RE: Berry Gordy on "adding voices"

[ejluther]

Check this out from the FUNNY GIRL liner notes [[great release, by the way):

"The fans don't mind it"? Maybe not but, to be fair, the fans didn't really know it at the time; not a lot of documentation of the "added voices" to be found on the releases...

There are lots of other great tidbits in the liner notes, too...

[milven]

Interesting that he compared the Supremes to the McGuire Sisters. They were the Supremes of the fifties. But I wish he had looked at them a little closer. The McGuire's were a true group who sang on all their hits as a group in harmony. Berry turned the Supremes into a solo with two background singers on record even though when we rarely heard them in harmony, they sounded great.

Listen to any McGuires hit and you will hear the added male voices. The McGuires sing most of the song in harmony with an occasional male background. Usually in the middle of the song, two McGuires step back and the lead Phylis Mc Guire sings her lead along with the male background singers, then her sisters join in again in harmony.

Adding extra voices to a group is common. But replacing background singers and still calling the act a group is a bit shady. Nevertheless, the final product turned out well. Love Child and Someday and other songs are some of my favorites even though they were labeled as the Supremes and in reality only one Supreme appeared on the record.