TULALIP – Ain’t no mountain high enough that Diana Ross’s daughter, Rhonda, can’t climb.

The 45-year-old singer, songwriter and actress will be opening for her legendary mother at the Tulalip Amphitheater July 2.

“It’s relatively new,” Rhonda said of them touring together. She has been singing traditional jazz for years in smaller settings. But about three years ago she expanded her music to include more rhythm and blues and funk, “which live in a bigger space.”

Her mom noticed and invited her to join her for some concerts.

“It’s special mom-and-daughter time,” Rhonda said, adding they like to have breakfast and watch movies together. “As adults you don’t always get that.”

While Rhonda does join her mom on stage, they don’t sing any duets.

“The whole idea is to let the audience see what I have to offer,” she said.

Like her mother, Rhonda loves being on stage and connecting with her audience. But she added they are quite different entertainers.

“She’s got the history and the legacy,” Rhonda said. “But she’s not as social/political. She’s not an issues person.”

That’s not to say her mom hasn’t been a force in civil rights, along with her dad, Barry Gordy, who founded Motown.

“They don’t just talk it, they walk it,” Rhonda said.

She said the songs she writes are about “grown-folk issues” – different challenges people face. As an example she brought up the recent deadly shooting in Orlando, Fla.

“How do you explain to your kids not to be terrified?” she said. “How do you explain the unexplainable to myself and the audience?”

She said her songs often have a positive message. Her favorite is “Ain’t Nobody’s Business.” It’s about people needing to take responsibility for their own happiness; others can’t do it for you.

“We are all capable of living wonderful lives, no matter what happens around us,” she said. “We all need to tap into the abundance of love within us.”

That might explain why her favorite song of her mom’s is “Take Me Higher.” The lyrics, in part, are:

“See it on the news, there’s trouble everywhere

“Gotta reach out show somebody that you care

“It ain’t good to let the bad news get us down

“Let’s spread some love around”

She then said it’s hard to pick a favorite because there are so many. But she mentioned the “Lady Sings the Blues” album and that “Remember Me always makes me cry.”

Rhonda has been singing and acting since high school and later at Brown University. “I never wanted to choose” between the two, she said.

She was successful as an actress first. She was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award in 1998 for her role as Toni Burrell on Another World. She also appeared in the movie “The Personals,” as well as The Temptations miniseries.

Rhonda was not scared to go into the entertainment business.

“It was never hectic,” she said of her life as a child. “We were her priority. If she did leave she came right back. She was not away from us too long.”

Now, Rhonda said she doesn’t know how her mom did it.

“How on earth did she accomplish” so much, Rhonda said. “She made it look easy. I have trouble doing the same thing with one kid.”

She said since there was no social media, they were able to have a life of their own.

“There was no posting every day,” she said. “It was sacred and real. We had consistency in our lives. Dinner was at 6, and we had to eat our broccoli.”

Rhonda said some of her mom’s public image is inaccurate. “She’s not a difficult diva or a nasty woman,” Rhonda said.

But she did add that her mom is a strong, black woman who doesn’t always like to do things “their way.” She said Diana has standards on how she wants to be treated, the same as many older adults do.

Rhonda didn’t mention her mom’s song, “Do you know, where you’re going to” but when it comes to this area she really doesn’t. She’s never been to the Northwest.

But she hopes it goes as well as when she performed at the Montreal Jazz Festival two years ago. Thousands of fans gave her a standing ovation, one of her best memories ever.

“Everything came together,” she said. “It was my music, my message. They heard me on my terms. They really heard me.”