A birth certificate, a mistake and a name that stuck

Her mother named her Diane. The birth certificate in Detroit said Diana, a mistake that nobody corrected, and while her family and friends in her hometown still call her Diane, the rest of the world knows her by the other name. Born in 1944 in the city's Black Bottom neighbourhood, she was the second of six children.

As lead singer of the Supremes she helped make Motown's most successful act of the 1960s and one of the best-selling girl groups ever, with 12 number-one pop singles on the Billboard Hot 100. She left in 1970 for a solo career, opening with “Ain't No Mountain High Enough”. Over fifteen years she recorded twelve top ten singles, six of which reached number one, including “Touch Me in the Morning”, “Love Hangover”, “Upside Down” and “Endless Love”.

Acting came next. Her first film role, as Billie Holiday in Lady Sings the Blues in 1972, won a Golden Globe and made her the first African-American actress nominated for an Academy Award for a debut film performance. The soundtrack became her only solo album to top the Billboard 200. She followed with Mahogany and The Wiz, and later with television films, one of which earned another Golden Globe nomination.

“Stop Look Listen (to Your Heart)” and “Let's Go Up” belong to the long catalogue the source describes: more than 100 million solo records sold, a top 75 hit in the UK for 33 consecutive years, and honours that run from a Special Tony Award in 1977 and the Kennedy Center Honors in 2007 to the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016. From a clerical slip in Detroit came a career that reached very far.