzo Gemito's ''Pescatore'' ("fisherboy"), Jacopo Sansovino's ''Bacco'', Giambologna's ''L’Architettura'' and his ''Mercurio'' and many works from the Della Robbia family. Benvenuto Cellini is represented with his bronze bust of Cosimo I.

Museo dell' Opera del Duomo, containing many of the original works of art and sculpture from the Florence Cathedral, including important works by Michelangelo, Donatello, Lorenzo Ghiberti, Luca and Andrea della Robbia, and others.

Museo dell'Opificio delle Pietre Dure

Museo di Storia Naturale, a natural history museum in 6 major collectionsIt is part of the University of Florence. Museum collections are open mornings except Wednesday, and all day Saturday; an admission fee is charged. The museum was established on 21 February 1775 by Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo as the Imperial Regio Museo di Fisica e Storia Naturale. At that time it consisted of several natural history collections housed within the palazzo Torrigiani on Via Romana. Through the past two centuries, it has grown significantly and now forms one of the finest collections in Italy.

Museo Galileo, founded in 1927 by the University of Florence. The museum is located in the Palazzo Castellani, by the River Arno and close to the Uffizi Gallery. Among its collections is the middle finger from the right hand of Galileo Galilei, which was removed when the scientist's remains were transported to a new burial spot on 12 March 1737.

National Archaeological Museum

National Museum of San Marco, which holds the largest artistic collection in the world of Fra Angelico, who lived and worked in this building. There are also exposed other works of Renaissance's art.

Palaces

Palazzo Vecchio, the town hall of Florence and also an art museum. This massive Romanesque crenellated fortress-palace is among the most impressive town halls of Tuscany. Overlooking the Piazza della Signoria with its copy of Michelangelo's David statue as well the gallery of statues in the adjacent Loggia dei Lanzi, it is one of the most significant public places in Italy. Originally called the ''Palazzo della Signoria'', after the Signoria of Florence, the ruling body of the Republic of Florence, it was also given several other names: ''Palazzo del Popolo'', ''Palazzo dei Priori'', and ''Palazzo Ducale'', in accordance with the varying use of the palace during its long history. The building acquired its current name when the Medici duke's residence was moved across the Arno to the Palazzo Pitti. It's linked to the Uffizi and the Palazzo Pitti through the Corridoio Vasariano.

Palazzo Medici Riccardi, designed by Michelozzo di Bartolomeo for Cosimo il Vecchio, of the Medici family, and was built between 1445 and 1460. It was well known for its stone masonry that includes rustication and ashlar. Today it is the head office of the Florence province and hosts museums and the Riccardiana Library.

Palazzo Strozzi, an example of civil architecture with its rusticated stone, inspired by the Palazzo Medici, but with more harmonious proportions. Today the palace is used for international expositions like the annual antique show (founded as the Biennale del'Antiquariato in 1959), fashion shows and other cultural and artistic events. Here also is the seat of the Istituto Nazionale del Rinascimento and the noted Gabinetto Vieusseux, with the library and reading room.

Palazzo Rucellai, designed by Leon Battista Alberti between 1446 and 1451 and executed, at least in part, by Bernardo Rossellino. Its façade was one of the first to announce the new ideas of Renaissance architecture based on pilasters and entablatures in proportional relationship to each other, in a design that probably owed a great deal to Alberti's studies of Roman architecture, particularly the Colosseum, but which is also full of originality.

Palazzo Davanzati. Housing the museum of the Old Florentine House, this building's façade integrates a group of earlier medieval tower homes. It is constructed in sandstone, with three large portals on the horizontal axis, and three stories of mullioned windows. The topmost floor has a loggia supported by four columns and two pilasters that was added in the 16th century. The façade displays the Davanzati coats of arms and has traces of other decorations. The interior courtyard has arches, vaults, and capitals in 14th century-style.

Palazzo delle Assicurazioni Generali, designed in the Neo-Renaissance style in 1871. It is one of the very few purpose-built commercial buildings in the centre of the city, located in Piazza della Signoria.

Palazzo Spini Feroni, in Piazza Santa Trinita, is a historic 13th-century private palace, owned since the 1920s by shoe-designer Salvatore Ferragamo. thumb|[[Palazzo delle Assicurazioni Generali (Florence)|Palazzo delle Assicurazioni Generali]] At the second floor we can find the Ferragamo Museum. The edifice's original appearance can be seen in Ghirlandaio's frescoes in the Cappella Sassetti of the neighbouring church of Santa Trinita.

Palazzo Borghese, a Neoclassical palace.

Palazzo di Bianca Cappello, located in the Oltrarno district, marked by the graffiti on its façade and the kneeling windows by Bernardo Buontalenti. Bianca Cappello was the venetian lover of Francesco I de' Medici, and her palace is today the venue of conservation and restoration's laboratories of the Gabinetto Vieusseux.

Palazzo Antinori, a Renaissance building at the end of Via de' Tornabuoni.

Royal building of Santa Maria Novella, beside the Firenze Santa Maria Novella railway station, and in front of Palace of Affairs. It was inaugurated in 1935 by King Vittorio Emanuele III and the minister Costanzo Ciano, and was used like temporary accommodation for the king and his court.

Villas, parks and arches

Surrounding Florence, there are numerous villas, especially built by the Medicis. There are also a fair number of parks and gardens in Florence.

Arches

Arco di Trionfo (Triumphal Arch), in Piazza della Libertà, it is a large arch built in the 18th century by architect Jean-Nicolas Jadot, with statues of mythological deities and heroes, inspired by the work of the Accademia.

Arco di San Pierino, a small arched-underpass between Piazza San Pier Maggiore e Via dell'Oriuolo, in one of the city's most picturesque quarters. Realized in pietraforte is considered a remains of the 12th century walls of Florence.

Parks and gardens

Boboli Gardens

Parco delle Cascine: This public park, with its 160 hectares is the largest park in Florence; it begins at the Vittorio Veneto square on the Viali di Circonvallazione and ends at the Indiano Bridge, delimited by the Mugnone torrent and the Macinante canal. It has numerous sports structures among others soccer fields, a velodrome, a shooting, the archery, swimming pools and two racetracks. Besides locals and clubs it houses the memorial to the Indian prince Rajaram Chuttraputti, the Cascine's pyramid, the amphitheater and the Military Aviation School entitled to Giulio Douhet.

Giardino Bardini, an Italian Renaissance garden. It boasts many statues and panoramic views over the city. Wildlife in the garden includes rock pigeons, blackbirds and woodpigeons. A good part of the garden is visible from the Piazzale Michelangelo.

Giardino dell'Orticultura, which hosts national exhibitions and shows. In this garden are the Loggetta Bondi, and a large greenhouse, the biggest in Italy when it was built.

Giardino dei Semplici, a botanical garden maintained by the University of Florence. The garden was established on 1 December 1545, by Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and is Europe's third oldest. Today the garden contains some 9,000 plant specimens laid out in a roughly square site surrounded by walls, crossed by a grid of walkways, and with a central fountain. Some trees are quite old, including a Taxus baccata (1720) and Quercus suber (1805).

Giardino della Gherardesca. It is the biggest private garden in the historical centre of Florence, and has the main entrace in Piazzale Donatello in from of the English Cemetery. Beside it is located the Palazzo della Gherardesca. Today is an estate of Four Seasons luxury-hotel.

Giardino Torrigiani, a large park inside the Oltrarno's walls, which represents a typical example of romantic style. It includes the Grotta di Merlino, the Gymnasium and the torrino.

Villas

Villa Le Balze, a garden villa in Fiesole, very close to Florence. The villa is owned by Georgetown University and hosts year round study abroad students.

The Belvedere Fort or Fortezza di Santa Maria in San Giorgio del Belvedere (often called simply ''Belvedere''), a fortification built by Grand Duke Ferdinando I de' Medici in 1590–1595, with Bernardo Buontalenti as the designer. The buildings hold works of art, and are used as a venue for exhibitions of contemporary sculpture.

Villa Medici at Careggi, a patrician house. The villa was among the first of a number of Medici villas, notable as the site of the Platonic academy founded by Cosimo de' Medici, who died at the villa in 1464. Like most villas of Florentine families, the villa remained a working farm that helped render the family self-sufficient. Cosimo's architect there, as elsewhere, was Michelozzo, who remodelled the fortified villa which had something of the character of a castle. Its garden is walled in the fashion of a medieval garden, overlooked by the upper-storey loggias, with which Michelozzo cautiously opened up the villa's structure. Michelozzo's Villa Medici in Fiesole has a more outward-looking, Renaissance character.

Villa di Castello. Niccolò Tribolo was one of the architects involved in its construction.

Villa Medici in Fiesole, the fourth oldest of the villas built by the Medici family (1451–1457).

Villa La Petraia, also commissioned by the Medici, in Renaissance style.

Villa Palmieri, Fiesole. The villa's gardens on slopes below the piazza S. Domenico are credited with being the setting for the frame story of Boccaccio's ''Decamerone''.

Villa del Poggio Imperiale, is a predominantly neoclassical former grand ducal Villa to the south of the city. Later given to Napoleon's sister, it was reclaimed by the hereditary rulers of Tuscany before being finally converted to a girls' school.

Villa Salviatino, Maiano, on the steep slope south of Fiesole.

Torre del Gallo, at Pian de' Giullari, in the hills of Arcetri, on top of a ridge overlooking the city.

Villa di Quarto, on via di Quarto, in the hilly zone at the foot of the Monte Morello.

Villa Feri, located at the corner of Via del Podestà and Via Martellini.

Villa Rusciano. Set in a hilly area on the outskirts of Florence, it belonged to the Salviati.

Villa San Michele Hotel

Squares

Piazza del Duomo. It is located in the heart of the historic centre of Florence. Here one can find the Florence Cathedral with the ''Cupola del Brunelleschi'', Giotto's Campanile, the Florence Baptistry, the Loggia del Bigallo, the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, and the Arcivescovile and Canonici's palace. The west zone of this square is called San Giovanni square.

Piazza della Repubblica: Is a square in the center of Florence, location of the cultural cafes and bourgeois palaces. Among the square's cafes (like Caffè Gilli, Paszkowski or the Hard Rock Cafè), the Giubbe Rosse cafe has long been a meeting place for artists and writers, notably those of Futurism.

Piazza Santa Croce. Dominated by the Basilica of Santa Croce it is a rectangular square in the centre of the city. Here the Calcio Fiorentino is played every year and when can find on this square the Palazzo dell'Antella, the Palazzo Cocchi-Serristori (main office of center of Florence quarter) and the Dante's statue. In Christmas time is venue of typical German's markets.

Piazza della Signoria, the focal point of the origin and of the history of the Florentine Republic, which still maintains its reputation as the political hub of the city. The impressive 14th century Palazzo Vecchio is still preeminent with its crenellated tower. The square is also shared with the Loggia della Signoria, the Uffizi Gallery, the Palace of the Tribunale della Mercanzia (now the Bureau of Agriculture), and the Palazzo Uguccioni (16th century, with a façade by Raphael). Located in front of the Palazzo Vecchio is the Palace of the Assicurazioni Generali.

Piazza San Lorenzo. It houses the Basilica of San Lorenzo with the Cappelle Medicee, a lively open market of souvenirs and handmade products, and the Laurentian Library. Near this square is located the central market of the city.

Piazza Santa Maria Novella, with the Basilica of Santa Maria Novella, the Alinari National Phography Museum, and luxury hotels. It is opposite of Piazza della Stazione, accessible by Via degli Avelli.

