what if diana went solo in late 66

[sup_fan]

we've all heard the rumor that Diana might have gone solo after You keep Me hangin on.

what do you think the Sups would have done? who at motown would have been a solid 3rd member to join the act? maybe Tammie Terrell? i don't know that songs like Reflections would have worked without Diana but what were other groups doing that might have worked?

[RanRan79]

what do you think the Sups would have done?

Gone on vacation for a couple months to wait for Diana to fall on her face and have to return to the group.:p

All jokes aside, I believe the thought may have crossed Gordy's mind, but it was never a real option. She wasn't anywhere near ready.

But if she had gone solo, I'm not sure the Supremes would have continued on. I think Flo and Mary would have been given solo deals too. Whether or not Motown would have been much invested in Flo and Mary's solo careers paying off is another issue altogether. Keep in mind, Diana had approximately two years of her name being separated from the Supremes, and DRATS presented itself in a whole different manner than the Flo Supremes did. So when it was announced that Diana was leaving, I think the public was prepared to the extent that they could look back over the last two years and go "Well we should have seen that coming".

For Diana to abruptly leave at the end of 1966, I don't think it would have worked for any of them. The only thing PR wise would have been for all three to move on. However, if Diana were to be replaced, I think at that point, Flo and Mary weren't going to go for anyone who was going to come in and treat the Supremes as a launch pad. Flo especially would have probably had an issue with a new girl coming in and singing all the leads.

Best case scenario for a Flo and Mary Diana-less Supremes would be replacing Diana with someone already stage ready. She'd probably have to be capable of sharing lead singing duties with the other two. I supposed their structure would have been more Marvelettes like, just more sophisticated and showbizzy. I could see the Diana-less Supremes doing "Hunter Gets Captured By the Game", with Mary leading, or "Honey Chile" by Martha and the Vandellas with Flo on lead. HDH would probably have continued to write for them up until their own exit, as I suspect they would have also been tasked with Diana's initial solo stuff.

[jobeterob]

Several years ago, I was told by a Universal employee that this is effectively what happened in 1967 - my memory of the comment was "we don't want to say so publicly; we'll have to duck very quickly".

[RanRan79]

Luckily for us fans, after all the years of getting to know the voices, we know that Mary and Cindy were no strangers to the studio after Florence left. Mary and Cindy didn't sing on singles, but they worked regularly in the studio. Of course they weren't anywhere near as prolific as Flo and Mary. While Flo and Mary were occasionally replaced in the studio, they did the most background work. On the other hand, the Scherrie groupings appear to be the only groupings that were never replaced. They just didn't record as many songs as the other groupings.

[sup_fan]

Luckily for us fans, after all the years of getting to know the voices, we know that Mary and Cindy were no strangers to the studio after Florence left. Mary and Cindy didn't sing on singles, but they worked regularly in the studio. Of course they weren't anywhere near as prolific as Flo and Mary. While Flo and Mary were occasionally replaced in the studio, they did the most background work. On the other hand, the Scherrie groupings appear to be the only groupings that were never replaced. They just didn't record as many songs as the other groupings.

true. M and C were on a lot of material. seems like about half of the tracks on a standard studio album were M and C. they're on the duets, but additional voices are there too. all of the lip sync content for tv show were just MDC like the Fats Waller medley, TCB, Irving Berlin, etc. so it's not like M and C weren't singing at all.

and a lot of the material DRATS did was still heavy 3 part work. Again with Fat Waller, Diana is clearly the spotlight but M and C shine brightly and diana's success is greatly assisted by the success of the group

[sup_fan]

Gone on vacation for a couple months to wait for Diana to fall on her face and have to return to the group.:p

All jokes aside, I believe the thought may have crossed Gordy's mind, but it was never a real option. She wasn't anywhere near ready.

But if she had gone solo, I'm not sure the Supremes would have continued on. I think Flo and Mary would have been given solo deals too. Whether or not Motown would have been much invested in Flo and Mary's solo careers paying off is another issue altogether. Keep in mind, Diana had approximately two years of her name being separated from the Supremes, and DRATS presented itself in a whole different manner than the Flo Supremes did. So when it was announced that Diana was leaving, I think the public was prepared to the extent that they could look back over the last two years and go "Well we should have seen that coming".

For Diana to abruptly leave at the end of 1966, I don't think it would have worked for any of them. The only thing PR wise would have been for all three to move on. However, if Diana were to be replaced, I think at that point, Flo and Mary weren't going to go for anyone who was going to come in and treat the Supremes as a launch pad. Flo especially would have probably had an issue with a new girl coming in and singing all the leads.

Best case scenario for a Flo and Mary Diana-less Supremes would be replacing Diana with someone already stage ready. She'd probably have to be capable of sharing lead singing duties with the other two. I supposed their structure would have been more Marvelettes like, just more sophisticated and showbizzy. I could see the Diana-less Supremes doing "Hunter Gets Captured By the Game", with Mary leading, or "Honey Chile" by Martha and the Vandellas with Flo on lead. HDH would probably have continued to write for them up until their own exit, as I suspect they would have also been tasked with Diana's initial solo stuff.

it would be interesting to wonder about what other producers might have had a shot at the reformatted Sups. just like in 1970, the company would have wanted the reformed group to succeed at least a bit in order to avoid blame shot to Diana.

Tammie would have been a DR clone visually and vocally. Ain't No Mountain was originally recorded as a Tammi solo. perhaps that could have been the lead single for a new Sups. have them work with Harvey Fuque and A&S

[marybrewster]

One interesting thought is:

Had Diana left in 1966, do you think she would have stayed connected to HDH? They clearly knew how to bring out the best in her. Although flip flopped, I think "The Happening" would have been a good final single, and "Love Is Here" would have been a good debut single.

Would Diana's "sound" have changed that much; still heavy on the female background singers? As it was, her 1970 and 1971 singles COULD have passed at DRATS singles.

Now the bigger question: what if Diana flopped and The Supremes flourished? Granted, that was NEVER going to happen, but, what if?

[RanRan79]

One interesting thought is:

Had Diana left in 1966, do you think she would have stayed connected to HDH? They clearly knew how to bring out the best in her. Although flip flopped, I think "The Happening" would have been a good final single, and "Love Is Here" would have been a good debut single.

Would Diana's "sound" have changed that much; still heavy on the female background singers? As it was, her 1970 and 1971 singles COULD have passed at DRATS singles.

Now the bigger question: what if Diana flopped and The Supremes flourished? Granted, that was NEVER going to happen, but, what if?

I think absolutely HDH would have been in charge of Diana's early solo work. It would've been the dumbest move ever to take her away from the writing and producing team that basically made her a star.

I wouldn't say it was "never" gonna happen that Diana flopped and the Supremes flourished. I think the 1970-72 period proves that Diana wasn't the force she was predicted to be. Lady Sings the Blues set Diana on a whole other path. Without it, she may not have become the solo legend we know and love, despite the early success of her first two singles. The 1970s has Diana hitting number one a handful of times and "flopping" through everything else. If not for the luck of those number ones every couple years...yikes!

I think Supfan is right, that, just like the early Jean years, Motown would have been invested in the Diana-less Supremes succeeding, if only to ensure no backlash against Ross. Had Gordy been unable to secure success for Diana, and the Supremes somehow managed to maintain their biggest female group ranking, I don't see him pulling support. I actually see him doing what I opined previously in the forum: if Diana didn't pay off, he would've dropped her like a hot potato.