Motown/Disco/Supremes

[Bluebrock]

To bad Mary doesn't plan a reunion with these ladies now. I think they would Rock it

Susaye said she would be up for it. Mary didn't seem quite as keen when I asked her earlier this year. Not sure about Scherrie.

[sup_fan]

i think a MSS reunion would not be wildly successful, except to a core of the fan base. Was anyone at the Scherrie and Susaye event a year or two ago? heard it was lightly attended. while I adore this lineup's recordings, their output is not recognized widely and so unless it was at a small club or intimate setting in a NY or LA, I doubt it would be worth the costs, logistics, rehearsal and effort.

it might have been more impactful with the release of the Jean and Scherrie sets to do some press events with that. They could do 2 or 3 songs, sign autographs, promote the releases, etc. but Mary skipped out on the Jean one and Cindy was not available for the Scherrie one.

[sup_fan]

back to the original topic

i'm surprised Motown never did any 12" remixes of the Sup songs from the era. With the songs doing very well on the Dance Charts, it would have made sense.

Also from previous threads on here, Motown did not want to pursue another lineup of Sups when Jean and Lynda left. Story goes that Berry finally gave in to Mary and signed them, guess he felt he owed her. So they recorded the Sup 75 lp with a variety of producers to see what might generate interest. when the Holland productions proved pretty good and fan/disco response was quite strong, Motown figured maybe they could bring the group back and it could be a strong disco act. that's when Motown offered to re-manage the group. they could see that Pedro was already f'ing things up and the problems were quickly mounting. Motown felt there was an opportunity to make money and wanted Scherrie on lead. When mary and Pedro said no to the management and insisted mary lead, that pretty much made Motown wash their hands

so the story goes at least

[Bluebrock]

back to the original topic

i'm surprised Motown never did any 12" remixes of the Sup songs from the era. With the songs doing very well on the Dance Charts, it would have made sense.

Also from previous threads on here, Motown did not want to pursue another lineup of Sups when Jean and Lynda left. Story goes that Berry finally gave in to Mary and signed them, guess he felt he owed her. So they recorded the Sup 75 lp with a variety of producers to see what might generate interest. when the Holland productions proved pretty good and fan/disco response was quite strong, Motown figured maybe they could bring the group back and it could be a strong disco act. that's when Motown offered to re-manage the group. they could see that Pedro was already f'ing things up and the problems were quickly mounting. Motown felt there was an opportunity to make money and wanted Scherrie on lead. When mary and Pedro said no to the management and insisted mary lead, that pretty much made Motown wash their hands

so the story goes at least

I'm afraid you have pretty much hit the nail on the head with your assessment. It pretty much tallies up with what I have been told by two well placed sources. It was before I became involved at Motown but survivors from the time have told me how the demise of the Supremes came about. Well stated sup fan.

[Jimi LaLumia]

true, there never were the standard 12 inch singles released on The Supremes at all..never dawned on me at the time.. DJs had to play them off the album which Im sure didnt make many of them happy in a 12 inch remix world of that time

[marybrewster]

When mary and Pedro said no to the management and insisted mary lead, that pretty much made Motown wash their hands

so the story goes at least

I don't doubt what you are saying as true, but the devil's advocate in me questions: did Mary REALLY have that much pull to say NO to Motown?

The bottom line, I think is, that Mary herself didn't want to change. Not the name. Not the sound. Not the image. She was living in 1976 like it was 1966. Except the champagne no longer was flowing. Basically everything she had taken for granted a decade before she now had to work for.

I mean, this is a woman that even in the 1980's was still wearing 60's and 70's Supremes gowns. If not with MSS, then at least when she struck out on her own, Mary should have ditched the gowns. And for sure ditched the 2 backup singers.

[Jimi LaLumia]

I think that is correct

[sup_fan]

Mary B - excellent points too. I'm going to guess that by 1973, mary was pretty worried. what would she do if not singing with the Sups? It had gotten to the point where Motown was done with the group. As were Jean and Lynda. so now where would that leave Mary? she had little to no major name recognition to establish somewhere else as a solo star. no tv or movie track record to go into that industry. This all begs the question as to whether Mary and Cindy "ruined" the hope for the Sups by no accepting Syreeta. I know i'm being VERY strong there, almost shocking! hehehe and I don't disagree with their decision to stay with jean. but by doing so they essentially killed off whatever minimal interest Berry and therefore Motown would have in the group post Diana. Everyone knows that no group lasts forever. they could have had more foresight to plan for the future by keeping in good graces with management

just an observation

[Jimi LaLumia]

well that's it..people act like Gordy wasn't the employer and everyone else was employees..well, they WERE!!

[daviddh]

BG once said If you do what I say ,Ill take you with me......the original line up did and was very successful but in the 70s,i think MW refused to go along with the program and found herself on the wrong side of the studio...so to speak

[Ollie9]

BG once said If you do what I say ,Ill take you with me......the original line up did and was very successful but in the 70s,i think MW refused to go along with the program and found herself on the wrong side of the studio...so to speak

I really don't think it fair to blame everything on Mary. She fought very hard to keep the Supremes going when Motown could not have cared less. I can well understand how she must have felt wary when Gordy surprisingly declared renewed interest in the group. Perhaps it was the wrong decision for the Supremes at the time, but clarity is easy in the full light of hindsight.

[blackguy69]

I really don't think it fair to blame everything on Mary. She fought very hard to keep the Supremes going when Motown could not have cared less. I can well understand how she must have felt wary when Gordy surprisingly declared renewed interest in the group. Perhaps it was the wrong decision for the Supremes at the time, but clarity is easy in the full light of hindsight.

I agree 100%. It's easy for everyone here to give their opinion, you've seen the story from start to finish, then give your opinion on what Mary should have or shouldn't have done. Those who know individuals who were around then might give a bit of the story here and there but more than likely don't know the full situation so we form our conclusions on a partial story. If anyone of us were in the same situation how would we respond?

[marv2]

I agree 100%. It's easy for everyone here to give their opinion, you've seen the story from start to finish, then give your opinion on what Mary should have or shouldn't have done. Those who know individuals who were around then might give a bit of the story here and there but more than likely don't know the full situation so we form our conclusions on a partial story. If anyone of us were in the same situation how would we respond?

Bravo!!!!!!!!!!