Piazza della Santissima Annunziata, located near piazza San Marco and piazza del Duomo. It overlook the Ospedale degli Innocenti, the Loggia dei Servi di Maria, the Budini Gattai palace and the National Archaeological Museum

Piazza della Stazione, a large square in the center of the city, one of the main focal point of transport in Florence. Here converge almost the entire bus-line, and tramways, and the central railway station of Florence the biggest and masterpiece of Rationalism Firenze Santa Maria Novella railway station, that is used by 59,000,000 people every year. On piazza della Stazione we can also find the Palazzina Reale di Santa Maria Novella (where the king of Italy stayed), and the Palazzo degli Affari.

Piazza dell'Indipendenza, located near Piazza della Stazione and San Lorenzo Market, with palaces typically bourgeois where lived Guido Nobili and Theodosia Gorrow Trollope wife of the writer Anthony Trollope.

Piazza San Marco. Located in the north zone of the historic centre of Florence near Piazza della Santissima Annunziata, it hosts the Basilica of San Marco, the headquarters of the University of Florence and the renowned Academy of Fine Arts of Florence.

Piazza Santa Trinita. It is a square near the Arno that mark the end of the elegant fashion-street of Via de' Tornabuoni. On Piazza Santa Trinita overlooks the Santa Trinita church (that gives the name to the square), the Palazzo Spini Feroni, the , the Palazzo Bartolini Salimbeni and the ''Column of Justice''.

Piazza dei Ciompi, which hosts the ''Loggia del Pesce'' made by Giorgio Vasari and the house of Lorenzo Ghiberti.

Piazza d'Azeglio, near the viali di Circonvallazione. It shows of the Villino Uzielli Palace.

Piazza Goldoni: In front of Ponte alla Carraia, in the Piazza Goldoni we can find the Palazzo Ricasoli and the statue dedicated to Carlo Goldoni.

Piazza Beccaria, on the viali di Circonvallazione and on this square overlook the ''State Archives'', ''La Nazione'''s headquarters and the ''Porta alla Croce''.

Piazza della Libertà: It is the northernmost point of the historic centre of Florence. It was created in the 19th century during works to produce the Viali di Circonvallazione around the city. In this square is located the beautiful triumphal arch of Florence.

Piazzale Donatello

Piazza Bambine e Bambini di Beslan

Streets

Via Camillo Cavour, one of the main roads of the northern area of the historic city centre of Florence. It was created in 1861 from two older streets, ''Via Larga'' and ''Via Leopoldo'' (as far as Piazza della Libertà, renamed Piazzale Cavour at the same time), and renamed after Camillo Cavour on 17 June 1861, just 11 days after his death.

Via Ghibellina. One of central Florence's longest streets, it leads directly towards the National Museum of Bargello, and contains numerous palaces, shops and theatres. In this street we can find among others the Borghese palace, the Teatro Verdi and the Casa Buonarroti. At the west end of this street (via del Proconsolo) is placedthe Badia Fiorentina, and at the east end the street leads at Piazza Cesare Beccaria where is located the State Archives and the Porta alla Croce.

Via dei Calzaiuoli: It's one of most central streets of the historic centre of the city. It link ''Piazza del Duomo'' to ''Piazza della Signoria'', winding parallel to via Roma and ''Piazza della Repubblica''. On this pedestrian street look out many elegant shops and other commercial activities. At the beginning of via dei Calzaiuoli, at the corner with piazza del Duomo, is the Loggia del Bigallo.

Via de' Tornabuoni, a luxurious street of the centre of Florence that goes from Antinori square to ponte Santa Trinita, across Piazza Santa Trinita, characterised by the presence of fashion boutiques. It contains numerous upscale fashion and jewery labels, such as Gucci, Roberto Cavalli, Salvatore Ferragamo and Bulgari, to name a few. In the past on via' de Tornabuoni was present the Casoni cocktail where the Negroni Café was invented in 1920 by Camillo Negroni. On this street there are some bars and elegant cafés, such as the well-known Gran Caffé Doney.

Viali di Circonvallazione. These are a series of 6-lane boulevards surrounding the northern part of the historic centre of Florence. The boulevards follows the outline of the ancient walls of Florence, that were demolished since 1865 according to the Giuseppe Poggi's project to make Florence, then the capital of Italy, a modern and big city like the others European capitals.

Via Roma: A central street near Piazza della Repubblica, which is built in mainly 18th–19th century style architecture.

Via degli Speziali: The Via degli Speziali is an elegant street, built mainly in the 19th century neo-classical style, near Piazza della Repubblica.

Via de' Cerretani, a wide street in the historical centre of the city, which connects Piazza della Stazione (through via Panzani) to the baptistery in Piazza San Giovanni. On this street overlook many commercial activities, and great palaces like the Palazzo Del Bembo or the Santa Maria Maggiore church.

Viale dei Colli, an avenue crossing the hills around Florence, and linking the Oltrano district to Piazzale Michelangelo. On this avenue there are gardens with gazebos and chalet, and the Giardino delle rose and Giardino dell'Iris.

Lungarno, the streets along the Arno river. Landmarks facing them include the Corridoio Vasariano, the Uffizi, the Parco delle Cascine, the National Central Library, the Ponte alle Grazie and the other bridges like Ponte Vecchio etc., San Frediano in Cestello, Piazza Demidoff, as well as the towers. The main Lungarni are: Lungarno degli Acciaiuoli, Lungarno Corsini, Lungarno Diaz, Lungarno Torrigiani, Lungarno delle Grazie, Lungarno della Zecca Vecchia, Lungarno Vespucci, Lungarno Soderini, Lungarno Guicciardini, Lungarno Serristori and Lungarno Benvenuto Cellini.

Theatres and cinemas

There are numerous historical and modern theatres in Florence. The main ones are:

Odeon Cinema of the Palazzo dello Strozzino. One of the oldest movie theatres in the city, established from 1920 to 1922 in a wing of the Palazzo dello Strozzino, it used to be called the ''Cinema Teatro Savoia'' (Savoy Cinema-Theatre), yet was later called ''Odeon''. The cinema is constructed in a neo-Renaissance/Baroque style, and the arrangement of the audience seats are more like those of a normal theatre. Today, the cinema is not only a film theatre, but also a ballroom and concert-hall.

Teatro della Pergola, located in the centre of the city on the eponymous street. It was built in 1656 under the direction of the architect Ferdinando Tacca. The opera house is considered to be the oldest in Italy, having occupied the same site for more than 350 years.

Teatro Comunale (or ''Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino''), originally built as the open-air amphitheatre, the ''Politeama Fiorentino Vittorio Emanuele'' which was inaugurated on 17 May 1862 with a production of Donizetti's ''Lucia di Lammermoor'' and which seated 6,000 people. It became the focus on cultural life in the city. After closure caused by fire, it reopened in April 1864 and acquired a roof in 1882.

Saloncino Castinelli, a historic theatre and cinema in the city's centre.

Teatro Puccini, opened in 1940, which specialises itself in comedies and satyrical plays. There are 634 places (499 in the audience, and 135 in the gallery).

Teatro Verdi. Situated in central Florence, it is known for its lighter, comical plays.

Teatro Goldoni. It was inaugurated on 17 April 1817. Nowadays, it is mainly used for dance.

Teatro Niccolini, also known as ''Teatro del Cocomero'', in via Ricasoli, very near to Florence Cathedral. It was frequently utlilized by Lorenzo de' Medici.

Parco della Musica e della Cultura, a vast musical complex which is being built in the Cascine park, and it will be a major centre of musical and theatrical culture. It will host a lyrical theatre containing 2,000 places, a concert hall for 1,000 watchers, a hall with 3,000 seats and an open-air amphitheatre with 3,000 spaces. It will host numerous ballets, concerts, lyrical operas and numerous musical festivals. The theatre will be inaugurated on 28 April 2011, in honour of the 150th anniversary of the Italian unification.

Demographics

, the population of the city proper is 370,702, while Eurostat estimates that 696,767 people live in the urban area of Florence. The Metropolitan Area of Florence, Prato and Pistoia, constituted in 2000 over an area of roughly 4,800 square kilometres, is home to 1.5 million people. Within Florence proper, 46.8% of the population was male in 2007 and 53.2% were female. Minors (children aged 18 and less) totalled 14.10 percent of the population compared to pensioners, who numbered 25.95 percent. This compares with the Italian average of 18.06 percent (minors) and 19.94 percent (pensioners). The average age of Florence resident is 49 compared to the Italian average of 42. In the five years between 2002 and 2007, the population of Florence grew by 3.22 percent, while Italy as a whole grew by 3.56 percent. The birth rate of Florence is 7.66 births per 1,000 inhabitants compared to the Italian average of 9.45 births.

As of 2009, 87.46% of the population was Italian. An estimated 60,000 Chinese live in the city. The largest immigrant group came from other European countries (mostly Romanians and Albanians): 3.52%, East Asia (mostly Chinese and Filipino): 2.17%, the Americas (moslty Peruvians): 1.41%, and North Africa (mostly Moroccan): 0.9%.

Economy

Tourism is, by far, the most important of all industries and most of the Florentine economy relies on the money generated by international arrivals and students studying in the city. Manufacturing and commerce, however, still remain highly important. Florence is also Italy's 17th richest city in terms of average workers' earnings, with the figure being €23,265 (the overall city's income is that of €6,531,204,473), coming after Mantua, yet surpassing Bolzano.

Industry, commerce and services

Florence is a major production and commercial centre in Italy, where the Florentine industrial complexes in the suburbs produce all sorts of goods, from furntiture, rubber goods, chemicals, and food. However, traditional and local products, such as antiques, handicrafts, glasswear, leatherwork, art reproductions, jewelry, souvenirs, elaborate metal and iron-work, shoes, accessories and high fashion clothes also dominate a fair sector of Florence's economy. The city's income relies partially on services and commercial and cultural interests, such as annual fairs, theatrical and lyrical productions, art exhibitions, festivals and fashion shows, such as the Calcio Fiorentino. Heavy industry and machinery also take their part in provinding an income. In Nuovo Pignone, numerous factories are still present, and small-to medium industrial businesses are dominant. The Florence-Prato-Pistoia industrial districts and areas were known as the 'Third Italy' in the 1990s, due to the exports of high-quality goods and automobile (especially the Vespa) and the prosperity and productivity of the Florentine entrepreneurs. Some of these industries even rivalled the traditional industrial districts in Emilia-Romagna and Veneto due to high profits and productivity.

Tourism

Tourism is the most significant industry in central Florence. From April to October, tourists outnumber local population. Tickets to the Uffizi and Accademia museums are regularly sold out and large groups regularly fill the basilicas of Santa Croce and Santa Maria Novella, both of which charge for entry. In 2010, readers of ''Travel + Leisure'' magazine ranked the city as their third favourite tourist destination. Studies by Euromonitor International have concluded that cultural and history-oriented tourism is generating significantly increased spending throughout Europe.

Florence is believed to have the greatest concentration of art (in proportion to its size) in the world. Thus, cultural tourism is particularly strong, with world-renowned museums such as the Uffizi selling over 1.6 million tickets a year. The city's convention centre facilities were restructured during the 1990s and host exhibitions, conferences, meetings, social forums, concerts and other events all year.

