The Supremes were a Motown all-female
singing group. Active as The Supremes from 1961 until 1977, the Supremes performed, at various times, doo-wop, pop, soul, Broadway show tunes, and disco.
One of Motown's signature acts, The Supremes were the most successful African
American musical act of the 1960s,[1] recording twelve American number-one hits
between 1964 and 1969.[1] Many of
these singles were written and produced by Motown's main songwriting and production team, Holland-Dozier-Holland. The crossover success of the Supremes during the mid-1960s paved the way
for future black soul and R&B acts to gain
mainstream audiences both in the United States and overseas.
Founded in Detroit, Michigan in 1959, The
Supremes began as a quartet called The Primettes. Founding members Florence
Ballard, Mary Wilson, Diana Ross and
Betty McGlown, all from the Brewster-Douglass public housing project in
Detroit,[2] were the sister act to The
Primes (later known as The Temptations).[2] In 1960, Barbara Martin replaced
McGlown, and the group signed with Motown in 1961 as The Supremes. Martin left in early 1962, and Ross, Ballard and Wilson
carried on as a trio. Achieving success in the mid-1960s with Ross as lead singer, Motown president Berry Gordy renamed the group Diana Ross & the Supremes in 1967 and replaced Ballard with
Cindy Birdsong. Ross left the group for a successful solo career in 1970 and was replaced
by Jean Terrell. After 1972, the lineup of the Supremes changed frequently, with
Lynda Laurence, Scherrie Payne and
Susaye Greene all becoming members before the group ended its eighteen-year existence in
1977.
History
Origins
In 1958, Florence Ballard—a junior high
school student in the Detroit Brewster-Douglass Housing Projects—met and became acquainted with Paul Williams and Eddie Kendricks, two members
of a Detroit male singing group known as The Primes.[2] Since Ballard herself also sang, as did Paul Williams' girlfriend Betty McGlown, the Primes' manager Milton Jenkins decided to create a sister group called The
Primettes.[2] Ballard recruited her
best friend Mary Wilson, who recruited classmate Diane
Ross.[2] The Primettes soon began
performing songs by artists such as Ray Charles and The
Drifters at record hops, social clubs, and talent shows around the Detroit area.[2] The group's look and style also owed much to
the inspiration of doo-wop group Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers.[3] Ballard, Ross, and Wilson shared most of the lead.
Within a few months, the Primettes added a guitarist, Marvin Tarplin, to their
lineup.[3]
After winning a local talent contest,[4] Ross arranged
an audition for an old neighbor, Miracles lead singer Smokey Robinson, in hopes of getting the Primettes signed to the local Motown label.[5] Robinson liked the girls, but liked their guitarist even more. He hired Tarplin, who
became the guitarist for The Miracles.[6] Robinson arranged for the Primettes to audition - acapella - for Motown CEO
Berry Gordy, Jr., who felt they were too young and too inexperienced to be recording
artists.[6] Undaunted, The
Primettes made a single for the Lupine label in 1960, "Tears of Sorrow", backed with
"Pretty Baby", which failed to find an audience.[7] During
that same year, McGlown became engaged and left the group,[8] to be replaced by Barbara Martin.[9]
In January 1961, Gordy finally relented and decided to sign the group to Motown after promises of oral sex from Diana and on
the condition that they change their name[10]
(the Primes had by this time combined with Otis Williams & the Distants and would soon sign to Motown as The Temptations).[11] Gordy gave
Ballard a list of names to choose from: The Darleens, the Sweet Ps, the Melodees, the Supremes, the Royaltones, and the
Jewelettes. She chose The Supremes, which both Wilson and Ross initially disliked, thinking it too masculine.[10]
Success
Between 1961 and 1963, the Supremes released eight singles, none of which charted within the Top
40 positions of the Billboard Hot 100.[1] Jokingly referred to as the "no-hit Supremes" around Motown's
Hitsville U.S.A. offices,[12] the girls tried to make up for their lack of a hit by taking on any performing chore that was
available at the studio, including doing hand claps and singing backup for Motown artists such as Marvin Gaye and The Temptations.[13][14] During
these early years, all three members took turns singing lead on various songs: Mary Wilson favoring the ballads; Florence Ballard
favoring the soulful hard-driving songs; and Diana Ross favoring the more mainstream pop songs. Most of their early material was
written and produced by Berry Gordy or Smokey Robinson.
