Originally Posted by
carole cucumber
Somehow Marv forgot to include the rest of the quote:
“We were all singing at the beginning, but Mr Berry Gordy decided that Diana had the more commercial voice, which actually ended up being the truth – and you can’t argue with the truth! After that, we became famous and it was good.
“The bad part was the fact that the other group members didn’t get the opportunity to grow as much as Diana did because we didn’t use all of our talents. That was the one thing that was hurtful. And because of that, it’s actually taken me my entire life to learn how to really sing.
In a way, that’s a good thing because now I’m almost like a new artist [laughs]. But it’s not easy trying to teach an old dog new tricks, as they say. Sometimes you can fail miserably and I have failed many times because I knew I wasn’t up to par.”
It’s a shocking confession from a member of such a globally successful group. But Wilson doesn’t shy away from admitting that she didn’t have the skills to match Ross, who went on to score solo success with hits including I’m Coming Out and Upside Down.
“When Diana left the group, I had to decide whether I wanted to continue. I did, because I loved what I was doing, but I had to have someone step in to take Diana’s place. A lot of people said to me, ‘Why don’t you do it?’ But I was like, ‘I’m not prepared to do it.’ I knew I wasn’t prepared at that time to take that on. And it was at that point that I really started developing my voice and I’ve been taking voice classes ever since.”
Could it be that Wilson lacked confidence, rather than talent?
“You could say that. But I think you could also say that I was smart enough to understand what I could and could not do at the time.
“A lack of confidence was certainly a part of it. But I realised that I didn’t have the confidence because I hadn’t developed. I think it was the smart thing to do, rather than stepping out in front and having people say, ‘She can’t handle what she’s doing.’
“Maybe I could have jumped out in front and it might have worked out, but I’m not that impetuous. I like to know what I can and can’t do. And now, I do jump in a little bit,” Wilson laughs. “I might only have a few years left. It might [[be) 25 but it might be five, so I’m gonna try and do it now!”
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