Florence has approximately 35,000 hotel beds and 23,000 other accommodation facilities (campsites, guesthouses, youth hostels and farmhouses), giving potential for overall stays to exceed 10 million visitor/nights a year. Visitors also include thousands of day-trippers brought in by cruise ships (to Livorno) and by road and rail. In 2007, the city ranked as the world's 59th most visited city, with over 1.729 million arrivals for the year. It has been estimated that just under one-third of tourists are Italians, the remainder comprising Americans (20%), Germans (13%), Japanese (8%), Britons (7.8%), French (5.7%) and Spaniards (5%).

Food and wine production

Food and wine have long been an important staple of the economy. Florence is the most important city in Tuscany, one of the great wine-growing regions in the world. The Chianti region is just south of the city, and its Sangiovese grapes figure prominently not only in its Chianti Classico wines but also in many of the more recently developed Supertuscan blends. Within twenty miles (32 km) to the west is the Carmignano area, also home to flavorful sangiovese-based reds. The celebrated Chianti Rufina district, geographically and historically separated from the main Chianti region, is also few miles east of Florence. More recently, the Bolgheri region (about 150 km southwest of Florence) has become celebrated for its "Super Tuscan" reds such as Sassicaia and Ornellaia.

Culture

Art

Florence has a legendary artistic heritage. Cimabue and Giotto, the fathers of Italian painting, lived in Florence as well as Arnolfo and Andrea Pisano, renewers of architecture and sculpture; Brunelleschi, Donatello and Masaccio, forefathers of the Renaissance, Ghiberti and the Della Robbias, Filippo Lippi and Angelico; Botticelli, Paolo Uccello and the universal genius of Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo.

Their works, together with those of many other generations of artists, are gathered in the several museums of the town: the Uffizi Gallery, the Palatina gallery with the paintings of the "Golden Ages", the Bargello with the sculptures of the Renaissance, the museum of San Marco with Fra Angelico's works, the Academy, the chapels of the Medicis Buonarroti' s house with the sculptures of Michelangelo, the following museums: Bardini, Horne, Stibbert, Romano, Corsini, The Gallery of Modern Art, the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, the museum of Silverware and the museum of Precious Stones. Great monuments are the landmarks of Florentine artistic culture: the Florence Baptistery with its mosaics; the Cathedral with its sculptures, the medieval churches with bands of frescoes; public as well as private palaces: Palazzo Vecchio, Palazzo Pitti, Palazzo Medici Riccardi, Palazzo Davanzati; monasteries, cloisters, refectories; the "Certosa". In the archeological museum includes documents of Etruscan civilization. In fact the city is so rich in art that some first time visitors experience the Stendhal syndrome as they encounter its art for the first time. Florentine architects such as Filippo Brunelleschi (1377–1466) and Leon Battista Alberti (1404–1472) were among the fathers of both Renaissance and Neoclassical architecture,.

The cathedral, topped by Brunelleschi's dome, dominates the Florentine skyline. The Florentines decided to start building it – late in the 13th century, without a design for the dome. The project proposed by Brunelleschi in the 14th century was the largest ever built at the time, and the first major dome built in Europe since the two great domes of Roman times – the Pantheon in Rome, and Hagia Sophia in Constantinople. The dome of Santa Maria del Fiore remains the largest brick construction of its kind in the world. In front of it is the medieval Baptistery. The two buildings incorporate in their decoration the transition from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance. In recent years, most of the important works of art from the two buildings – and from the nearby Giotto's Campanile, have been removed and replaced by copies. The originals are now housed in the Museum dell'Opera del Duomo, just to the east of the Cathedral.

Florence has large numbers of art-filled churches, such as San Miniato al Monte, San Lorenzo, Santa Maria Novella, Santa Trinita, Santa Maria del Carmine, Santa Croce, Santo Spirito, the Annunziata, Ognissanti and numerous others. Artists associated with Florence range from Arnolfo di Cambio and Cimabue to Giotto, Nanni di Banco, and Paolo Uccello; through Lorenzo Ghiberti, and Donatello and Massaccio and the della Robbia family; through Fra Angelico and Botticelli and Piero della Francesca, and on to Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci. Others include Benvenuto Cellini, Andrea del Sarto, Benozzo Gozzoli, Domenico Ghirlandaio, Filippo Lippi, Bernardo Buontalenti, Orcagna, Pollaiuolo, Filippino Lippi, Verrocchio, Bronzino, Desiderio da Settignano, Michelozzo, the Rossellis, the Sangallos, and Pontormo. Artists from other regions who worked in Florence include Raphael, Andrea Pisano, Giambologna, Il Sodoma and Peter Paul Rubens.

The Uffizi and the Pitti Palace are two of the most famous picture galleries in the world. Two superb collections of sculpture are in the Bargello and the Museum of the Works of the Duomo. They are filled with the creations of Donatello, Verrochio, Desiderio da Settignano, Michelangelo and others. The Accademia has Michelangelo's David – perhaps the most well-known work of art anywhere, plus the unfinished statues of the slaves Michelangelo created for the tomb of Pope Julius II.

Other sights include the medieval city hall, the Palazzo della Signoria (alsdo known as the Palazzo Vecchio), the Archeological Museum, the Museum of the History of Science, the Palazzo Davanzatti, the Stibbert Museum, St. Marks, the Medici Chapels, the Museum of the Works of Santa Croce, the Museum of the Cloister of Santa Maria Novella, the Zoological Museum ("La Specola"), the Bardini, and the Museo Horne. There is also a collection of works by the modern sculptor, Marino Marini, in a museum named after him. The Strozzi Palace is the site of special exhibits.

Language

Florentine (''fiorentino''), spoken by inhabitants of Florence and its environs, is a Tuscan dialect and an immediate parent language to modern Italian.

Its vocabulary and pronunciation are largely identical to standard Italian, though the hard ''c'' between two vowels (as in ''ducato'') is pronounced as a fricative , similar to an English ''h''. This gives Florentines a highly recognizable accent (the so-called gorgia toscana). Other traits include using a form of the subjunctive mood last commonly used in medieval times, a frequent usage in everyday speech of the modern subjunctive, and a shortened pronunciation of the definite article, instead of "il".

Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio pioneered the use of the vernacular instead of the Latin used for most literary works at the time.

Literature

Despite Latin being the main language of the courts and the Church, writers such as Dante Alighieri and many others used their own language, the Florentine dialect, in composing their works. The oldest literary pieces written in vernacular language go as far back as the 13th century. Florence's literature fully blossomed in the 14th century, when not only Dante with his ''Divine Comedy'' (1306–1321) and Petrarch, but also poets such as Guido Cavalcanti and Lapo Gianni composed their most important works. Dante's masterpiece is the ''Divine Comedy'', which mainly deals with the poet himself taking an allegoric and moral tour of Hell, Purgatory and finally Heaven, during which he meets numerous mythological or real characters of his age or before. He is first guided by the Roman poet Virgil, whose non-Christian beliefs damned him to Hell. Later on he is joined by Beatrice, who guides him through Heaven.

In the 14th century, Petrarch and Giovanni Boccaccio led the literary scene in Florence after Dante's death in 1321. Petrarch was an all-rounder writer, author and poet, but was particularly known for his ''Canzoniere'', or the Book of Songs, where he conveyed his unremitting love for Laura. His style of writing has since become known as ''Petrarchism''. Boccaccio was better known for his ''Decameron'', a slightly grim story of Florence during the 1350s bubonic plague, known as the Black Death, when some people fled the ravaged city to an isolated country mansion, and spent their time there recounting stories and novellas taken from the medieval and contemporary tradition. All of this is written in a series of 100 distinct novellas.

In the 16th century, during the Renaissance, Florence was the hometown of political writer and philosopher Niccolò Machiavelli, whose ideas on how rulers should govern the land, detailed in ''The Prince'', spread across European courts and enjoyed enduring popularity for centuries. These principles became known as ''Machiavellianism''.

Music

Florence became a musical centre during the Middle Ages and music and the performing arts remain an important part of its culture. During the Renaissance there were four kinds of musical patronage in the city with respect to both sacred and secular music: state, corporate, church, and private. and it was here that the Florentine Camerata convened in the mid-16th century and experimented with setting tales of Greek mythology to music and staging the result—in other words, the first operas, setting the wheels in motion not just for the further development of the operatic form, but for later developments of separate "classical" forms such as the symphony.

Opera was invented in Florence in the late 16th century.

Composers and musicians who have lived in Florence include Piero Strozzi (1550 – after 1608), Giulio Caccini (1551–1618) and Mike Francis (1961–2009).

Cinema

Florence has been a setting for numerous works of fiction and movies, including the novels and associated films, such as ''Calmi Cuori Appassionati'', ''Hannibal'', ''A Room with a View'', ''Tea with Mussolini'' and ''Virgin Territory''. The city is home to renowned Italian actors and actresses, such as Roberto Benigni, Leonardo Pieraccioni and Vittoria Puccini.

Cuisine

Florentine food grows out of a tradition of peasant eating rather than rarefied high cooking. The majority of dishes are based on meat. The whole animal was traditionally eaten; tripe, (''trippa'') and (''lampredotto'') were once regularly on the menu and still are sold at the food carts stationed throughout the city. Antipasti include ''crostini toscani'', sliced bread rounds topped with a chicken liver-based pâté, and sliced meats (mainly prosciutto and salame, often served with melon when in season). The typically saltless Tuscan bread, obtained with natural levain frequently features in Florentine courses, especially in its soups, ''ribollita'' and ''pappa al pomodoro'', or in the salad of bread and fresh vegetables called ''panzanella'' that is served in summer. The ''bistecca alla fiorentina'' is a large (the customary size should weigh around 1200 grams – "40 oz.") – the "date" steak – T-bone steak of Chianina beef cooked over hot charcoal and served very rare with its more recently derived version, the ''tagliata'', sliced rare beef served on a bed of arugula, often with slices of Parmesan cheese on top. Most of these courses are generally served with local olive oil, also a prime product enjoying a worldwide reputation.

Research activity

Research institutes and university departments are located within the Florence area and within two campuses at Polo di Novoli and Polo Scientifico di Sesto Fiorentino as well as in the Research Area of Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche.

Science and discovery

Florence has been an important scientific centre for centuries, notably during the Renaissance with scientists such as Leonardo da Vinci.

Florentines were one of the driving forces behind the Age of Discovery. Florentine bankers financed Henry the Navigator and the Portuguese explorers who pioneered the route around Africa to India and the Far East. It was a map drawn by the Florentine Paulo del Pozzo Toscanelli, a student of Brunelleschi, that Columbus used to sell his "enterprise" to the Spanish monarchs, and which he used on his first voyage. Mercator's "Projection" is a refined version of Toscanelli's – taking into account the Americas, of which the Florentine was, obviously, ignorant.

Gallileo and other scientists pioneered the study of optics, ballistics, astronomy, anatomy, and so on. Pico della Mirandola, Leonardo Bruni, Machiavelli, and many others laid the groundwork for our understanding of political science.

Fashion

Florence being historically the first home of Italian fashion (the 1951–1953 soirées held by Giovanni Battista Giorgini are generally regarded as the birth of the ''Italian school'' as opposed to French ''haute couture'') is also home to the Italian fashion establishment Salvatore Ferragamo. Gucci, Enrico Coveri, Emilio Pucci, Patrizia Pepe, Ermanno Scervino and many others are founded and located in Florence. Prada, Roberto Cavalli, and Chanel have large offices and stores in Florence or its outskirts. Florence's main upscale shopping street is Via de' Tornabuoni, where major luxury fashion houses and jewelry labels, such as Armani, Ferragamo and Bulgari, have their boutiques. Florence has been ranked as the 31st main fashion capital of the world by the Global Language Monitor, making it Italy's third most important fashion centre after Milan and Rome.