In December 1963, the Supremes song "When The Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes", charted at number 23 on the
Billboard pop chart. "Lovelight" was the first of many Supremes songs written by the Motown songwriting and production team of
Holland-Dozier-Holland.[15] Also, in 1963, Berry Gordy made Diane Ross, now going by Diana, the official lead singer of
the group, because he felt her higher register would help the group cross over to white audiences.[16] Ballard and Wilson were
periodically given solos on Supremes albums, and Ballard continued to sing her solo number, "People", in concert for the next two years.[17]
In the spring of 1964, the Supremes recorded a single titled "Where Did Our Love
Go".[16] The song
was originally intended by Holland-Dozier-Holland for The Marvelettes, who rejected
it.[16] Although the
Supremes did not like the song, the producers coerced them into recording it.[16] In August 1964, while traveling as a part of Dick Clark's Caravan of Stars tour, "Where Did Our Love Go?" reached number one on the US pop charts,
much to the surprise and delight of the group.[18] It was
also their first song to reach the UK pop charts, going to number three.
"Where Did Our Love Go" was followed by four more US number-one hits: "Baby Love" (also a
number-one hit in the United Kingdom), "Come See
About Me", "Stop! In the Name of Love" and "Back in My Arms Again". "Baby Love" was nominated for the 1965 Grammy Award for Best Rhythm & Blues Recording, and "Stop! In the
Name of Love" was nominated for the 1966 Grammy for Best Contemporary Rock & Roll Group Vocal
Performance. After 1965, the Supremes' singles were less uniformly massive, though they regularly charted within the Top
Ten. Between late 1966 and early 1967, the Supremes charted four more number-one hits in a row: "You Can't Hurry Love", "You Keep Me Hangin' On",
"Love Is Here and Now You're Gone", and "The Happening". The combination of Holland-Dozier-Holland's songwriting and production, Ross's lead
vocals, and Wilson and Ballard's background vocals made for a winning combination.
Impact
Unlike their predecessors, the Supremes became the first black female performers of the rock era to embrace a more feminine
image. Much of this was accomplished at the behest of Motown chief Berry Gordy and Maxine Powell, who ran Motown's in-house
finishing school and Artist Development department. Also, unlike many of her contemporaries, Diane Ross sang in a thin, calm
voice, and her vocal styling was matched by having the girls embellish their own femininity instead of imitating the qualities of
male groups. Instead of the plain appearances and basic dance routines, the Supremes' on-stage appearance featured high-fashion
gowns and wigs, detailed makeup, and graceful choreography created by Motown choreographer Cholly
Atkins. Gordy wanted the Supremes, like all of his performers, to be equally appealing to black and white audiences, and
he also sought to erase the image of black performers as being unrefined or lacking class.
By 1965, the Supremes were international stars. They toured the globe, becoming almost as popular abroad as they were in
America. Almost immediately after their first number-one hits, they recorded songs for motion
picture soundtracks, appeared in the 1965 film Beach Ball, and endorsed dozens of products, even at one point
having their own brand of bread. By the end of 1966, their number-one hits also included
"I Hear a Symphony", "You Can't Hurry
Love", and "You Keep Me Hangin' On"; and their 1966 album
The Supremes A' Go-Go became the first album by an all female group to peak at
number-one on the US album chart.
