Flo - The Solo Primette

I just saw an article on the internet in relation to Mary trying to get a postage stamp for Flo. In it, it gives a mini bio on Flo and it says [[I'm paraphrasing) that two of the Primes discovered Flo, who then introduced her to Milton Jenkins. Milton was impressed by Flo, and had her perform several gigs [[solo) with the Primes. He then decided that girl groups were the thing, so Flo then reached out to Mary, who reached out to Betty and Diana.

I've never once heard that Flo performed with the Primes, prior to the Primettes. I'm guessing this might be a tall tale, in respect to the claim that Flo was the original lead singer of the Primettes, which then became the Supremes.

I'm not disputing any claim, although if Flo WAS the original lead, why wasn't she featured then on any Primettes recording? Wouldn't Diana and Mary share that distinction?

If the solo thing was true then the girl group thing was obviously a big mistake.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by marybrewster

I just saw an article on the internet in relation to Mary trying to get a postage stamp for Flo. In it, it gives a mini bio on Flo and it says [[I'm paraphrasing) that two of the Primes discovered Flo, who then introduced her to Milton Jenkins. Milton was impressed by Flo, and had her perform several gigs [[solo) with the Primes. He then decided that girl groups were the thing, so Flo then reached out to Mary, who reached out to Betty and Diana.

I've never once heard that Flo performed with the Primes, prior to the Primettes. I'm guessing this might be a tall tale, in respect to the claim that Flo was the original lead singer of the Primettes, which then became the Supremes.

I'm not disputing any claim, although if Flo WAS the original lead, why wasn't she featured then on any Primettes recording? Wouldn't Diana and Mary share that distinction?

---

I've only ever seen this scenario of the group's history in Nelson George's Motown book. In Flo's descriptions of the origins of the group, I've never read where she gave this account. To one degree or another, the three Supremes mostly tell the same origins story, with a few remixed details depending on which Supreme is telling it,: Milton asked Flo to join the group, wanted to know if she knew anyone else who could sing, Flo suggested Mary, meanwhile Paul has heard Diana singing around the neighborhood and suggested she audition. And the rest is history. Nothing to see here, folks.

Ran's story is what I am familiar with. I will add a bit to the scenario. It has been said that Betty was there when Flo and Mary showed up. I can't remember who Betty was dating at the time.

On the other side of the coin I would love for Flo to get her stamp but Melvin, David, Eddie and Paul should also.

I believe Flo was either the first or second girl to be recruited for the some sort of accompanying act to the Primes. let's face it, this was over 60 years ago so memories and details might blur with those involved, the few still living that is

I don't think it would be at all surprising the Flo might have done a gig or two with the Primes. Milton was hustling them wherever he could. If some little dive bar gave them the opportunity to sing and earn a few bucks, hell yeah they'd be there. Maybe Betty and Flo did a few duet acts. or each as a solo female singer doing a couple songs each and then the boys did a few.

And probably during the Primettes era there were times one girl couldn't/didn't show up. maybe they subbed someone in, maybe one of the Primes joined and they were a mixed backup group, or did a trio act.

These were young, young teenagers. there were no significant contracts or legal proceedings. no formal business process. they were just totally trying to figure things out as they went

in the end, my guess is that Milton figured the Primes/Primettes thing would be a nice package to sell. the boy group and girl group mix. rather than solo artists. and that's why they did it.

let's not get too sentimental about what they were doing. they were purely and simply looking for a break. whatever would get them noticed and maybe a record out. none of them assumed they'd become THE SUPREMES or THE TEMPTATIONS. they were doing whatever, whenever, however to make it work

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by sup_fan

I believe Flo was either the first or second girl to be recruited for the some sort of accompanying act to the Primes. let's face it, this was over 60 years ago so memories and details might blur with those involved, the few still living that is

I don't think it would be at all surprising the Flo might have done a gig or two with the Primes. Milton was hustling them wherever he could. If some little dive bar gave them the opportunity to sing and earn a few bucks, hell yeah they'd be there. Maybe Betty and Flo did a few duet acts. or each as a solo female singer doing a couple songs each and then the boys did a few.

