Quote Originally Posted by jobeterob View Post
For Mary to have success, I think she had to go out on her own by the end of 1971 - and she didn’t have the confidence for that. By the time she left, the Supremes were dead and no one cared who left or stayed - the hits were over and their final album, Mary Scherrie and Susaye didn’t even chart on the Billboard Top 200
As I said above, I think there were more possibilities for Mary, but I do think your scenario was her best chance. As I've said so many times in this forum, Gordy should've structured the group to end in 1970 so that all three [[this scenario includes Florence, not Cindy) could exit with solo careers. Had Mary been given attention in the 60s, maybe her confidence would've been built up to be able to take on a solo career that early. There were a lot of folks invested in the Supremes during the 60s. Gordy could've concentrated on Diana and let someone else focus on the other two. When they left the group, each lady would have her own lane based on her strengths. Gordy loved money but he put all of his money on this one thing. Luckily for him it paid off, although we know how fragile an early solo career can be on any singer. He could've turned the one golden goose into three. Maybe if someone had explained to him that it would be three bank accounts he could rip off instead of one he may have made some different decisions.