Because the Supremes were popular with white audiences as well as black audiences, Gordy had the Supremes cater to their
middle American fan base, grooming them for performances at renowned
supper clubs such as the Copacabana in
New York. Broadway and pop standards were
incorporated into their repertoire alongside their own hit songs. As a result, the Supremes were among the first black musical
acts to become a complete and sustained crossover success. The black rock and roll
musicians of the 1950s saw many of their hit tunes covered by white musicians, with the covers achieving more fame and sales
success than the originals. Partially because of Diana Ross’ pop-friendly voice, The Supremes became hugely popular with
international mainstream audiences. The group broke down many racial barriers, becoming one of the first black musical acts to
appear regularly on television programs such as The
Ed Sullivan Show, Hullabaloo, The Hollywood Palace, and The Della Reese Show. The
group's crossover success helped pave the way for the mainstream success of labelmates such as The Temptations, The Four Tops, and Motown's The Jackson 5.
Name and personnel changes
By the release of the 1968 album
Reflections, The Supremes had
become
Diana Ross & the Supremes, their sound was moving towards a middle-of-the-road pop style, and Florence Ballard
had been dismissed and replaced by
Cindy Birdsong.
Personnel problems within the group and within Motown Records' stable of performers led to tension among the Supremes. Many of
the other Motown performers, particularly Martha Reeves of Martha and the Vandellas, felt that Berry Gordy was lavishing too much attention upon The
Supremes—and Diana Ross, in particular. A resulting romantic relationship between Gordy and Ross further complicated matters,
creating a divide between Ross and the other Supremes. As Ross became the focal point of the group, Florence Ballard felt pushed
aside in the group she had founded. Depression caused Ballard to start drinking
excessively, and she gained weight until she no longer could comfortably wear many of her stage outfits. The friendship, and
later the working relationship, between Ross and Ballard became strained. Although the Supremes scored two number-one hits during
the first quarter of 1967, "Love Is Here and Now You're Gone" and
"The Happening", the group as a unit began to disintegrate.
In late 1966, rumors began circulating that Motown would be renaming the group Diana Ross & the Supremes, a change
which was officially announced in early 1967, after one concert when they were billed as The Supremes with Diana Ross. The
Miracles had become Smokey Robinson & the Miracles two years prior. The fall of 1967 saw Martha and The Vandellas
become Martha Reeves & the Vandellas. However, after learning that Ross would begin receiving top billing,
David Ruffin unsuccessfully lobbied to have the Temptations renamed as David Ruffin
& the Temptations. Although Gordy maintained that the name changes were done so that Motown could demand more money for
live bookings (because they would be providing two acts – a lead singer and a group – instead of just one), the name change for
the Supremes sparked rumors of a possible Ross solo career, and helped to dismantle the group. America's favorite female trio was
now a headliner with two back-up singers.
By 1967, Ballard would sometimes not show up for recording dates or arrive at shows too inebriated to perform. For some live
shows in early 1967, she was replaced by Marlene Barrow of Motown's in house backing group, The
Andantes. In April 1967, Gordy contacted Cindy Birdsong, a member of
Patti LaBelle & the Bluebelles who superficially resembled Ballard, and began plans to bring
her in as Ballard's replacement. Birdsong stepped in for a benefit concert, sponsored by KHJ
for the United Negro College Fund at the Hollywood Bowl on April 29,1967
afterwards Cindy returned back to her group as she was still committed to the Bluebelles through the end of June. In May,
However, Florence came back to the group on what she thought was a probation just in time for a performance on The Ed Sullivan Show, another run at the Copa where a "Live" album was recorded but not released,
and an appearance on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.
June 28, 1967 marked the group's first appearance as Diana
Ross & the Supremes at the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas. After only three days of performances, Ballard was permanently dismissed from the Supremes,
and Birdsong officially assumed her place during the second show. Later in the month, Motown released "Reflections", a number-two US Billboard hit single, which was the first single to feature
the new group name. Diana Ross & the Supremes: Greatest Hits,
a number-one album in both the US and the UK, became the first album to do so when released in October of 1967.
Florence Ballard's release from Motown was made final on February 22, 1968, with Ballard receiving a one-time payment of $139,804.94 in
royalties and earnings.[19] Attempting a solo career with
ABC Records, (she rejected an offered solo contract from Motown as part of her settlement)
Ballard's two 1968 singles failed to chart and her solo album was shelved. In 1971, Ballard sued Motown for $8.7 million,
claiming that Gordy and Diana Ross had conspired to force her out of the group; the judge ruled in favor of Motown. Ballard
eventually sank into poverty, thanks largely in part to an unscrupulous husband and died on February 22, 1976 at the age of thirty-two.
