Quote Originally Posted by Ollie9 View Post
Perhaps if BG had taken just a little more interest in Mary’s potential as opposed to being totally focussed on Diana alone she might have felt a little more motivated.
She was also probably less inclined to spend those nights resting her voice as she actually got to do very little singing away from background.
For one who was supposedly less dedicated to her work, Mary always shined onstage, pushing Diana to work just that little bit harder. A fact Diana herself has admitted to.
and i don't think M and F were being excessively lazy or negligent to their careers. they were normal 22 year olds. they were wanting what is today called work life balance. it's just that in comparison to D, it was quite a difference.

Berry even mentioned the argument that you're making - that just singing ooohs and ahhhs didn't require them to rest and all. totally agree. i think though the view from Berry was neither of them were overly exertive in their quest to sing something OTHER than ooohs and ahhhs. now this is probably very much dependent on the person's perspective. M and F would probably argue they DID push to do more. whereas B's POV would be they didn't. again it's probably true that, compared to Diana's over the top push to lead and sing and dance and do everything, anyone else's approach to things would pale. If D had been pushed in to the background like M and F, perhaps she would have complained 500 times while M and F complained 10 times.

again IMO it's all about the perspective. i'm not saying that M and F were lazy or didn't push for things. they were, again, only 22 and so being able to self-guide their careers and motown and push for things and all is probably unrealistic. but the problem is, that's the side Berry was on. that's what he truly responded to. his whole family was over achievers - highly motivated, everyone doing 10,000 things at the same time, highly successful, never letting anything stop them.