Quote Originally Posted by sup_fan View Post
I'd be very surprised if there were any serious discussions in 69 of Mary stepping in as the lead singer for the Supremes. I tend to ignore most interviews since who knows what the heck they'll say. often they're just trying to pull together a quick answer while on air.

according to mary's book, she didn't want the position as she felt she wasn't prepared to take it on.

another POV is the motown had never had any interest in Mary as a lead singer. during the very earliest sessions, she had only a couple vocals while Flo had quite a few. They seemed to pretty much just give her a token track on the specialty albums and that was it. There certainly wasn't any significant investment in studio time for her to trail things, experiment, test, etc. And she wasn't a "problem" like Flo.

As for the Lynda shows when Jean was ill, the musical charts were all written for a soprano lead line. You would have had to redo all of the vocals and that would have been out of the question. If you listen [[if you care to lol) to Mary's live shows that are on YouTube from that ill-fated South America tour in summer 77, during the choruses of the songs, she's singing her alto part. sure during the verses she's on lead but it makes for a rather confusing listen. her mic is the lead mic but she's often not singing the melody.
Mary saying she regrets not taking over as lead singer isn't the same as Mary saying that at the time she thought she was ready to take over. The two aren't mutually exclusive. A lot of Mary's problem was psychological, which I believe she admitted in her second book. With the passage of time, and the wisdom of age, she may have thought back on that time and wishes she had risen above her doubts and stepped into the role.

Perhaps with a Mary as lead, the continuity in the 70s may have served the life of the group better. Would Motown have ever gone along with Mary as lead singer? Don't know. Doubtful. But would Motown have retired the group if Mary had said either she's the lead or she's out? That's doubtful also, because the public would not have accepted a Supremes without an original member after Diana's exit. Mary actually had a card to play, but she was too scared to play it.

I personally believe that with the right material a Mary led Supremes could have worked, especially since she was an original member, which might have been a better swallow if the new lead singer wasn't going to sound anything like Diana Ross. The lady was gorgeous beyond belief and she was a seasoned performer. She was not going to be able to do "Up the Ladder" or "Stoned Love". It wasn't right for her. But there was something. I would've loved to hear her sing Valerie Simpson's "Silly Wasn't I".