(left to right) Cindy Birdsong, Mary Wilson, and Diana Ross, on the cover of the 1968
Love Child LP.
Drought
Holland-Dozier-Holland left Motown in late 1967 after a dispute with the label over royalties and profit sharing, and the
quality of Motown's output (and Diana Ross & the Supremes' records in particular) began to falter. From the release of
"Reflections" in 1967 to the release of "The Weight" in 1969, only six out of the eleven released singles reached the Top 20, and
only one of those, 1968's "Love Child", made it to number one. Because of the tension
within the group and stringent touring schedules, neither Mary Wilson nor Cindy Birdsong appear on many of these singles; they
were replaced on these recordings by session singers such as The Andantes.
The changes within the group and their decreasing sales were signs of changes within the music industry. The gospel-based soul of female performers like Aretha Franklin and
Gladys Knight of The Pips had
eclipsed the Supremes' pop-based sound, which had by now evolved to include more middle-of-the-road material. In a cultural
climate now influenced more than ever by countercultural movements such as the
Black Panther Party, the Supremes found themselves attacked for not being "black
enough", and lost ground in the black music market as a result.
In mid-1968, Motown began a number of high-profile collaborations for the Supremes with their old colleagues, The Temptations.
Besides the fact that both groups had come up together, the pairings also made financial sense, since the Supremes had a mostly
white fanbase, and the Temptations a mostly black fanbase. Among the joint projects were two studio LPs (Diana Ross & the Supremes Join the Temptations, featuring the
number-two hit single "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me", and Together), a joint tour, and two NBC
television specials, TCB (aired
December 9, 1968) and G.I.T. on Broadway (aired November 12, 1969). TCB was, also, the third Number One album for The
Supremes.
Exit Diana Ross
By 1969, Motown had begun plans for a Diana Ross solo career. A number of candidates, most notably Syreeta Wright, were considered to replace Ross as the lead singer of The Supremes. After seeing
24-year-old Jean Terrell performing with her brother Ernie in Florida, Berry Gordy decided that she would be Ross'
replacement. Terrell was signed to Motown and began recording the first post-Ross Supremes songs with Wilson and Birdsong during
the day, while Wilson and Birdsong toured with Ross at night.
At the same time, Diana Ross began making her first solo recordings. One of them, "Someday We'll Be Together", was set to be her first solo single; Gordy instead had the song
released as the final Diana Ross & the Supremes single, though neither Mary Wilson nor Cindy Birdsong sang on "Someday We'll
Be Together". In November 1969, Ross' solo career was officially announced. The next month, "Someday We'll Be Together" hit
number one on the American pop charts, becoming not only the Supremes' final number-one hit, but also the final number-one hit of
the 1960s. They performed this song, as well as a medley of their other hits, on the December
21 telecast of The Ed Sullivan Show, which would be their final
television appearance together.
The "New Supremes"
Diana Ross & the Supremes gave their final performance together on January 14,
1970 at the Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas; a
live recording of the performance was released later that year in a double-LP
box set titled Farewell. After the Frontier Hotel performance, Ross officially began
her career as a solo performer. Over the next twelve years, Ross would record six number-one Billboard pop hits on her
own, among them songs like "Touch Me in the Morning", "Love Hangover", and "Upside Down". In addition, Motown successfully
helped Ross break into acting, featuring her as the star of three Motown-produced feature films: Lady Sings the Blues, Mahogany, and
The Wiz.
