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SUPREMES -
It all started
at the end of the 50s in Detroit. When you read books about this era it
sounds like there were groups singing on every street corner......maybe
there were, I don´t know. Anyway Mary Wilson and Florence Ballard became
best friends at school. They decided to start singing in a group and their
friend Betty McGlown joined them. At this time almost all groups were
4 or 5 members.. What to do? A friend of theirs suggested a newcomer to
the area, Diane Ross, and that was it. A male group in the same project
called themselves the Primes (later The Temptations), so the name for
the girls came naturally - The Primettes. The year was 1959.The girls
sang at local parties, hops, and school dances. Betty said she wanted
to leave the group and have a family, she did and became Betty Travis
They asked another girl, Barbara Martin to join , and they were 4 again.
And it was 4 girls that one day did step in to the office of the new black
record company, Hitsville USA - Motown - looking for contract. Mary and
Diane was only 14 and Flo was 15, so they were asked to come back after
finishing high school. But they did return almost everyday after school
to the house at West Grand Boulevard . They had some smaller parts in
the studio with some backups and handclappings. In December 1960 the girls did record a single - I Want A Guy / Never Again, with Diane on the lead. In January 1961 the girls were asked to come to Mr. Berry Gordy Jr´s office - the owner . He told them, that if they wanted a contract with the company they had to change the name of the group.Quickly the girls started to think of different names, even though they did like the name the Primettes. January 15th 1961 ,4 girls with their mothers came back to Mr. Gordy to sign the contract...and the name....nothing was decided yet....but Flo had the list with the different proposals.....she said let´s take the Supremes , and the contracts were signed. Lots of
songs were recorded, some were released but lots of them are still in
the Motown vaults. The single, Buttered Popcorn, with Flo on lead, didn´t
work that good either.
Early spring
1964 the Marvelettes (Please Mr Postman, you know!)were asked by H-D-H
to record a song. But the tough girls in Marvelettes with a lot of hit
records at the time said no to this teen/pop song. H-D-H told the Supremes
this is your new single release. They recorded the song with Diane on
lead and all 3 of the girls were depressed that they had to record this
stupid song the other girls refused, with lyrics just repeating....baby,
baby, baby........where did our love go ? 1967, Flo was replaced by Cindy Birdsong. There are many speculations about why? And I think the answers are speculation, too. At the same time the group changed its name to Diana Ross and the Supremes. Florence Ballard died in 1976 from a heart attack. A lot of things happened , times were changing. The team of H-D-H left Motown in anger. The hits ceased. You can blame a lot on Motown, which hired studio singers to sing back up for Diana Ross, so on the last recorded songs with the Supremes, you can´t hear Mary and Cindy. Rumours said Diana was supposed to leave for a solo carreer. A new # 1 came in 1968 - "Love Child", and finally at the end of October 1969, at same time as "Someday We´ll Be Together" became a new # 1 song, the news was released - Diana Ross is leaving and the Supremes will go on as a trio - The Supremes. January 14th, 1970 the group had their farewell performance at Frontier Hotel, one of Las Vegas' many hotels and clubs. Through the years, the group succeeded with 12 # 1 songs and 25 best-selling albums.
The solo
career for Diana was not a big hit as Motown thought. Ticket sales for
the opening night were poor - Mr. Gordy had to walk around and tear dollarbills
into 2 pieces. He gave away one piece and said to people, come to the
show tonight and you can pick up the other part of the bill.....the opening
night was sold out! And the hits came later. But I don´t think they had this trick in mind during the flop-tour "Return to love " that Diana was touring with in USA at the beginning of the summer 2000, the year Diana wanted to step back in the name Supremes again after 30 years. Rumours about this tour started early and plans were made and when almost everything was set up, Mary Wilson and Cindy Birdsong ( a minister today) were asked to join. To a bid, low under what Diana was offered $ 3,000,000 against $ 15,000, 000. At the end, it wasn´t money that was the reason for Mary to hesitate. She was the founder of the group and the one that have kept the group alive through the years and the fighter against all the "fake-groups " touring all over the world. She considered that she should have been asked earlier about the planning of the tour. Mary and Cindy were not asked twice. Instead Diana hired Scherrie and Lynda-- 2 of the girls that had been in the Supremes with Mary during the 70s , but never with Diana, and the name of the tour did change from Reunion Tour to "Return to Love Lour ". Grand arenas were booked and ticket prices were sky-high and the fans (yes the Supremes' fans) failed to buy tickets. And after two of the concerts were canceled, the rest of the tour was canceled. The reviews from the American press had been half-hearted. They blamed Diana for the failure and asked - where is Mary Wilson ? Where is the love and the soul?
Marys homepage http://www.marywilson.com Mary Wilson
International Fan Club Great UK CD seller http://www.soulsearchingplus.co.uk/ A lot of great records with the Supremes are on CD today. BUT wait and BUY the BOX SET - The SUPREMES - to be released August 29th 2000. There will be almost everything + some extra. The first 25 000 boxes will include an extra CD with unreleased live recordings..* |
Ulf Wahlberg is
a big fan of Mary Wilson and The Supremes. He also meets her in private life
when she visits Sweden and Stockholm.
Early
spring 1962 Barbara left the group (already married and pregnant)
and after this, the group stayed as a trio. The recordings continued
and Motown-Tour tours did travel around the country with "one-night-stands
".These tours would have been something special today.......Supremes,
Temptations,Marvelettes,Martha and the Vandellas, Marvin Gaye, Mary
Wells, Stevie Wonder........I wonder what ticket prices would have
been today ? During these years the Supremes were called the "No-Hit
" Supremes by the friends and artists at the company, not one
of the singles were hits and Diane (who had changed her name to Diana)was
on lead on all songs.
During
this time the tour was on the road, Motown released the new single in
June, "Where did our love go?"........and as the tour
went on the Supremes became more and more popular as they sang that song
. And in August the song was #1 on the Top Lists and the Supremes were
the group that ended the show with top billing.The first million seller
was here. And Dick Clark had USA´s most popular group on tour -
for nothing. 
Jean
Terrell replaced Diana as a new lead in the group and until 1977 the members
changed some - Scherrie Payne, Lynda Lawrence, Susaye Greene are names
of members that have been coming and going up to 1977 in London when the
group was disbanded. But the group released a lot of hit records during
the years after Diana left the group, Up the Ladder to the Roof, Nathan
Jones, Stoned Love, Everybody´s Got the Right to Love, Floy Joy,
Bad Weather, I´m Gonna Let My Heart Do the Walking, You´re
My Driving Wheel .....just to name a few . 12 album were recorded, too.
Some
papers made headlines with help from # 1 songs:
I
know that Mary will continue to keep the name Supremes high and fight
for its continued existence. The group has recieved all the highest honors
through the years like an own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and
induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Mary is not the one that
give it up, even after many set-backs through the years. She is today
a student at New York University, performing more than ever, has been
in 3 Off-Broadway shows, released 2 CDs and some singles and is the author
of 2 (3) best selling books about the years with the Supremes. She will
take care of everything as she promised Florence at the funeral of Flo:
Don´t worry, Flo - I´ll take care of it - we are terrific.
I know I can trust in you Mary - I love you!!! 