Susaye Greene

Susaye Greene (born September 13, 1949), is an African-American singer, noted for being the last official member to join Motown girl group The Supremes, remaining in the group during its final years of existence from 1976 to 1977.

Biography

Early life and career

Born in Houston, Texas, she began her professional career at the age of 12 months. After moving to New York City as a teenager, she appeared in various commercials and attended and graduated from the New York City High School of Performing Arts (made famous in the musical Fame).

Prior to joining The Supremes, Greene sang with Ray Charles' Raelettes and Stevie Wonder's Wonderlove. The BBC noted "it did not go unnoticed that Susaye was the only Raelette to sing at Ray's funeral." In 1973, she sang lead as a guest vocalist on New Birth's hit "Until It's Time for You to Go" (a cover of Buffy Sainte-Marie's song). A successful singer and songwriter as well, Greene has written hit records for Michael Jackson, Deniece Williams, and many others.

Greene was a member of The Supremes from 1976 to 1977 (replacing Cindy Birdsong), and performed on their last two albums, High Energy and Mary, Scherrie & Susaye. Working alongside original member Mary Wilson and Scherrie Payne, Susaye quickly found her niche in the group and amongst the group's legions of fans. With Susaye onboard The Supremes were better than ever technically, attributable to her five-octave range, which added a new dimension to the group's live act. Susaye took lead on "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother," in the group's live shows, which never failed to garner a standing ovation, and recorded "High Energy", the title song of the High Energy album, which reached No.1 on the Disco charts.

After The Supremes

In 1979, two years after The Supremes disbanded, Greene recorded a duet album with fellow former Supreme Scherrie Payne entitled Partners under the name "Scherrie & Susaye." She also hosted her own cable television show, Hollywood Hot, and continued writing for various artists. One of her most noteworthy compositions was the track "I Can't Help It", co-written with Stevie Wonder which appeared Michael Jackson's album, Off the Wall.

While touring England in 1984 with Stevie Wonder, Greene met her present husband in London and relocated there. In 1986, she sang lead on jazz saxophonist Courtney Pine's single "Children of the Ghetto". She signed with Ian Levine's Motorcity label, based in the United Kingdom, in 1989. She released two solo singles on Motorcity - "Stop, I Need You Now" (1990) and her own version of Deniece Williams' hit "Free" (1991, which she co-wrote). At Motorcity, she also recorded the duet "It's Impossible" with Billy Eckstine. An unreleased demo recording of "Don't Pity The Fool" also exists, although no vocals were added.

Solo albums

Around the turn of the century, Greene moved back to the States, and in 2002, she finally released her first solo album, No Fear Here. Two singles and a video were released to critical acclaim. Greene penned most of the album herself.

Susaye Greene released her second solo album, Brave New Shoes, in 2005.

Album appearances

• High Energy - with The Supremes
• Mary, Scherrie & Susaye - with The Supremes
• At Their Best - with The Supremes
• Partners - duet album with former Supreme Scherrie Payne
• Songs in the Key of Life - Stevie Wonder (background vocals)
• Hotter than July - Stevie Wonder (background vocals)
• "Children of The Ghetto" - Courtney Pine, Journey To The Urge Within

Songwriting credits

• Free - Deneice Williams
• Stop! I Need You Now
• No Fear Here
• Bewitched
• I Can't Help It - Michael Jackson

Presence in the online artistic community

Susaye Greene is also a member of the world's largest online art community, DeviantArt. She joined DeviantArt on Sept. 17, 2004 under the pseudonym "supremextreme". Her DeviantArt page can be viewed at supremextreme.deviantart.com.

On Sept. 21, 2005, Susaye was featured on DeviantArt's on-site chat network, "dAmn", for one of the community's regularly sponsored "Featured Chats". She interacted with members of the DeviantArt community-at-large, answering questions about her life, career, inspirations, motivations, and her time on the art site itself.

Greene continues to be an active member on DeviantArt and is preparing 3d images of her Supremextreme character for her first short animated feature film. She is also a key figure in The one million masterpiece charity project, an online arts event aiming to raise over $6 million for global causes. Susaye is heavily involved in the marketing of the project to the artistic community.^[1] Her personal contribution can be seen here

Greene has become Ambassador to California and the World for the Goodwill Treaty for World Peace. www.goodwilltreaty.org

References

External links

• SupremeXtreme
• Susaye on MySpace
• Susaye on deviantART