Odd Supremes Question For Fans

[Lulu]

Hi everyone, I'm new to this forum but was reading some of the threads and have what may be an odd question. I am a big Supremes fan and they and the Temptations are my favorite Motown acts. Naturally, my favorite Supremes records are with the original lineup of Diana, Mary and Florence. I also enjoyed the later records with Cindy Birdsong and have a fondness for the group's later incarnations with Jean Terrell, Lynda Laurence, Scherrie Payne and Susaye Greene.

I noticed on the boards a lot of Supremes fans don't particularly like Diana Ross which seems odd to me since she was the lead singer on all of the group's biggest hits. Some seem to be bigger fans of the girls who sang in the background which I guess is OK but how can you be a Supremes song and not like the voice of the lead singer? Do you mute it out when you listen and only listen to the backgrounds or do you just listen to the 70s Supremes?

[smark21]

This thread has the potential to get very ugly.

[milven]

... I'm new to this forum ...I noticed on the boards a lot of Supremes fans don't particularly like Diana Ross ...

Well, you are new here, and a post like yours can instigate trouble from a few. But very few Supremes fans here dislike Diana Ross. If you are a fan of the group, then, as you said, how can you not like the members? Of course, there are exceptions to every rule.

I've been a fan of the Supremes from their beginnings to their end in 1977 and a fan of each configuration. Mary was the constant in each configuration and when I saw the group perform live or on TV, I always watched Mary [[camera permitting).

Since the group broke up, I've seen Diana solo many many times and have seen Mary in concert, in off broadway plays and at a lecture. Most fans of the Supremes may have a favorite. But to boost that favorite , we do not have to say anything negative about any other Supreme. To do that is to tarnish the Supremes legacy. How can you profess to be a fan of the Supremes and then knock down its members.

You are new here and there are a few posters here who will knock down one Supreme in order to build up their favorite. We try to ignore those few.

I am fan of the Supremes and like all of them. Whenever any of them is performing in my area, I try to see them. And on the rare occasion that they release a CD or a single, I usually buy it.

Welcome to SDF

[RossHolloway]

Well, you are new here, and a post like yours can instigate trouble from a few. But very few Supremes fans here dislike Diana Ross. If you are a fan of the group, then, as you said, how can you not like the members? Of course, there are exceptions to every rule.

I've been a fan of the Supremes from their beginnings to their end in 1977 and a fan of each configuration. Mary was the constant in each configuration and when I saw the group perform live or on TV, I always watched Mary [[camera permitting).

Since the group broke up, I've seen Diana solo many many times and have seen Mary in concert, in off broadway plays and at a lecture. Most fans of the Supremes may have a favorite. But to boost that favorite , we do not have to say anything negative about any other Supreme. To do that is to tarnish the Supremes legacy. How can you profess to be a fan of the Supremes and then knock down its members.

You are new here and there are a few posters here who will knock down one Supreme in order to build up their favorite. We try to ignore those few.

I am fan of the Supremes and like all of them. Whenever any of them is performing in my area, I try to see them. And on the rare occasion that they release a CD or a single, I usually buy it.

Welcome to SDF
Great post. I feel the same way about all the Supreme's and Motown in general.

[warehserat2911]

Beautifully put, Milven. I am a huge Diana Ross fan but that does not mean I love any of the other ladies less.

[Lulu]

Thank you all for putting it out there so nicely. My first exposure to this debate was over on YouTube and someone named TWTR4EVER was posting some really mean things and I thought this would be a more productive place to talk about the ladies...ALL of them :)

BTW, I just got a Japan of "Partners" by Scherrie and Susaye - what a good album!

[thomas96]

Well I don't dislike any of the members I am just neutral on all of them equally. I can see why people don't like Diane though. They could easily feel that she overshadowed the other members and did whatever necessary to be a star herself. And the stories of her traveling in a separate limo and staying in a different hotel room. People can like the songs without loving her. And I can see how people could just like Diane because of her voice and her "stardom." I am neutral on it all though and feel they are all just okay. Guys like Bobby Taylor, Shorty Long, Jr Walker deserve the stardom that the Supremes got way more than the Supremes do in my opinion.

