Diana Ross to Receive Lifetime Achievement Honor at the 2017 American Music Awards

In honor of her incredible career, the Motown legend will take home the trophy at this year's award show

By Elyse Dupre Oct 18, 2017 3:38 PMTags
Diana RossGeorge Pimentel/WireImage

Motown queen Diana Ross will receive the American Music Award for Lifetime Achievement at this year's award show for her incredible career.

"I have endless memories of all the years that I have appeared on the American Music Awards," Ross stated in a press release. "It started with Dick Clark and The Caravan of Stars and American Bandstand. It was Dick Clark who said ‘Music is the soundtrack of our lives.' So true. I am so excited to be receiving this honorable award."

According to the press release, the prestigious award is "only given to artists who have made truly exceptional contributions to the music industry."

Previous recipients of the award, formerly known as the Merit Award, include Whitney Houston, Sting, Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney.

Watch
Sting Talks Receiving AMAs Merit Award

Ross is indeed a music legend. She was the lead singer in the female Motown group The Supremes and recorded several hits, including "You Can't Hurry Love," "Stop in the Name of Love" and "Where Did Our Love Go." She later ventured off as a solo artist and performed popular songs like "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" and "I'm Coming Out."

She has received numerous honors throughout her career, including the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 55th Annual Grammy Awards and induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame along with her fellow Supremes Florence Ballard and Mary Wilson. She also won a Golden Globe for New Star of the Year in 1973 for her acting performance in Lady Sings the Blues. Talent clearly runs in the family, too. Ross' daughter Tracee Ellis Ross won a Golden Globe this year for her role in Black-ish.

This also isn't Ross' first trip to the AMAs. According to the press release, the seven-time AMA winner first attended the event in 1974 and has performed at the award show several times throughout the years. She even presented the first Dick Clark Award for Excellence to Taylor Swift in 2014.

"I am so blown away to have just received an award from Diana Ross who, just over the course of her career, stood up for herself so many times in a time when it was not popular for a woman to stand up for herself," the 1989 singer said at the time upon receiving the award. "I am so honored. Thank you for coming. You're beautiful."

The American Music Awards will be broadcasted live from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on Sunday Nov. 19 and will air at 8:00 p.m. EST on ABC.