Tracee Ellis Ross, the actress daughter of singer Diana Ross, has told RTÉ Entertainment that making her recording debut at age 47 in new film The High Note "happened at exactly the right time".
The film, which is available to rent from this Friday, tells the story of Grace Davis (Tracee Ellis Ross), an iconic singer who has been on the hamster wheel of a Greatest Hits tour for the past decade.
Her devoted personal assistant Maggie (Dakota Johnson) has a proposal for Grace to work on new material - but is the diva ready to leave her very comfortable comfort zone?
Diana Ross famously silenced the doubters when she made the transition from stage to screen in 1972 Billie Holiday biopic Lady Sings the Blues.
When asked whether she felt that The High Note is a case of history repeating itself, Black-ish star Ross replied: "I've never sort of thought of it like that! I do think that was a question - of could I sing? It was a really fun part of the making of this movie for me, the discovery of that.
"It was one of my biggest dreams, but also one of my biggest fears. It took me until I was 47-years-old to face that and step out into a new area. And, I guess, similar to my mom, it was a leap out into a new space for her. That went incredibly well [Diana Ross was Oscar-nominated for her performance in Lady Sings the Blues], so I am hoping by asking that question this will go incredibly well!"
Ross said she is "grateful that it's happened, and that I waited as long as I did because I feel really ready for it".
"The truth is it was so funny: I had never been in the studio, really, so I didn't know completely what I sounded like," she explained. "I knew I could carry a tune, I knew I had a good ear, but you don't really know what you sound like until you record yourself and hear it back.
"I was so tickled by the fact that I actually sound like myself. I feel like there's some singers that sing and you're like, 'Oh my God, their speaking voice is completely different from their singing voice'. So I was really tickled by the fact that I sound like myself, and I think that has a lot to do with the fact that I waited until I am a fully-formed woman and I know who I am. So the sound that's coming out of me is actually just another aspect of me."
When asked if she now planned to make an album of original material after her experience on The High Note, Ross said she "would love to".
"I think it's been a really extraordinary way to 'jump in'," she added. "I got the opportunity, the benefit of working with the best people. But again, the music I was doing was still telling the story of Grace Davis, not the story of Tracee Ellis Ross. So maybe, and I think it would be lovely. I will say that it has whet my appetite."