[jobeterob]

Milven nailed it with that excellent post ~ that is a "blow it out of the park" post.

Welcome Lulu. As the posters have said, most of us love all of Motown, Berry and all the Gordys, all the Temptations, Supremes, Diana Ross and all the rest of the artists.

If the Supremes and especially Diana flagshipped things and opened Motown to the masses, we are all the luckier for it.

[RossHolloway]

Lulu- One of the tells of a DR hater is someone who always spell her name DianE. As if they personally know her, and yet they always spell Marvin's name with an "E".

[thomas96]

Lulu- One of the tells of a DR hater is someone who always spell her name DianE. As if they personally know her, and yet they always spell Marvin's name with an "E".

I spell her name with an E not because I'm a "hater" but because that was her name as a Supreme. She became Dian"a" only because of BG and to appeal to the public. To everyone she knew she was known as Dian"e" because that was her name. I type it like this because whenever I write something about her, I'm writing about her and not her Dian"a" star persona. No, I don't personally know her, but I do have a right to type her name however I like, as does everyone else who types it as Dian"e."

[carole cucumber]

Thomas 96, I don't think RossHolloway was speaking about you. You have never come across as a Ross-hater, in any way. Please note the case of the final vowel [[e) in Miss Ross' first name that he posts. Yours is not capitalized. A few others do regularly and very often in posts that they hope will help them to trump one Supreme over another/others.

[Jimi LaLumia]

well then, the Diane people should start to call Stevie Wonder, Junior Walker, etc by their REAL names as well..
the Diane people [[all 14 of them ) tried to trivialize Miss Ross, the biggest and best star to ever come out of Motown, and how did 'karma' reward them?
With the monster hit show [[eventually motion picture) MOTOWN: THE MUSICAL..which is a giant fan letter to Miss Diana Ross... no Diane mentioned round there, y'all!!..ha ha..

[Lulu]

I'm confused...I always thought "Diana" was the name on her birth certificate but she went by "Diane" as a kid and maybe more casually to her friends and family. On the albums, even the earliest, her name is listed as Diana Ross, I think. We never knew her as "Diane" and we had all the old LPs when I was growing up and watched the TV programs.

[milven]

Due to a clerical error, the name on her birth certificate is Diana even though her mother intended to name her Diane. Since the error was never corrected by Diana's parents, their intentions are void and her legal name was always Diana. Her family and friends called her Diane. I imagine that school teachers called her Diana since that was her legal name. She was even listed in her yearbook as Diana. She, Motown, and Berry decided to use it as her professional name too.

Lauren Bacall's friends call her Betty, her birth name. The general public doesn't. The majority of the general public call Diana by her chosen professional name. Some don't. That's their right.

[Methuselah2]

The issue of Diana/Diane has always been an interesting to me. And I know there are various reasons why people refer to her as one over the other. So be it.

But one point about it continually seems to be overlooked: She has chosen to use Diana. And for someone other than those associated with her personally to deem to use something else only seems to come off as a sign of disrespect, whether intentional or not.

How anyone can rationalize using something other than Diana since it's clear that's what she prefers is very hard to figure.

Or maybe it isn't.

[Lulu]

A lot of my friends have their own "divas" that they love and collect and it always amuses me when they talk about them so emphatically...as if they "know" them! However, I never heard my friends call Judy Garland "Baby Frances Ethel" or Tina Turner "Anna Mae"!!!

[milven]

But one point about it continually seems to be overlooked: She has chosen to use Diana. And for someone other than those associated with her personally to deem to use something else only seems to come off as a sign of disrespect, whether intentional or not.

.


Diana... decided to use it as her professional name too.






How anyone can rationalize using something other than Diana since it's clear that's what she prefers is very hard to figure.

