MIXED MEDIA : <i> A occasional look at pop-related books, videos and laser discs that are of special commercial and/or critical interest. The rating system: five stars (a classic) to one star (poor). </i> : *** “CALL HER MISS ROSS” By J. Randy Taraborrelli <i> Birch Lane Press</i> ($21.95)

The Lady will indeed sing the blues if Diana Ross reads this exhaustively detailed, but unauthorized biography, which--for its many even-handed touches--paints an inevitably damning portrait of the ex-Supreme as an arrogant woman obsessively consumed with her own glamour and stardom. The trouble is that there’s no classic tragedy built into the story: Ross, as portrayed by Taraborrelli (a former editor of Soul magazine), was unusually vain and ambitious even as a scrawny teen, so scant personality development emerges over the sprawling course of this 500-plus page rags-to-riches tale. Even so, this account of her colorful life is well-paced and absorbing, and benefits from a thoughtful understanding of the racial conditions buttressing Motown’s foundations and Ross’s continued allure.