As Ross prepared her debut solo album, Diana Ross, Mary Wilson and
Cindy Birdsong continued working with Jean Terrell on the first post-Ross Supremes album, Right On. The Terrell-led Supremes – known unofficially at first as "The New Supremes," and in
later years informally called the "70's Supremes" – had a few hits of their own, including the US and UK Top Twenty hits
"Up the Ladder to the Roof" (US #10, UK #6), "Stoned Love" (US #7,UK #3), and "Nathan Jones" (US #16, UK #5),
all of which were produced by Frank Wilson. Each of these three singles were
also R&B Top Ten hits, with "Stoned Love" going to number-one on the R&B charts. Songwriting/production team
Nickolas Ashford & Valerie Simpson produced another Top 20 hit for the group,
a Supremes/Four Tops duet version of Ike &
Tina Turner's "River Deep - Mountain High". Many music critics
proclaimed the "New Supremes" as a "blacker" act than the Ross-led group, if not quite as unique.
In 1972, The Supremes had their last Top 20 hit single release, "Floy Joy", written
and produced by Smokey Robinson. Motown, by then moving from Detroit to Los
Angeles to break into motion pictures, put only limited effort into promoting The Supremes' new material, and their
popularity and sales began to wane. Cindy Birdsong left the group in April 1972, after recording the Floy Joy album, to start a family; her replacement was Lynda
Laurence, a former member of Stevie Wonder's backup group, Wonderlove. Successful
producer Jimmy Webb was brought in to produce the group's next LP, The Supremes Produced and Arranged by Jimmy Webb, but the album and
its only single "I Guess I'll Miss the Man" failed to make an impact on the Billboard pop chart, with "I Guess I'll Miss the Man"
charting at number 85. In late 1973, Laurence prevailed upon her old mentor Stevie Wonder to write and produce a hit for the
Supremes, but the resulting "Bad Weather" peaked at number 87 on the US pop charts and number 37 in the UK. Dismayed by this
poor-performing record, Jean Terrell left the group and was replaced by Scherrie Payne,
sister of Invictus Records recording artist Freda
Payne. Almost immediately afterward, Laurence left for the same reason as Birdsong – to start a family – and, ironically,
was replaced by Birdsong.
Between the departures of Terrell and Laurence in 1973 and the first Supremes single with Scherrie Payne, "He's My Man", a
disco single on which Payne and Wilson shared leadin 1975, Motown was slow in producing contracts for Payne and the returning
Birdsong. Before the release of the album in 1975, The Supremes remained a popular live act, and continued touring overseas,
particularly in the United Kingdom and Japan. The group's new recordings were not as successful as their earlier releases,
although "He's My Man", from the album The Supremes reached number-one on
the US disco chart in 1975. In 1976, Birdsong, dissatisfied with the management of the Supremes
(handled at the time by Mary Wilson's then-husband Pedro Ferrer), left again and was replaced by Susaye Greene, another former member of Wonderlove. This final version of the Supremes released two
albums, High Energy (which features Birdsong on some of the tracks) and
Mary, Scherrie & Susaye, both of which reunited the Supremes with
Holland-Dozier-Holland. During that same year, the Supremes released "I'm Gonna Let My Heart Do the Walking", their final Top 40
hit.
On Sunday June 12, 1977, supported by singer/songwriter
Billy Ocean, the Supremes performed their farewell concert at the Drury Lane Theater in
London and officially disbanded. The show was originally intended as a farewell
concert for original member Mary Wilson, with Scherrie Payne and Susaye Greene continuing the group, although at that stage no
replacement member had been auditioned or named.
After their disbanding and announcements that all three members (particularly Wilson) would begin solo careers, there were
soon rumors that Payne and Greene had auditioned several candidates for Wilson's replacement, including Joyce Vincent Wilson, formerly of Tony Orlando and
Dawn. But, Motown felt that since no original member would be in the group, it was time to call it quits for The Supremes.
In 1979, Wilson had her first solo album, Mary Wilson, released by Motown, which included a single titled "Red Hot". That
same year, Payne and Greene released an album titled Partners under the names "Scherrie & Susaye". Scherrie Payne
released a single titled "Fly"; the single's b-side, "When I Looked At Your Face", was
recorded for the Jodie Foster film Moi Fleur Bleu.
Epilogue
Works inspired by The Supremes
Several fictional works show notable inspiration from the story of the Supremes. The 1976 feature film Sparkle, starring Irene Cara, features the story