And probably during the Primettes era there were times one girl couldn't/didn't show up. maybe they subbed someone in, maybe one of the Primes joined and they were a mixed backup group, or did a trio act.

These were young, young teenagers. there were no significant contracts or legal proceedings. no formal business process. they were just totally trying to figure things out as they went

in the end, my guess is that Milton figured the Primes/Primettes thing would be a nice package to sell. the boy group and girl group mix. rather than solo artists. and that's why they did it.

let's not get too sentimental about what they were doing. they were purely and simply looking for a break. whatever would get them noticed and maybe a record out. none of them assumed they'd become THE SUPREMES or THE TEMPTATIONS. they were doing whatever, whenever, however to make it work

---

In the Tempts miniseries, there was a scene showing the Primes and Primettes singing STAY together. After it aired, someone [[I forget who) said that Diana mentioned to them that the scene was fictitious as the two groups never performed together. As I recall, in her book, Mary made no mention of joint appearances either.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by reese

In the Tempts miniseries, there was a scene showing the Primes and Primettes singing STAY together. After it aired, someone [[I forget who) said that Diana mentioned to them that the scene was fictitious as the two groups never performed together. As I recall, in her book, Mary made no mention of joint appearances either.

---

very possible too. to get both groups booked at the same location could very well be challenging. it's not like they were working with big time theaters like the Howard or the Apollo. they were getting gigs at sock hops, VFW and union halls, local small bars, etc. More than anything it probably just gave Milton the option of sending guys or girls. some of the bars could probably be pretty rough and sketchy. probably not the best place to send four teen-age high school girls. send the Primes there and then the girls can do some school sock hop. now you have 2 groups earning 2 paychecks.

A question that has been on my mind for a long time is this. Did anyone ever see a performance by The Primettes or The Supremes when
they had four members. If you did and can remember please give us a review,Thanks in advance.

that would be great! what if they took a small picture or something?

I'm guessing there isn't anything in the motown vaults or else it would have been included on MTS EE. Unless there was some material and the quality was poor

Good question. The Primettes were together for 4 years with 4 members, yet we've only seen 3 or 4 photos? Surely there must be more out there?

cameras were sort of a big thing back then. they were a "special" type of gift often reserved for graduations and all. plus the cost of buying film and developing. If the girls were trying to scrounge around for bus fare to get to Hitsville or hitch hiking, i'm not too surprised they didn't have cameras.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by sup_fan

cameras were sort of a big thing back then. they were a "special" type of gift often reserved for graduations and all. plus the cost of buying film and developing. If the girls were trying to scrounge around for bus fare to get to Hitsville or hitch hiking, i'm not too surprised they didn't have cameras.

---

Very true.

I suppose access to different photos changes all the time. It is interesting that in Mary's first book, the only photo of Betty with the group was one in which she could barely be seen. Assuming Mary had a copy, it would have made more sense to go with the wedding photo Mary uses in her latest book.

Or better yet, the great photo of the Primettes that Berry used in his book, with the girls in their bobby sox and sneakers. It seemed to be professionally done. But even if it wasn't, surprising that Mary didn't have a copy of that one.

a few years back, i undertook a big project to scan in old family slides. Grandpa was BIG in photography and took lots of family pics plus lots of artistic and subject matter sessions. Some of the things scanned in were of events that maybe my parents also took pictures of - like a family reunion or Xmas. was fun sometimes seeing 2 pics of a similar shot or how one photographer captured something very different. So until we combine our household pics, these were separate. i hadn't actually seen them.

So it's certainly possible that Mary hadn't seen [[at least recently) that Primettes pic in bobby socks. i doubt it was professional, in terms of being booked and taken by a serious photographer. I'd guess that they found someone that had a personal camera and was pretty good at taking pics, had the girls get together and pose. Then the pics ended up in MOtown's archives. I don't recall but i don't think any of Mary's pics came from motown, especially given how she wasn't very flattering to Berry in her book it would be surprising that motown would give her access to the photo archives. For Berry's book, he certainly would have had access.