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Woodlawn video Famous Graves | Detroit’s Most Star-Studded Cemetery |Woodlawn | Motown Singers & Auto Magnates
https://youtu.be/uy7RS8KW7Ro
Arthur "T-Boy" Ross (1949–1996) was a highly gifted but deeply troubled Motown lyricist and singer. Though he co-wrote some of the most enduring soul classics of the 1970s, his name frequently remains in the shadow of his legendary older sister, Diana Ross.
Born in Detroit, Michigan, Arthur was the fifth of six children born to Fred and Ernestine Ross. As a young man, he was a familiar presence around the recording studios while his sister Diana achieved massive fame with The Supremes. However, Arthur gravitated toward the rougher sections and "fast lane" streets of Detroit. He possessed a multifaceted, renegade personality that was frequently exacerbated by a long-running battle with drug and alcohol abuse.
To put some distance between Arthur and the dangerous elements of Detroit, Diana brought him out to Los Angeles in the early 1970s and helped secure him a job as an appointed songwriter at Motown Records.
At Motown, Arthur teamed up with master producer and songwriter Leon Ware. The duo proved to be an exceptional creative pairing, crafting major hits for top-tier talent:
"I Wanna Be Where You Are" – Written for a young Michael Jackson, becoming a Top 20 hit in 1972.
"What Is a Heart Good For" – Recorded by The Miracles.
The I Want You Album – Ware and Ross co-wrote and co-produced the material that eventually formed Marvin Gaye’s critically acclaimed 1976 masterpiece, I Want You, including the title track and "After the Dance".
Despite his brilliant pen, Ross was notoriously volatile to work with in the studio. During the intense recording sessions for Marvin Gaye's I Want You, Ross had a major falling-out with Leon Ware and clashed directly with Gaye. Because of the friction, Ross was dismissed from the sessions and walked away from the project before its completion.
Determined to transition from a behind-the-scenes writer to a front-and-center performer, Ross released his first and only solo album for Motown, Changes, in 1979. The smooth R&B record featured contributions from legendary jazz pianist Joe Sample. It closed with the track "To The Baby," a deeply personal song Ross penned for Diana as a tribute to her first two daughters, Rhonda and Tracee.
Unfortunately, Changes flopped commercially, selling only roughly 12,000 copies. Embittered and frustrated by the inner workings of the music industry, Ross abruptly walked away from the business in the early 1980s.
He returned to Detroit and retreated into deep isolation, living off his songwriting royalties. He became intensely reclusive, completely cutting off contact with his famous sister and the rest of his family.
On June 22, 1996, Detroit police made a horrific discovery in the basement of a dilapidated home in Oak Park, Michigan. They found the decaying bodies of the 47-year-old Ross and his wife of just ten months, Patricia Ann Robinson. The couple had been bound and gagged, dying of suffocation roughly three weeks prior (estimated by the coroner to be May 30, 1996). Because of his severe isolation, his family had not even known he was missing.
At the time of his death, Ross had been scheduled to appear in a Detroit courtroom on multiple counts of controlled substance possession. While suspects were initially charged and tried for the murders, the cases ultimately resulted in acquittals, leaving the double homicide officially unsolved.
At his funeral, a heartbreaking letter written by Diana Ross was read aloud by her daughter Tracee. In it, she lamented the tragic trajectories of his life: "It breaks my heart. Why did you make the choices you made in your life? I cannot blame you for your imperfections, T-Boy."
Arthur "T-Boy" Ross is buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in Detroit, Michigan.
Woodlawn is one of Detroit's most historic and prominent cemeteries, serving as the final resting place for a massive concentration of legendary figures, including civil rights icons and iconic Motown musicians such as Aretha Franklin, David Ruffin, and James Jamerson.
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