The San Lorenzo market is now largely for tourists. Great places to walk include along the Arno and across any of its bridges, through narrow, medieval back streets in the Santa Croce area and in the Oltr'Arno – on the south side of the river, in many ways like Rome's Trastevere or Paris's Left Bank – but far smaller. There are also superb shopping streets, such as the Via Tornabuoni, the Via del Parione, and the Via Maggio.

Historical evocations

''Scoppio del Carro''

The ''Scoppio del Carro'' ("Explosion of the Cart") is a celebration of the First Crusade. During the day of Easter, a cart, which the Florentines call the ''Brindellone'' and which is led by four white oxen, is taken to the Piazza del Duomo between the Baptistery of St. John the Baptist (''Battistero di San Giovanni'') and the Florence Cathedral (''Santa Maria del Fiore''). The cart is connected by a rope to the interior of the church. Near the cart there is a model of a dove which, according to legend, is a symbol of good luck for the city: at the end of the Easter mass, the dove emerges from the nave of the Duomo and ignites the fireworks on the cart.

''Calcio Storico''

''Calcio Storico Fiorentino'' ("Historic Florentine Football"), sometimes called ''Calcio in costume'', is a traditional sport, regarded as a forerunner of soccer, though the actual gameplay most closely resembles rugby. The event originates from the Middle Ages, when the most important Florentine nobles amused themselves playing while wearing bright costumes. The most important match was played on 17 February 1530, during the siege of Florence. That day Papal troops besiged the city while the Florentines, with contempt of the enemies, decided to play the game notwithstanding the situation. The game is played in the Piazza di Santa Croce. A temporary arena is constructed, with bleachers and a sand-covered playing field. A series of matches are held between four teams representing each ''quartiere ''(quarter) of Florence during late June and early July. There are four teams: Azzurri (light blue), Bianchi (white), Rossi (red) and Verdi (green). The Azzurri are from the quarter of Santa Croce, Bianchi from the quarter of Santo Spirito, Verdi are from San Giovanni and Rossi from Santa Maria Novella.

Traditions

The Third Countship of Florence

The four counts and four countesses of Florence have a large but hidden tradition dating back to the early 20th century when a favoured Tuscan family left the city to Malta and the youngest daughter of the family was declared ''Contessa Morabitto di Florenze'' Countess Morabitto of Florence. To the present date there are eight members of the countship, six living in Malta, one in England and one living in Italy.

Transport

The principal public transport network within the city is run by the ATAF and Li-nea bus company, with tickets available at local tobacconists, bars and newspaper stalls. Individual tickets or a pass called the Carta Agile with multiple rides (10 or 21) may be used on buses. Once on the bus, tickets must be stamped (or swiped for the Carta Agile) using the machines on board unlike the train tickets which must be validated before boarding. The main bus station is next to Santa Maria Novella railway station. Trenitalia runs trains between the railway stations within the city, and to other destinations around Italy and Europe. The central railway station, Santa Maria Novella railway station, is located about northwest of the Piazza del Duomo. There are two other important stations: Campo Di Marte and Rifredi. Most bundled routes are Firenze-Pisa, Firenze-Viareggio and Firenze-Arezzo (along the main line to Rome). Other local railways connect Florence with Borgo San Lorenzo and Siena.

Long distance buses are run by the SITA, Copit, CAP and Lazzi companies. The transit companies also accommodate travellers from the Amerigo Vespucci Airport, which is five kilometres (3.1 mi) west of the city centre, and which has scheduled services run by major European carriers such as Air France and Lufthansa.

The centre of the city is closed to through-traffic, although buses, taxis and residents with appropriate permits are allowed in. This area is commonly referred to as the ZTL (''Zona Traffico Limitato''), which is divided into five subsections. Residents of one section, therefore, will only be able to drive in their district and perhaps some surrounding ones. Cars without permits are allowed to enter after 7.30 pm, or before 7.30 am in the morning. The rules shift during the tourist-filled summers, putting more restrictions on where one can get in and out.

Due to the high level of air pollution and traffic in the city, an urban tram network called the TramVia is under construction in the city. The first line runs from Scandicci to the southwest through the western side of the city, cross the River Arno at the Cascine Park and arrive to the main railway station of Santa Maria Novella. Two other lines are in the final design phase.

Railway station

Firenze Santa Maria Novella railway station is the main national and international railway station in Florence and is used by 59 million people every year. The building designed by Giovanni Michelucci was built in the ''Italian Rationalism'' style and it is one of the major rationalist buildings in Italy. It is located in ''Piazza della Stazione'', near the Fortezza da Basso and the Viali di Circonvallazione, and in front of the Basilica of Santa Maria Novella's apse, from which takes its name.

Other stations include:

Firenze Rifredi railway station

Firenze Campo di Marte railway station

Firenze Belfiore railway station

Firenze Cascine railway station

Firenze Castello railway station

Firenze Rovezzano railway station

Firenze San Marco Vecchio railway station

Firenze Statuto railway station

Firenze Porta al Prato railway station

Firenze Le Cure railway station

Firenze Le Piagge railway station

Firenze Salviati railway station

Firenze Piazza Puccini Station

Airport

Florence's "Amerigo Vespucci" is one of two main airports in the Tuscany region, the other being Galileo Galilei International Airport in Pisa.

Sport

Florence is represented by ACF Fiorentina, who play in Serie A, the top league of Italian football. They play their games at the Stadio Artemio Franchi. The city is home of Coverciano, the main training ground of the Italian national team, and the technical department of the Italian Football Federation.

Florence has been selected to host the 2013 UCI World Road Cycling Championships.

Administration

The Mayor of Florence is Matteo Renzi (Democratic Party, elected in June 2009).

International relations

Twin towns—Sister cities

Florence is twinned with:

* Arequipa, Peru

* Nazareth, Israel

* Bethlehem, Palestinian Authority

* Tlemcen, Algeria

* Budapest, Hungary

* Sydney, Australia

* Asmara, Eritrea

* Dresden, Germany

* Fes, Morocco

Isfahan, Iran

* Istanbul, Turkey

* Kassel, Germany

* Kiev, Ukraine

* Kuwait City, Kuwait

* Kyoto, Japan

* Malmö, Sweden

* Nablus, Palestinian Authority

* Nanjing, China

* Philadelphia, United States

Providence, Rhode Island>Providence, United States

* Reims, France

* Riga, Latvia

* Edinburgh, Scotland, UK

Salvador, Bahia>Salvador, Brazil

* Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States

* Tirana, Albania

* Turku, Finland

* Valladolid, Spain

* Voždovac, Serbia

Partnerships

Kraków in Poland

Notable residents

Sir Harold Acton, author and aesthete.

Leone Battista Alberti, polymath.

Dante Alighieri, poet.

Giovanni Boccaccio, poet.

Baldassarre Bonaiuti, 14th century chronicler

Sandro Botticelli, painter.

Aureliano Brandolini, agronomist and development cooperation scholar.

Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, 19th century English poets.

Filippo Brunelleschi, architect.

Michelangelo Buonarroti, sculptor, painter, author of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and David.

Roberto Cavalli, fashion designer.

Enrico Coveri, fashion designer.

Virginia Oldoini, Countess of Castiglione. Early photographic artist, Secret agent and Courtesan.

Leonardo da Vinci, polymath

Giotto di Bondone, early 14th century painter, sculptor and architect.

Donatello, sculptor.

Oriana Fallaci, journalist and author.

Salvatore Ferragamo, fashion designer and shoemaker.

Frescobaldi Family, notable bankers and wine producers.

Galileo Galilei, Italian physicist, astronomer, and philosopher.

Lorenzo Ghiberti, sculptor.

Guccio Gucci, founder of the Gucci label.

Pietro Pacciani, farmer, starring of the case of the Monster of Florence.

Robert Lowell, poet.

Niccolò Machiavelli, poet, philosopher and political thinker, author of ''The Prince'' and ''The Discourses''.

Masaccio, painter.

Medici family.

Antonio Meucci, inventor of the telephone.

Florence Nightingale, pioneer of modern nursing, and a statistician.

Mike Francis (musician) born Francesco Puccioni, singer and composer

Raphael, painter.

Girolamo Savonarola

Giorgio Vasari, painter, architect, and historian.

Amerigo Vespucci, explorer and cartographer, namesake of the Americas.

See also

Buildings and structures in Florence

Chancellor of Florence

European University Institute

Fashion designers of Florence

Florentine School

Guilds of Florence

Historical states of Italy

List of Florentine churches

Squares of Florence

Stendhal syndrome

University of Florence

Cronaca fiorentina

References

Sources

Niccolò Machiavelli. ''Florentine Histories''

Chaney, Edward(2003), ''A Traveller's Companion to Florence''.

Ferdinand Schevill, ''History of Florence: From the Founding of the City Through the Renaissance'' (Frederick Ungar, 1936) is the standard overall history of Florence.

External links

The High Renaissance in Florence – Video

The Moscow Florentine Society

Florence Buildings Art History

Category:European Capitals of Culture Category:Former national capitals

af:Florence als:Florenz ang:Florentia ar:فلورنسا an:Florencia ay:Firenze az:Florensiya zh-min-nan:Firenze be:Горад Фларэнцыя be-x-old:Флярэнцыя bcl:Florence bo:ཧྥུ་ལོ་རོན་ཟིའུ་ཡ། bs:Firenca br:Firenze bg:Флоренция ca:Florència cs:Florencie co:Firenze cy:Fflorens da:Firenze de:Florenz et:Firenze el:Φλωρεντία eml:Fiuränza es:Florencia eo:Florenco ext:Floréncia eu:Florentzia fa:فلورانس fr:Florence fy:Florâns ga:Flórans gd:Firenze gl:Florencia - Firenze ko:피렌체 hy:Ֆլորենցիա hi:फ़्लोरेन्स hr:Firenca io:Firenze id:Firenze ia:Florentia ie:Firenze os:Флоренци is:Flórens it:Firenze he:פירנצה jv:Firenze pam:Florence ka:ფლორენცია kw:Florens sw:Firenze kv:Флоренция la:Florentia lv:Florence lt:Florencija lij:Firense lmo:Firenz hu:Firenze mk:Фиренца ml:ഫ്ലോറൻസ് mr:फ्लोरेन्स arz:فلورنسا ms:Florence mn:Флоренц nl:Florence (stad) ne:फ्लोरेन्स ja:フィレンツェ nap:Sciorenza no:Firenze nn:Firenze oc:Florença pnb:فلورنس pms:Firense nds:Florenz pl:Florencja pt:Florença ro:Florența qu:Firenze ru:Флоренция sc:Firenze sco:Florence sq:Firenca scn:Firenzi simple:Florence sk:Florencia sl:Firence sr:Фиренца sh:Firenca fi:Firenze sv:Florens tl:Lungsod ng Florencia roa-tara:Firenze tt:Флоренция te:ఫ్లోరెన్స్ th:ฟลอเรนซ์ tr:Floransa uk:Флоренція ur:فلورنس ug:Florénsa vec:Firense vi:Firenze vo:Firenze vls:Firenze (stad) war:Florensya zh-yue:翡冷翠 bat-smg:Florencėjė zh:佛罗伦萨

background	solo_singer
birth name	Diana Ernestine Earle Ross
born	March 26, 1944
origin	Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
genre	R&B;, soul, disco, jazz, pop
occupation	Singer, record producer, actress
years active	1959–present
label	Lu Pine, Motown, RCA, EMI
associated acts	The Supremes, Lionel Richie, Marvin Gaye, The Jackson 5, Michael Jackson, CHIC, The Temptations, Ashford & Simpson
website	www.dianaross.com }}

Diana Ernestine Earle Ross (born March 26, 1944) is an American singer and actress. Ross was lead singer of the Motown group The Supremes during the 1960s. After leaving the group in 1970, Ross began a solo career that included successful ventures into film and Broadway. She received a Best Actress Academy Award nomination for her role as Billie Holiday in ''Lady Sings the Blues'' (1972), for which she won a Golden Globe award. She won several American Music Awards, garnered twelve Grammy Award nominations, and won a Tony Award for her one-woman show, ''An Evening with Diana Ross'', in 1977.

