Diana Ross and the Supremes - Most Consequential Girl-Group Ever?

[PeaceNHarmony]

If not, who else?

[luke]

No question. Most successful in history. Most copied...iconic. I certainly would think The Shirelles come next. But the Supremes alone in the stratosphere!

[marv2]

No question. Most successful in history. Most copied...iconic. I certainly would think The Shirelles come next. But the Supremes alone in the stratosphere!

But these guys always pretend that all those groups in the 70s were better than the Supremes. LOL!

[marybrewster]

I'd say it's a progression of success: the Shirelles opened the door for the Supremes; the Supremes opened the door for the Three Degrees; the Three Degrees opened the door for the Pointer Sisters; the Pointer Sisters opened the door for TLC; TLC opened the door for Destiny's Child.

If we're looking which group is the greatest success overall, I'd say Destiny's Child, TLC, then the Supremes.

[luke]

Very few groups continued their run of hits after the lead singer left. Mary and Jean deserve a ton of credit for continuing their amazing success. Weren’t they still the mostl successful female group in the 70s as well?

[marv2]

Very few groups continued their run of hits after the lead singer left. Mary and Jean deserve a ton of credit for continuing their amazing success. Weren’t they still the mostl successful female group in the 70s as well?

They were absolutely the most successful female group of the 70s. They produced more Top 40 hits than any other female group in the 70s. What it is with some of these guys is that they want to downplay the Supremes accomplishments in the 1970s because Dianah Ross was no longer in the group. It disturbs them to know that Berry Gordy went right out and found an even better singer in Jean Terrell to lead the Supremes without even breaking a sweat!

[marybrewster]

Can you think of ANY girl groups that continued after the lead left?

[marv2]

I'd say it's a progression of success: the Shirelles opened the door for the Supremes; the Supremes opened the door for the Three Degrees; the Three Degrees opened the door for the Pointer Sisters; the Pointer Sisters opened the door for TLC; TLC opened the door for Destiny's Child.

If we're looking which group is the greatest success overall, I'd say Destiny's Child, TLC, then the Supremes.

What criteria are you using to qualify the greatest success? Are you using Chart numbers? number of records sold? Highest grossing concerts? Overall cultural impact and influence?

[marv2]

Can you think of ANY girl groups that continued after the lead left?

There are plenty. High Inergy, The Pointer Sisters [[even though Ruth is still there now), Envogue [[they lost 2 of their lead singers in that split but continue on), but there have not been many I can think of that continued on as successfully as the Supremes did.

[midnightman]

I don't know about consequential but if you say most influential, the list would be:
1.) Shirelles [[first black girl group to have a #1 pop hit)
2.) Supremes [[for busting down more doors than the Shirelles did; the ORIGINAL three)
3.) Martha Reeves & The Vandellas [[but this may have to do with their music overall, especially when discussing Dancing in the Street and Nowhere to Run)
4.) Labelle [[for showing that women can be as progressive as the men - and also bringing LGBT, female and racial politics in a way none of the other groups especially the first three - NEVER did - paving the way for the Stargard's, the Brides of Funkenstein's, the TLC's, the En Vogue's and the Destiny's Child's, etc.)

And that would be IT.