Quote Originally Posted by jim aka jtigre99 View Post
In some ways, that makes sense for continuing the sound but with the Temptations the lead singers that left were never catapulted to stardom like Diana Ross was in the Supremes. David Ruffin certainly didn't make a huge splash, Dennis Edwards had a few minor hits and Eddie Kendricks while comparing did the best outside of the group was never near the heights that Ross was, The Supremes were in an unenviable situation that Ross became a huge star on her own [[granted with HUGE Motown backing) and any new lead singer who sounded the same would be compared to her. Mary wrote that sometimes it seemed that the weight of that was crushing Jean.I could be wrong, but Mary said Scherrie had a spark, a fire that was missing from the group and that she would not be compared to Ross, for which she was grateful.
Diana Ross being a solo star had nothing to do with the issues the 70s Supremes faced. The reality- IMO- is that even if Diana had exited the group and went on to [[relative) obscurity, her lead voice as a Supreme set a tone, as most, if not all, lead singers do. The 70s groupings may have fared better if the 60s had Diana, Flo and Mary trading leads on singles. That's probably another reason why the Tempts fared better as time went on, because they never had one main lead singer. But with Diana as lead on singles, her voice became synonymous with the group, and anyone coming in to assume the role afterwards would need to keep that feeling. Jean accomplished that, to some degree or other. I just don't think Scherrie ever did.