Or maybe it isn't

My older brother was called Junior by friends and relatives even as a teenager. When he told us to call him by his given name, we did, out of respect for his wishes. So maybe it isn't to hard to figure out why

[thomas96]

Thomas 96, I don't think RossHolloway was speaking about you. You have never come across as a Ross-hater, in any way. Please note the case of the final vowel [[e) in Miss Ross' first name that he posts. Yours is not capitalized. A few others do regularly and very often in posts that they hope will help them to trump one Supreme over another/others.

That may be but the post implied that anyone who spells it with an "e" in general is a Supremes hater. I've seen a lot of people post "Diane" without the capital "E" who come across as Ross-haters so I thought that the reason RossHolloway capitalized it was just to point it out better. Regardless, you may be right.

And to Jimi LaLumia the difference is Ms Ross had always gone by Diane even during her early tenure at Motown and it was changed to make her a star after the Supremes became huge. Stevie's and Marvin's were both last name changes [[which were changed before they hit big) which didn't affect how others close to them addressed them, and Jr. Walker's name was that since he was a child. What was on her birth certificate is completely beside the point, because she had ALWAYS gone by Diane, until stardom came. AND, does it really matter what we call her? Why do you care if I call her Diane? What is so wrong with that?

[Methuselah2]

Thomas - I think the only thing wrong with using Diane is that she goes by Diana. It's as simple as that. To devote one iota of thought as to why Diane can be used instead turns something into an issue that really isn't one. Since the Diana choice was long since made, using anything else just seems so wrong-headed to me since there's one compelling reason not to.

[marv2]

Do any of you feel that there is malice involved when people refer to Katherine Anderson as "Kat"? I know that there is a recent thread here on the Motown Forum that uses the name "Kat" and I didn't see anyone post their concerns about disrepect towards Ms. Anderson.

[Jimi LaLumia]

most folks, when calling her Kat, aren't couching that 'name' in a vicious, crazed attack..
and anyone who thinks that changing her name to "Diana" made her a STAR is 'way out there'!!!..I would have bought those records as I heard them on the radio if the singer was Ethel Ross... how come Diana Dors, Diana Sands, etc never became huge stars with the magic name?.. or maybe the actress Diane Lane would get more work if she became Diana Lane!! some people, if you'll pardon the phrase, come off as truly 'nuts' round here...lol..

[ejluther]

I think it's also viable to separate the art from the artist; it's possible to love the music and not like the people who make it. It makes enjoying the music more difficult, I imagine, but not impossible. I can't help but think of Michael Jackson - you can love his music even if you're bothered by and/or believe all the negative aspects of his life. John Lennon [[at least early in his life - he apparently did change), Ike Turner, David Ruffin and Miles Davis, too - apparently not "good" men [[especially to the women in their lives) but amazing musicians and performers. I'm sure there are many, many more examples, too. Even someone like Justin Bieber! You can hate him but still be drawn in by his music. And it's not just music, of course, movies [[Woody Allen), sports [[Michael Vick), politics [[Bill Clinton), etc. - I think people naturally separate people from the work/art they do, especially if that work/art they do is something as wonderful as a Motown song.

Plus, clearly, for some it's just "fun" to hate Diana Ross. I, for one, really enjoy her music and her persona but also see where she invites criticism. For her sake I do wish she had made choices in her career/life that made it easier for others to be happy for her amazing success. It seems to me that Beyoncé has [[consciously or unconsciously) learned from that and tried her best to keep people around her happy for her tremendous success...

[thomas96]

I'm done with this pointless conversation. If anyone has any issue with me typing Diane they can suck it up.

[jobeterob]

The only time using Diane is questionable is when it is used by a crazed fan to be negative.

That seems to be much reduced lately; did something happen?

[LuvHangOva]

lol... The Lady is almost 70 years old, an unparalleled success, icon and legend. Like she probably gives a flyin rat's butt what ya call her.....

Whatever makes ya feel good... just use that... lol

[marv2]

lol... The Lady is almost 70 years old, an unparalleled success, icon and legend. Like she probably gives a flyin rat's butt what ya call her.....

Whatever makes ya feel good... just use that... lol

Exactly! Diane could care less about this and many other things.....