In 1976, ''Billboard'' magazine named her the "Female Entertainer of the Century." In 1993, the ''Guinness Book of World Records'' declared Diana Ross the most successful female music artist in history due to her success in the United States and United Kingdom for having more hits than any female artist in the charts with a career total of 18 number one records in the United States. Diana Ross has sold more than 100 million records worldwide.

Ross is one of the few recording artists to have two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame—one as a solo artist and the other as a member of The Supremes. In December 2007, she received a John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Honors Award.

Early life

Diana Ross, the daughter of Ernestine (née Moten) (January 27, 1916October 9, 1984), a schoolteacher, and Fred Ross, Sr. (July 4, 1920November 21, 2007), a former United States Army soldier, was born at Hutzel Women's Hospital in Detroit, Michigan. Ross said she didn't see her father until he returned from serving in World War II. Much has been made of whether her first name ends in an "a" or an "e". According to Ross, her mother actually named her "Diane" but a clerical error resulted in her name being recorded as "Diana" on her birth certificate. She always went by "Diane" at home and at school. Her high school yearbook listed her as "Diana" and as early as 1963, when The Supremes released their first album, she was listed in the liner notes as "Diana". At The Supremes' first Copacabana engagement in 1965, she introduced herself to the audience as "Diane", but later that year she started introducing herself as "Diana". Her intimates still call her "Diane".

After living on Belmont Road in Detroit's North End for several years, Ross's family settled on St. Antoine Street in the Brewster-Douglass housing projects on Diana's fourteenth birthday in 1958. Ross aspired to be a fashion designer, and studied design, millinery, pattern-making and seamstress skills while attending Cass Technical High School, a four-year college preparatory magnet school, in downtown Detroit. In her late teens, Ross worked at Hudson's Department Store where, it was claimed in biographies, that she was the first black employee "allowed outside the kitchen". Ross graduated in January 1962, one semester earlier than her classmates. Ross' parents had a difficult marriage and separated when Ross was still in her teens.

Career

The Supremes: 1959–1970

In 1959, Ross was brought to the attention of Milton Jenkins, the manager of the local doo-wop group The Primes, by Mary Wilson. Primes member Paul Williams convinced Jenkins to enlist Ross in the sister group The Primettes, which included Wilson, Florence Ballard and Betty McGlown. Ross, Wilson and Ballard each sang lead during live performances. In 1960, Lu Pine Records signed the group and issued the Ross-led single "Tears of Sorrow" backed with the Wilson-led "Pretty Baby".Soon after winning a singing contest in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Ross approached former neighbor William "Smokey" Robinson, Jr. for an audition at the label with which he recorded, Motown Records. The group garnered the audition and impressed Motown's CEO, Berry Gordy, Jr. (who arrived at the audition during the group's performance), but declined to work with the group due to their being underaged. Undeterred, the group would stand outside the label's Hitsville USA studios hoping to grab attention, eventually providing backing vocals & hand claps for many of Motown's more established artists. Meanwhile during the group's struggling early years Ross earned pay in the day as Berry Gordy's secretary. She also served at the group's main hair stylist, make-up artist, seamstress & costume designer during this period.

In 1961, having already replaced McGlown with Barbara Martin, the quartet signed with Motown Records under their new moniker, ''The Supremes'', chosen by Florence Ballard, who was the only member to be present when the group was offered a name change. Both Ross and Wilson initially disliked the name, afraid they would be mistaken for a men's group (Ruby & The Romantics' original name was The Supremes) but the name stuck regardless.

Following Martin's exit in 1962, the group remained a trio. In 1963, Ross became the group's lead singer, as Berry Gordy felt the group could "cross over" to the pop charts with Ross' unique vocal quality, and the Ross-led "When the Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes" became the group's first Billboard Top 20 Pop single. The Supremes hit number one with "Where Did Our Love Go", a song rejected by The Marvelettes, and then achieved unprecedented success: between August 1964 and May 1967, Ross, Wilson and Ballard sang on ten number-one hit singles, all of which also made the United Kingdom Top 40.

Gordy removed Florence Ballard from the group in July 1967 and chose Cindy Birdsong, a member of Patti LaBelle and the Bluebelles, as her replacement. Shortly thereafter, he changed the group's name to Diana Ross & the Supremes.

Motown initially conceived of a solo career for Diana Ross in 1966, but did not act on it until 1968. Television specials such as ''TCB'' (1968) and ''G.I.T. on Broadway'' (1969) were designed to spotlight her as a star in her own right, and much of the later Ross-led Supremes material was recorded by Ross with session singers The Andantes, not Wilson and Birdsong, on backing vocals. By the summer of 1969, Ross began her first solo recordings. In November of the same year, three years after it was first rumored, ''Billboard'' magazine confirmed Ross's departure from the group to begin her solo career. That same year, Ross introduced Motown's newest act, The Jackson 5, to national audiences on the Hollywood Palace television variety program.

Ross recorded her initial solo sessions with a number of producers, including Bones Howe and Johnny Bristol. Her first track with Bristol, "Someday We'll Be Together", was tagged as a potential solo single, but it instead was issued as the final Diana Ross & the Supremes release. "Someday We'll Be Together" was the 12th and final number-one hit for the Supremes and the last American number-one hit of the 1960s. Ross made her final appearance with the Supremes at the Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas on January 14, 1970.

Early solo career: 1970–1981

After a half-year of recording material with various producers, Ross settled with the production team of Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson, the creative force behind Marvin Gaye's and Tammi Terrell's hit duets and Diana Ross & the Supremes' "Some Things You Never Get Used To". Ashford and Simpson helmed most of Ross's first album, ''Diana Ross'', and continued to write and produce for her for the next decade.

In May 1970, ''Diana Ross'' was released on Motown. The first single, the gospel-influenced waltz, "Reach Out and Touch (Somebody's Hand)", peaked at number 20 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album's second single, a fully rearranged cover of Gaye's and Terrell's 1967 hit, and another Ashford and Simpson composition, "Ain't No Mountain High Enough", was an international hit, and gave Ross her first #1 pop single and gold record award as a solo artist. "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" received a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female. In 1971, Motown released Ross's second album ''Everything Is Everything'', which produced Ross's first UK number-one solo single, "I'm Still Waiting". Several months later, Ross released ''Surrender'', which included the top-20 pop hit, "Remember Me". That year, she hosted her first solo television special, ''Diana!'', featuring guest appearances by The Jackson 5, Bill Cosby and Danny Thomas.

In 1973 Ross returned to number-one with the single "Touch Me in the Morning". The album of the same name became her first top five charted pop release. Later that same year, Ross and fellow Motown star Marvin Gaye released a duet album, ''Diana & Marvin''. The duo scored an international hit with their cover of The Stylistics' "You Are Everything". Ross' 1974 follow-up album, ''Last Time I Saw Him'', wasn't as successful despite the success of its country-tinged title track. Two years later Ross ventured into disco with "Love Hangover", which returned her to number-one. The self-titled parent album became another top five hit and included her previous number-one, the movie theme, "Do You Know Where You're Going To (Theme from Mahogany)". Ross' subsequent follow-ups, including ''Baby It's Me'' (1977) and ''Ross'' (1978) fell off the charts soon after they appeared. Ross did have success with her first Broadway one-woman show, ''An Evening with Diana Ross''. Her performance later won her a Tony. She was featured in TV special with the same name.

In 1979 Ross hired former collaborators Ashford & Simpson, who had left Motown in 1973 due to contractual issues with Berry Gordy, to overlook the production of her next album, ''The Boss''. That album produced the hit title track and the modestly successful "It's My House". Ross' working relationship with Berry Gordy had deteriorated at that point as Gordy refused to be an executive producer of the project. In 1980, Ross hired Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards of the group CHIC to overlook production of her final contractual Motown album, ''diana''. That album led to major success with "Upside Down" returning Ross to number-one on the pop charts for the first time since "Love Hangover". Its follow-up, "I'm Coming Out", was as successful and both songs found major success overseas. When Upside Down hit #1 in 1980, Diana Ross became the first woman in music history to chart 6 #1 records. Combining her 12 as lead singer of The Supremes, Diana Ross' career total of number one records is 18, the most for any female recording artist in music history. Mariah Carey tied Ross' record in 2007.

In 1981, Ross decided not to renew her Motown contract only to discover that everything she thought she had owned was only leased to her by Berry Gordy. Ross accepted a $20 million deal with RCA in 1981, then the most lucrative contract in music. To complete contractual obligations to Motown, Ross recorded several songs with Lionel Richie, one of which, "Endless Love", led to the duo having an international number-one hit. The song was the theme song of the movie of the same name. Motown issued a compilation album, ''To Love Again'', to compete with Ross' RCA debut.

Film career: 1972–1999

Though Ross had previously appeared in two films while a member of The Supremes, it wasn't until the early 1970s when Berry Gordy began to focus on making Ross an actress. In late 1971, Motown announced that Diana Ross was going to portray jazz icon Billie Holiday in a Motown-produced film loosely based on Holiday's autobiography ''Lady Sings the Blues'' (1956) written by Holiday and William Dufty. The movie co-starred Billy Dee Williams as Holiday's lover, Louis McKay. The cast also included comedian Richard Pryor as the "Piano Man".

Some critics ridiculed Ross's casting in the role. Ross and Holiday were considered to be "miles apart" in vocal styling and appearance. Undeterred, Ross immersed herself in Holiday's music and life story. She went to drug clinics and talked with doctors as research for the role. Ross made a crucial decision when it came to interpreting Holiday's music. Instead of imitating Billie Holiday's voice, Ross focused on Holiday's inimitable vocal phrasing.

Opening in October 1972, ''Lady Sings the Blues'' was a major success, and Ross's performance was lauded and well received. Jazz critic Leonard Feather, a friend of Billie Holiday, praised Ross for "expertly capturing the essence of Lady Day." In 1973, Ross was nominated for both a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award for "Best Actress". Ross along with fellow nominee that year Cicely Tyson, were the second African American actresses to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress after Dorothy Dandridge. Ross won the Golden Globe for Best Newcomer, but lost the Best Actress Oscar to her friend Liza Minnelli for her role in ''Cabaret''. The soundtrack album for ''Lady Sings the Blues'' reached number one on the Billboard 200 for two weeks and broke then industry records by shipping 300,000 copies during its first eight days of release. The double-pocket custom label record is one of Ross's best-selling albums of all time, with total sales to date of nearly two million copies.

In 1975, Ross again co-starred with Billy Dee Williams in the Motown film ''Mahogany''. The story of an aspiring fashion designer who becomes a runway model and the toast of the industry, ''Mahogany'' was a troubled production from its inception. The film's original director, Tony Richardson, was fired during production and Berry Gordy assumed the director's chair himself. In addition, Gordy and Ross clashed during filming, with Ross leaving the production before shooting was completed, forcing Gordy to use secretary Edna Anderson as a body double for Ross. While a box office success, the film was not well received by the critics: ''Time'' magazine's review of the film chastised Gordy for "squandering one of America's most natural resources: Diana Ross".

