Mary Wilson: June 13, 1977 - August 27, 1979

[midnightman]

As brought up, she was booking shows with the two Karens overseas [[since the legal wrangling in the U.S. meant they couldn't do shows in their native country).

[milven]

As brought up, she was booking shows with the two Karens overseas [[since the legal wrangling in the U.S. meant they couldn't do shows in their native country).

This segment of her career remains confusing to me. If she left the Supremes to go solo, why was she using the Supremes name and in some places being billed as Mary Wilson and the Supremes, thus Kaaren being billed as a Supreme?

If she was a soloist, what legal troubles would there be if she booked herself as a soloist in the states?

If the group had bookings overseas after she left the group, why wouldn't Motown, who owned the name, be responsible and have Mary sign over her Supremes Inc management to Motown, since she no longer wanted to be part of the group? Then Motown would send their reformated Supremes to those bookings.

It seems to me that Mary wanted to leave the group but either had second thoughts after the break or wanted to keep the door open in case she failed.

My opinion is that she held on to the Supremes name and billing too long and it made it difficult for her to identify herself as Mary Wilson.

Nevertheless, she is still performing all these years later, and has carved out a nice niche in the industry for herself doing Supremes oldies shows, inimate cabaret shows, theater, books, tours with her Supremes gowns and is a spokesman in interviews for the Supremes.

[RanRan79]

Nevertheless, she is still performing all these years later, and has carved out a nice niche in the industry for herself doing Supremes oldies shows, inimate cabaret shows, theater, books, tours with her Supremes gowns and is a spokesman in interviews for the Supremes.

That's the brilliance of Mary Wilson. Sitting one's biases aside, the fact is that Mary Wilson is famous for being 1/3 of the world's most successful female group, and her remembered contribution in said group is as a background singer. So how many "background singers" of Mary's era can claim all of her accomplishments in the public eye? I can't think of one, but if anyone else can, please feel free to educate me. I am one of the ones very critical of Mary's decisions in the decades- particularly the first decade- after leaving the Supremes, and I stand by my critiques, but to not point out how resilient this Supreme has been, that would be a huge disrespect on my part. And the lady has been kicked around. Not to knock Florence [[my absolute favorite Supreme) but when she left the group and hit stumbling blocks, she found it difficult to overcome them [[whatever the reasons). Mary hit her stumbling blocks and immediately figured out a way to keep moving on without becoming stagnant in her disappointments. She often has figured out how to turn her lemons into lemonade, and I so very much respect her for that. Now admittedly there are times when I feel like she goes out of her way to turn a lemon into lemonade for publicity's sake [[RTL), but she has to be admired for insisting that she will not go to the land where background singers go to die. There are Supremes whose voices I love much more than Mary's. But she's the Supreme in my book and that's an opinion I can't ever see changing.

[midnightman]

I'm thinking Pedro and Mary booking the group's tours past the date where Mary made her exit on June 12 was a reason why Mary's solo career came to a halt until her and Motown worked the situation out. Mary wasn't in control of the Supremes, Motown was.

Luckily for Mary, she's learned how to handle business better and became a music rights advocate.