Diana Ross Receiving AMA Lifetime Achievement Award 2017

The legendary singer was one of the night’s performers and she was the recipient of one of the night’s biggest honors: the Lifetime Achievement award. After a stirring introduction from her youngest son Evan—and a suitably epic video detailing her amazing personal, musical and cinematic history and influence—Ross strode down a shimmering staircase to the stage to belt her euphoric 1980 hit “I’m Coming Out.” Resplendent in a purple gown, she led an ecstatic crowd through her latter-era gem “Take Me Higher” and “Ease on Down the Road,”—a track from The Wiz, the 1979 retelling of The Wizard of Oz that saw her star alongside her onetime Motown label-mate, Michael Jackson. With the energy at a fever pitch, she eased into the passionate slow-burn ballad, “The Best Years of My Life”—the lyrics taking on a special significance given the honor of the evening—before welcoming four of her grandkids to dance as she riffed on her signature song, “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.”