In 1977, Motown acquired the film rights to the Broadway play ''The Wiz'', an African-American reinterpretation of L. Frank Baum's ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz''. Although teenage Stephanie Mills, a veteran of the play, was originally cast as Dorothy, Ross convinced Universal Pictures producer Rob Cohen to have Ross cast as Dorothy. Because of Ross' age, the script was modified to make the protagonist a school teacher rather than a schoolgirl. Among Ross's costars were Lena Horne, Michael Jackson, Richard Pryor, Nipsey Russell and Ted Ross. Upon its October 1978 release, the film adaptation of ''The Wiz'', a $24 million production, earned $21,049,053 at the box office. Though pre-release television broadcast rights had been sold to CBS for over $10 million, the film produced a net loss of $10.4 million for Motown and Universal. At the time, it was the most expensive film musical ever made. The film's failure ended Ross' short career on the big screen and contributed to the Hollywood studios' reluctance to produce the all-black film projects which had become popular during the blaxploitation era of the early-to-mid 1970s for several years. The Wiz was Ross' final film for Motown.

Ross had success with movie-themed songs. While her version of Holiday's "Good Morning Heartache" only performed modestly well in early 1973, her recording of "Theme from Mahogany (Do You Know Where You're Going To)" gave Ross her fourth number-one hit in late 1975. Three years later, Ross and Michael Jackson had a modest dance hit with their recording of "Ease on Down the Road". Their second duet, actually as part of the ensemble of ''The Wiz'', "Brand New Day", found some success overseas. Ross scored a Top 10 hit in late 1980 with the theme song to the 1980 film ''It's My Turn''. The following year, she collaborated with former Commodores singer-songwriter Lionel Richie on the theme song for the film ''Endless Love''. The Academy Award-nominated "Endless Love" single became her final hit on Motown Records, and the number one record of the year. Several years later, in 1988, Ross recorded the theme song to ''The Land Before Time''. "If We Hold On Together" became an international hit reaching number-one in Japan.

Ross would be given movie offers over the years but reportedly turned them down because of either contractual obligations or fears of being typecast. Ross had campaigned to portray pioneering entertainer Josephine Baker in a feature film even during her later years in Motown. However, in 1991, the feature film turned into a TV film with Lynn Whitfield playing Baker instead of Ross. Ross was also offered a role in an early adaptation of ''The Bodyguard'' with Ryan O'Neal. However, plans of this adaptation fell through. Years later, Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner assumed the roles of Ross and O'Neal in the 1992 film. In 1993, Ross returned to making movies with a dramatic role in the TV film, ''Out of Darkness''. Ross won acclaim for her role in the film and a well earned third Golden Globe nomination. In 1999, she and Brandy co-starred in the film, ''Double Platinum'', which was released prior to the release of Ross' album, ''Every Day Is a New Day''.

Later solo career: 1981–1999

Diana Ross's RCA Records debut, ''Why Do Fools Fall in Love'', was issued in October 1981. The album yielded three Top 10 hits including the title track "Why Do Fools Fall in Love", a remake of the 1956 Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers classic of the same name, and the single "Mirror Mirror". A third single, "Work That Body", hit the Top Ten in the UK. That success was repeated if only more modestly with the 1982 album, ''Silk Electric''. Ross' recording of Michael Jackson's "Muscles" gave Ross another top ten hit. Ross' 1983 album, ''Ross'', failed to produce any success.

On July 21, 1983, Ross performed a concert in Central Park for a taped Showtime special. Proceeds of the concert would be donated to build a playground in the singer's name. Midway through the beginning of the show, a torrential downpour occurred. Ross tried to keep on performing, but the severe weather required that the show be stopped. Ross urged the large crowd to exit the venue safely, promising to perform the next day. The second concert held the very next day was without rain. The funds for the playground were to be derived from sales of different items at the concert; however, all profits earned from the first concert were spent on the second. When the mainstream media discovered the exorbitant costs of the two concerts, Diana Ross faced criticism and poor publicity. Although representatives of Diana Ross originally refused to pay anything for the proposed playground, Ross later paid the $250,000 required to build the park. The Diana Ross Playground was finally built three years later.

In 1984, Ross' career was revived modestly again with the release of ''Swept Away''. The title track became an international hit as did the ballad, "Missing You", which was a tribute to Marvin Gaye, who had died earlier that year. Her 1985 album, ''Eaten Alive'', found success overseas with the title track and "Chain Reaction", while neither of the songs found success in America. Earlier in 1985, she appeared as part of the supergroup USA for Africa on the "'We Are the World'" charity single, which sold over 20 million copies. Ross' 1987 follow up to ''Eaten Alive'', ''Red Hot Rhythm & Blues'', found less success than the prior album. In 1988, Ross chose to not renew her RCA contract.

Motown Records was being sold by Berry Gordy for $60 million. Ross advised Gordy not to make the move. Before leaving Motown, Gordy offered Ross a contract back to Motown. Ross was at first hesitant to return to the label but agreed after Gordy offered her part-ownership of the label. Despite initial promotion, Ross' next album, ''Workin' Overtime'', bombed. Subsequent follow-ups including ''The Force Behind the Power'' (1991), ''Take Me Higher'' (1995) and ''Every Day is a New Day'' (1999) produced similarly disappointing sales. Ross had more success overseas with the albums than she did in America. In 1994, Ross performed at the opening ceremony of the FIFA World Cup, hosted in the USA. Her performance has become a running joke in football circles due to her obvious miming and for missing the goal from close range. In 1999, she was named the most successful female singer in the history of the United Kingdom charts, based upon a tally of her career hits. Madonna would eventually succeed Ross as the most successful female artist in the UK.

Later that year, Ross presented at the 1999 MTV Video Music Awards in September of the year and shocked the audience by touching rapper Lil' Kim's exposed, pasty-covered breast, amazed at the young rapper's brashness.

Supremes reunions and Return to Love

In 1983, Ross reunited with former Supremes Mary Wilson and Cindy Birdsong for the television special ''Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever''. The three performed their 1969 number-one hit "Someday We'll Be Together", although alleged onstage altercations between Ross and Wilson became an issue during and after the taping of the special. A four-song Supremes set was planned but Ross, suffering from influenza, declined to rehearse with "The Girls" and stated that they would have to be happy just doing "Someday We'll Be Together". Before the special was taped later that evening, Wilson allegedly planned with Birdsong to take a step forward every time Ross did the same. This appeared to frustrate Ross, causing her to push Wilson's shoulder. Later, Wilson was not aware of the script set by producer Suzanne DePasse, in which Ross was to introduce Berry Gordy. Wilson took it upon herself to do so, at which point Ross pushed down Wilson's hand-held microphone, stating "It's been taken care of." Ross, then, introduced Gordy. These incidents were excised from the final edit of the taped special, but still made their way into the news media; ''People'' magazine reported that "Ross [did] some elbowing to get Wilson out of the spotlight."

The original Supremes were inducted to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1988. Original member Florence Ballard had died twelve years earlier. Ross was performing around the time of the induction ceremony and was unable to attend; Mary Wilson accepted the award. In 1999, Ross, Wilson and Cindy Birdsong held discussions about a possible Supremes reunion tour. These negotiations failed, and Ross hired late-era Supremes members Lynda Laurence and Scherrie Payne, who were touring as the Former Ladies of the Supremes, to participate. The ''Return to Love'' tour was launched in June 2000. The tour did well in large markets, but, struggled in medium markets due to controversial press stories. Despite selling out the final evening at Madison Square Garden in New York, the tour ended abruptly after just fourteen dates.

Current work

Following successful European and American tours in 2004, Diana Ross returned to the Billboard music charts with two duets in 2005. "I've Got a Crush on You", recorded with Rod Stewart for his album ''The Great American Songbook'', reached number 19 on the Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary chart. The second, recorded with Westlife, was a remake of Ross's 1991 number-2 UK single, "When You Tell Me You Love Me", and reached number 2 in the UK, just as the original had, and number 1 in Ireland. In January, 2005, M.A.C. Cosmetics named Diana Ross its beauty icon for 2005. In June 2006, Motown released the shelved ''Blue'' album, which peaked at number 2 on Billboard's Jazz Albums chart. Ross' new studio album, ''I Love You'', was released worldwide on October 2, 2006 and January 16, 2007, in North America, on the Manhattan Records/EMI label. Since its release in 2007, EMI Inside reports that ''I Love You'' has sold more than 622,000 copies worldwide.

In January 2007, Ross appeared on a number of television shows across the U.S. to promote her new album and began touring in the spring. She appeared on ''American Idol'' as a mentor to the contestants Ross's United States "I Love You" tour garnered positive reviews, as did her European tour of the same year.

At the 2007 BET Awards, Ross was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by her five children and singer Alicia Keys. Stevie Wonder, Erykah Badu and Chaka Khan performed musical tributes to Ross, covering several of her most popular recordings. During her acceptance speech, Ross lambasted the declining level of professional standards among the younger generation's musicians, as well as their overabundant use of vulgarity and profanity to garner press attention and record sales. Later that year, the prestigious Kennedy Center Honors committee, which recognizes career excellence, cultural influence and contributions to American culture, named Diana Ross as one of its honorees. Past honoree and fellow Motown alumni Smokey Robinson and actor Terrence Howard spoke on her behalf at the official ceremony that December, and singers Ciara, Vanessa L. Williams, Yolanda Adams and ''American Idol'' winner Jordin Sparks performed musical tributes. In February 2008, Ross was guest speaker at the Houston-based Brilliant Lecture series at The Hobby Center, Houston.

The lectures are designed to present prolific and influential characters to speak about their life and inspirations. During her lecture Ross stated that it is "unlikely" that she would undertake any further movie projects.

In May 2008, Ross headlined at New York City's Radio City Music Hall's 'Divas with Heart' concert event, which also featured fellow performers Gladys Knight, Chaka Khan and Patti LaBelle. The following month she was a headliner at the City Stages music festival in Birmingham, AL, next to The Flaming Lips. The New York Times said about the duo, "the most incongruous headliners at an outdoor urban concert series, with the once-in-a-lifetime-at-most combination of Diana Ross and the Flaming Lips. Something for everyone, surely." She performed at two major events in the UK in July 2008: the famous Liverpool Pops Festival and the National Trust Summer Festival at Petworth House, West Sussex. On October 16–17, 2009, Diana Ross headlined the annual Dutch concert event, Symphonica in Rosso, in the 34,000-seat Gelredome Stadium, in Arnhem, The Netherlands. She was accompanied by a 40-piece orchestra. Each of the two concerts was sold-out.

Ross performed a cross-country tour in the summer of 2010. The More Today Than Yesterday: The Greatest Hits Tour featured an all-new set list, stage design, and costumes galore, and was dedicated to her friend Michael Jackson who died in June 2009. The tour, which commenced on May 15, 2010, in Boston, Massachusetts, earned Ross excellent reviews in every city in which she performed, and concluded in Saratoga, California. An extended American leg of the tour began in September, 2010, and is scheduled to continue until March 2011, in Stamford, Connecticut, after which, another American leg of her tour will begin on September 11, 2011, at Temecula, CA's Pechanga Resort and Casino, & continuing throughout autumn, 2011. It is rumored that Ross will mount European & Asian legs of the tour.

Personal life

Ross' parents separated when Ross was 17. After 12 years of estrangement, the couple divorced in 1973. Ernestine Ross later married John Jordan in 1977. Fred Ross remained divorced, never remarrying. While Ross' mother was supportive of her career, her father was disappointed in her choice to be an entertainer rather than attend college like her other siblings. Biographies later stated Ross' drive was inspired by a lack of a support she felt from her father. Ross and her father's relationship repaired over the years until Fred Ross died in 2007. Ross' mother died in 1984.

Ross' elder sister Barbara found success as a doctor and in 1993, was appointed as dean of the Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine, becoming the first black American woman to administer a medical school in the states. Rita Ross, Diana's younger sister, became a teacher. Brothers Arthur and Wilbert "Ninja" Ross followed their sister into the recording industry and entertainment business, respectively. Arthur became a songwriter for Motown writing hits for Michael Jackson, The Miracles and Marvin Gaye while Chico became a professional dancer and choreographer joining his elder sister as a choreographer on her shows during the 1970s and 1980s. He's since retired. Eldest brother Fred Ross, Jr., a Vietnam veteran, never followed his sister into show business settling for civilian life in his native Detroit. Brother Arthur and his wife, Patricia Robinson, were murdered in 1996 in Detroit. Their bodies were found bound and gagged in their basement. As of this writing, no one has been convicted of the murders. A state's witness reportedly disappeared before the case's primary suspect could be tried.

Ross married twice. Her first husband was music business manager Robert Ellis Silberstein, whom she married in January 1971. They divorced in March 1977. In January 1986, after a romantic courtship, Ross married Norwegian shipping magnate Arne Næss, Jr.. After several years of legal separation, the couple were officially divorced in 2000. Næss was later killed in a mountain climbing accident in 2004. Ross attended the funeral.

Ross is the mother of five children. Daughter Rhonda Suzanne Silberstein was born on August 13, 1971, Rhonda's biological father is Berry Gordy. She is now married; her married name is Rhonda Ross Kendrick. Ross and Silberstein had two daughters: Tracee Joy Silberstein, born October 29, 1972 (now known as Tracee Ellis Ross) and Chudney Lane Silberstein, born November 4, 1975 (now known as Chudney Ross). Ross had two sons with Næss. Their sons are Ross Arne Næss (born October 7, 1987) and Evan Olav Næss (born August 26, 1988), now known as Evan Ross). In the summer of 2009, Ross became a grandmother when her daughter, Rhonda Ross-Kendrick, gave birth to a boy on August 7, 2009 by the name of... Raif-Henok Emmanuel Kendrick.

Rhonda and Tracee graduated from Brown University, and Chudney from Georgetown University. All have followed their mother to show business. Rhonda gained success as an actress in television movies and daytime soap operas. Tracee was a co-star of the UPN sitcom ''Girlfriends''. Chudney is active in behind-the-scenes work and is also a model. Son Ross currently attends New York's Marist College, where he is a ski club member, and has not followed his siblings into show business. Youngest son Evan Ross is a successful actor, who starred in the films ''ATL'' and ''Pride'' (co-starring Terrance Howard) and the HBO film, "Life Support", co-starring Dana Owens (Queen Latifah) and his older sister, Tracee Ellis-Ross. He currently is starring in The CW's hit show "90210" playing the character named Charlie.

A month after the Lil Kim incident, authorities at London's Heathrow Airport detained Ross for "assaulting" a female security guard. The singer claimed that she had felt "violated as a woman" by the full-body search to which she was subjected while wearing a skintight bodysuit. Ross complained to airport staff, but, was ignored. In retaliation, she was alleged to have touched the female airport security guard in a similar manner. The singer was detained but later released. In December 2002, Ross was arrested in Tucson, Arizona for drunk driving. She pleaded "no contest", and later served a two-day jail sentence near her home in Greenwich, Connecticut. Following the arrest and jail sentence, Ross stayed out of the American public eye during much of the following year. She performed a well-received set at Britain's Prince Charles' Prince's Trust concert, held in London's Hyde Park, in 2002, but would not return to touring until 2004.

Ross was a close friend and longtime mentor of Michael Jackson, with whom she co-starred in the 1978 film version of the Broadway musical, The Wiz (a remake of ''The Wizard of Oz''). After Jackson's sudden death on June 25, 2009, Ross was named in his will as the custodian of his children in the event of the death of his mother, Katherine Jackson. Ross was invited to speak at the memorial held in Los Angeles on Tuesday July 7, 2009, but declined in a letter read by Smokey Robinson at the ceremony. Like Jackson's other close friends, Macaulay Culkin, Elizabeth Taylor, Quincy Jones, Liza Minnelli, and his ex-wife Lisa Marie Presley, Ross stated that she wanted to grieve in private. Ross dedicated her 2010–11 "More Today Than Yesterday-Greatest Hits" tour to Michael Jackson.

In popular culture

Ross was portrayed by actress Samantha Kaine in the 2004 VH1 film ''Man in the Mirror: The Michael Jackson Story'', a biographical film about Michael Jackson.

Actress Holly Robinson Peete portrayed Ross in the 1992 television mini-series ''The Jacksons: An American Dream''.

In the 1996 film ''Phenomenon'', Forest Whitaker's character, Nate Pope, is obsessed with Ross.

In an episode of the TV sitcom ''The Facts of Life'' titled "Out of the Fire", Natalie (Mindy Cohn) purchases a novelty item: a Diana Ross clothes hanger. Natalie comments, "it used to have backup hangers, but now she hangs alone".

In the 2001 comedy film ''Get Over It'', the Dr Desmond Forrest-Oates character once claimed he made a song for Ross, which even included a flashback of the event, however Ross is not actually seen, only her leg passing (she did not, however, actually star in the film).

In an episode of the TV sitcom ''Gimme a Break!'' titled "Alabamy Bound", Nell Harper (Nell Carter) reminisces with sister Loretta (Lynne Thigpen) and friend Addy Wilson (Telma Hopkins) about the girl group they had in the 1960's. Loretta says "how we dreamed we'd be The Supremes". Addy adds "boy, I had that dream", to which Nell replies, "no, no, no, that was my dream! Because I was gonna be Diana Ross!"

Ross contributed her voice to the fictionalized version of herself in the debut episode of popular 1970s classic cartoon by ABC entitled, The Jackson 5ive.

New Zealand band Diana Rozz take their name from Ross.

In the 2007 comedy "Juno", the main character, Juno MacGuff says about her name, "Zeus had tons of lays, but I'm pretty sure Juno was his only wife. She was supposed to be really beautiful, but really mean, like Diana Ross."

In 2010, Keri Hilson portrayed Ross and The Supremes in the music video for her song, "Pretty Girl Rock".

Her voice can be heard introducing The Jackson 5 at the beginning of the Jackson 5 medley in the film ''Michael Jackson's This Is It''.

Solo discography

Filmography

1964: ''T.A.M.I. Show'' (with The Supremes)

1965: ''Beach Ball'' (with The Supremes)

1972: ''Lady Sings the Blues''

1975: ''Mahogany''

1978: ''The Wiz''

1994: ''Out of Darkness''

1999: ''Double Platinum''

2002: ''The Making and Meaning of We Are Family'' (documentary)

2010: ''Met With Sandra Ellison and Tamia Holmes''

Television

1968: ''Tarzan'' (with The Supremes)

1968: ''T.C.B.'' (with The Supremes)

1969: ''G.I.T. on Broadway'' (with The Supremes)

1971: ''Diana!''

1977: ''The Big Event: An Evening with Diana Ross''

1979: ''Diana Ross in Concert!''

1981: ''diana''

1981: ''Standing Room Only: Diana Ross''

1983: ''Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever''

1983: ''For One And For All – Diana Ross Live! in Central Park''

1987: ''Diana Ross: Red Hot Rhythm and Blues''

1989: ''Diana Ross: Workin' Overtime''

1992: ''Diana Ross Live! The Lady Sings... Jazz & Blues: Stolen Moments''

1994: ''Out of Darkness''

1996: ''Super Bowl XXX''

1999: ''Double Platinum''

2000: ''VH1 Divas 2000: A Tribute to Diana Ross''

2005: ''Tsunami Aid''

2007: ''BET Awards 2007''

2007: ''Kennedy Center Honors''

2008: ''Nobel Peace Prize Concert''

Autobiographies

(A scrapbook-style collection of photographs)

See also

List of awards and nominations received by Diana Ross

List of best-selling music artists

List of number-one hits (United States)

List of artists who reached number one in the United States

List of number-one dance hits (United States)

List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. dance chart

References

http://sixmillionsteps.com/drupal/node/1085 – 80 minute audio mix of Diana Ross songs/interviews

(31) http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=wiz.htm

Further reading

External links

Diana Ross Tribute Fansite website

Barbara Walters interviews Diana Ross about "Return To Love" Tour

International Diana Ross website

International Diana Ross Fanclub website

Diana Ross Superstar website

Diana Ross discography at MusicBrainz

Carlo's Supremes website

Mark's Diana Ross website

unofficial biography page

Supremes 9.0 — fansite

Diana Ross interview recorded 10.13.1968 on the Pop Chronicles

Category:1944 births Category:Actors from Michigan Category:African American actors Category:African American female singers Category:American disco musicians Category:American film actors Category:American jazz singers Category:American pop singers Category:American rhythm and blues singers Category:American soul singers Category:American stage actors Category:American television actors Category:Ballad musicians Category:Baptists from the United States Category:Kennedy Center honorees Category:Living people Category:Marvin Gaye vocalists Category:Motown artists Category:Musicians from Detroit, Michigan Category:Musicians from Michigan Category:People from Detroit, Michigan Category:The Supremes members Category:Tony Award winners Category:Women in jazz

ar:ديانا روس an:Diana Ross bg:Даяна Рос ca:Diana Ross cs:Diana Rossová cbk-zam:Diana Ross cy:Diana Ross da:Diana Ross de:Diana Ross et:Diana Ross es:Diana Ross eu:Diana Ross fa:دایانا راس fr:Diana Ross ga:Diana Ross gl:Diana Ross ko:다이애나 로스 hr:Diana Ross id:Diana Ross it:Diana Ross he:דיאנה רוס sw:Diana Ross lt:Diana Ross hu:Diana Ross nl:Diana Ross (zangeres) ja:ダイアナ・ロス no:Diana Ross pl:Diana Ross pt:Diana Ross ro:Diana Ross ru:Росс, Дайана sc:Diana Ross simple:Diana Ross sk:Diana Rossová fi:Diana Ross sv:Diana Ross tl:Diana Ross th:ไดอาน่า รอสส์ tr:Diana Ross uk:Даяна Росс vi:Diana Ross zh:戴安娜·罗斯

Name	Berry Gordy
Background	non_performing_personnel
Birth date	November 28, 1929
Origin	Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
Genre	Rock, soul, pop
Occupation	Record executive, songwriter, record producer, film producer, television producer
Years active	1957–1999
Label	Motown
Associated acts	The Jackson 5, The Corporation, The Supremes, Smokey Robinson, The Temptations, The Miracles, Michael Jackson, LMFAO }}

Berry Gordy, Jr. (born November 28, 1929) is an American record producer, and the founder of the Motown record label, as well as its many subsidiaries.

Early years

Berry Gordy, Jr. (born in Detroit, Michigan) was the seventh of eight children born to the middle class family of Berry Gordy II (a.k.a. Berry Gordy, Sr.) and Bertha Fuller Gordy (1887–1981), who had relocated to Detroit from Milledgeville, Georgia in 1922. Gordy was brought up in a tight-knit family with strong morals. Berry Gordy II (1888–1978) was the son of Berry Gordy I and a woman named Lucy. Berry Gordy I was the son of James Thomas Gordy, a white farmer, and a female slave in Georgia. Berry Gordy is distantly related to former president Jimmy Carter through Carter's mother, Bessie Lillian Gordy.

Berry Gordy II was lured to Detroit by the many job opportunities for black people offered by booming automotive businesses.

Berry Gordy, Jr's older siblings were all prominent black citizens of Detroit. Berry, however, dropped out of high school in the eleventh grade to become a professional boxer in hopes of becoming rich quick, a career he followed until 1950 when he was drafted by the United States Army for the Korean War.

After his return from Korea in 1953, he married Thelma Coleman. He developed his interest in music by writing songs and opening the 3-D Record Mart, a record store featuring jazz music. The store was unsuccessful and Gordy sought work at the Lincoln-Mercury plant, but his family connections put him in touch with Al Green (not the singer), owner of the Flame Show Bar talent club, where he met singer Jackie Wilson.

In 1957, Wilson recorded ''Reet Petite'', a song Gordy had co-written with his sister Gwen and writer-producer Billy Davis. It became a modest hit but had more success internationally, especially in the UK where it reached the Top 10 and even later topped the chart on re-issue in 1986. Wilson recorded four more songs co-written by Gordy over the next two years, including "Lonely Teardrops", which topped the R & B charts and got to number 7 in the pop chart. Berry and Gwen Gordy also wrote "All I Could Do Was Cry" for Etta James at Chess Records.

Motown Record Corporation

Gordy reinvested his songwriting success into producing. In 1957, he discovered The Miracles (originally known as ''The Matadors'') and began building a portfolio of successful artists. In 1959, at Miracles leader Smokey Robinson's encouragement, Gordy borrowed $800 from his family to create an R&B; label, Tamla Records. On January 21, 1959, "Come To Me" by Marv Johnson was issued as Tamla 101. United Artists Records picked up "Come To Me" for national distribution, as well as Johnson's more successful follow-up records (such as "You Got What It Takes," co-produced and co-written by Gordy). Berry's next release was the only 45 ever issued on his Rayber label, and it featured Wade Jones with an unnamed female back-up group. The record did not sell well and is now one of the rarest issues from the Motown stable. Berry's third release was "Bad Girl" by The Miracles, and was the first-ever release for the Motown record label. "Bad Girl" was a solid hit in 1959 after Chess Records picked it up. Barrett Strong's "Money (That's What I Want)" initially appearing on Tamla and then charted on Gordy's sister's label, Anna Records, in February 1960. The Miracles' hit "Shop Around" peaked at #1 on the national R&B; charts in late 1960 and at #2 on the ''Billboard'' pop charts on January 16, 1961 (#1 Pop, Cash Box), which established Motown as an independent company worthy of notice. Later in 1961, The Marvelettes' "Please Mr. Postman" made it to the top of both charts.

In 1960, Gordy signed an unknown named Mary Wells who became the fledgling label's first star, with Smokey Robinson penning her hits "You Beat Me to the Punch," "Two Lovers" and "My Guy". The Tamla and Motown labels were then merged into a new company Motown Record Corporation, which was incorporated on April 14, 1960. Gordy was not known for cultivating white artists, although some were signed, such as Nick and the Jaguars, Mike and The Modifiers, Chris Clark, Rare Earth, the Valadiers, Debbie Dean and Connie Haines.

Berry produced a record on the Penny Label (part of early Tamla Records)in the Spring of 1959 showcasing a white doo-wop group known as, 'Bryan Brent and The Cutouts'. [ www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CYCV1mcNHY ] Berry had hoped that 'Vacation Time', written by himself and Billy Davis would be the hit side. But,'For Eternity', written by the Cutouts became the Summer Hit and enjoyed an unprecedented #1 spot in the greater Detroit area for 8 weeks. Bryan Brent and The Cutouts performed on Soupy Sales late night TV show and on Mickey Schorr's 'Detroit Bandstand' TV show, as well as many radio station sponsored Dance Parties, Like Tommy Clay's Sock Hop at the Light Guard Armory on 8 Mile Rd. Not restricted to white venues, the group also performed for Martha Jean 'The Queen' from WJLB at many of her popular weekend dances. While Bryan Brent and The Cutouts never enjoyed the security of a contract, they did enjoy the Summer of 1959. In spite of missing notations in the history books, 'For Eternity' is recognized as a Doo Wop Classic in the US and in Europe.

Berry produced a record for white artist Tom Clay some time in 1959. The record was released on a tiny Detroit label called Chant. It is not currently known if Berry owned Chant records, but the 45 is recognized by many collectors to be one of the rarest of all Gordy singles. Tom Clay became a DJ in LA, and recorded again for Gordy on his MoWest label in the 1970s. Kiki Dee became the first white female British singer to be signed to the Motown label. Gordy also employed many white workers and managers at the company's headquarters, named Hitsville U.S.A., on Detroit's West Grand Boulevard. He largely promoted African-American artists but carefully controlled their public image, dress, manners and choreography for across-the-board appeal.

Gordy's gift for identifying and bringing together musical talent, along with the careful management of his artists' public image, made Motown initially a major national and then international success. Over the next decade, he signed such artists as The Supremes, Marvin Gaye, The Temptations, Jimmy Ruffin, The Contours, The Four Tops, Gladys Knight & the Pips, The Commodores, The Velvelettes, Martha and the Vandellas, Stevie Wonder and The Jackson 5.

Relocation to Los Angeles

In 1972, Gordy attended FIDM in Los Angeles, where he produced the commercially successful Billie Holiday biography ''Lady Sings the Blues'', starring Diana Ross (who was nominated for an Academy Award) and Richard Pryor, and introducing Billy Dee Williams. Initially the studio, over Gordy's objections, rejected Williams after several screen tests. However, Gordy, known for his tenacity, eventually prevailed and the film established Williams as a star. (Williams would also go on to portray Gordy in the 1992 miniseries The Jacksons: An American Dream.) Berry Gordy soon after produced and directed ''Mahogany,'' also starring Diana Ross. In 1985, he produced the cult martial arts film ''The Last Dragon'', which starred martial artist Taimak and one of Prince's proteges, Vanity.

Although Motown continued to produce major hits throughout the 1970s and 1980s by artists like the Jacksons, Rick James, Lionel Richie and long-term signings, Stevie Wonder and Smokey Robinson, the record company was no longer the major force it had been previously. Gordy sold his interests in Motown Records to MCA and Boston Ventures on June 28, 1988 for $61 million. He also later sold most of his interests in the Jobete publishing concern to EMI Publishing.

Gordy published an autobiography, ''To Be Loved'', in 1994.

Awards and accolades

Gordy was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988.

Gordy was inducted into the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame in 1998.

Gordy delivered the commencement address at Michigan State University on May 5, 2006 and at Occidental College on May 20, 2007. He received an honorary degree from each school.

Berry Gordy was inducted into the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends Hall of Fame in 2009.

Statements about Motown artists

On March 20, 2009, Gordy was in Hollywood to pay tribute to his first group and first million-selling act, The Miracles, when the members received a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame. Speaking in tribute to the group, Gordy said "Without The Miracles, Motown would not be the Motown it is today."

He gave a speech during the Michael Jackson memorial service in Los Angeles on July 7, 2009. Gordy suggested that 'The King of Pop' was perhaps not the best description for Jackson in light of his achievements, and chose instead "the greatest entertainer that has ever lived."

On May 15, 2011, it was announced that Gordy was developing a Broadway musical about the Motown music label. The show is said to be an account of events of the 60s and how they shaped the creation of the iconic label. Gordy hopes to use the musical to clear the sullied name of Motown Records and clear up any misconceptions regarding the label's demise.

Personal life

Gordy, who married and divorced three times, has eight children: Hazel Joy, Berry Gordy IV, Terry James, Sherry, Kennedy, Kerry, Rhonda Ross, and Stefan (Redfoo of LMFAO). His publishing company, Jobete was named after his three oldest children, Joy, Berry and Terry.

With first wife Thelma Coleman he has children Hazel Joy, Berry Gordy IV, and Terry James. They married in 1953 and divorced in 1959.

In Spring 1960 he married second wife Raynoma Mayberry Liles. Their son Kerry—born the previous year on June 25, 1959—is a music executive. They divorced in 1964.

Kennedy Gordy born March 15, 1964 is the son of Berry Gordy and then mistress girlfriend Margaret Norton. Kennedy is better known as the Motown musician Rockwell.

Rhonda Ross Kendrick born August 13, 1971 is the daughter of Gordy and the most successful female Motown artist, Diana Ross, with whom he had a relationship from 1965 to 1970.

Stefan Kendal Gordy, born September 3, 1975, is Gordy's son with Nancy Leiviska. He is also known as Redfoo of the group LMFAO. Skyler Gordy, born August 23, 1986, a grandson of Berry, is the other member of the group, and he uses the alias SkyBlu.

Sherry is his daughter by Jeena Jackson.

After dating for eight years, Berry married Grace Eaton on July 17, 1990. They divorced three years later in 1993.

He recently bought a retirement home in Palm Desert, California.

In popular culture

The character of Curtis Taylor, Jr., a music executive, in the 2006 musical film ''Dreamgirls'' has been called "a thinly veiled portrayal" of Gordy. The film was based on the 1981 musical ''Dreamgirls'', but the film made the connection to Gordy and Motown much more explicit than the musical did, by, among other things, moving the setting of the story from Chicago to Detroit. Taylor appears in the film as unethical and insensitive to his artists, which caused Gordy and others to criticize the film after its release. Gordy called the portrayal "100% wrong," while Smokey Robinson said it "blatantly painted a negative picture of Motown and Berry Gordy and of the Supremes." In 2007, the producers of the film, DreamWorks and Paramount Pictures, issued a public apology to Gordy, saying they were sorry "for any confusion that has resulted from our fictional work." Gordy accepted the apology.

In the 2007 film ''Talk to Me'', Washington D.C. DJ Petey Greene accuses Gordy of being a pimp and hustler while on the radio causing a negative reaction from both Motown's lawyers and Greene's bosses. When Greene is forced to apologize on air, he states that Gordy is no pimp despite the fact that he takes young black musicians and then sends them out to earn Gordy more money through their performance skills—thus sarcastically praising Gordy as a good businessman despite his pimplike actions. While Greene's bosses remain angry, the predominantly black audience agrees with Greene and the radio station's ratings increase.

The character Gordy Berry in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is a reference to Berry Gordy.

References

External links

Boxing Record

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame bio

The Motown Story information on Berry Gordy

Category:1929 births Category:Living people Category:African American musicians Category:Musicians from Detroit, Michigan Category:American music industry executives Category:American record producers Category:Songwriters from Michigan Category:American autobiographers Category:American military personnel of the Korean War Category:Gordy family Category:People from Detroit, Michigan Category:Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Category:United States Army soldiers

ca:Berry Gordy cs:Berry Gordy da:Berry Gordy de:Berry Gordy es:Berry Gordy fr:Berry Gordy ko:베리 고디 he:ברי גורדי nl:Berry Gordy ja:ベリー・ゴーディ no:Berry Gordy pt:Berry Gordy ru:Горди, Берри fi:Berry Gordy sv:Berry Gordy