New single formula for 70's Supremes

[jim aka jtigre99]

The 60's Supremes had a formula which was Diana Ross singing lead while Mary and Florence sang back up on their singles. The other Supremes had no lead singles save Buttered Popcorn and each with a line on a Breathtaking Guy. That subtly changed in 1970. It was no longer a lead singer with the others on background on the singles. Starting with Up The ladder where Mary and Cindy both had a line. Everybody and Stoned Love were similar to the old formula but Nathan Jones had all 3 sing in unison. Touch was a duet with Mary & Jean as were Floy Joy and Automatically Sunshine. Smokey sang on Sweet Sweet Love.Jean may have sung the lead alone on I Guess I'll Miss The Man but it was a departure from the formula since it was a Broadway ballad not the usual Motown sound and Bad Weather was a departure in sound as it was more of a Stevie Wonder sound than a Supremes sound, something that Smokey was somewhat able to recapture even in the duet singles. On He's My Man Mary sang most of the lead but Scherrie also had a few lines. Heart Do The Walking was mainly Scherrie but Susaye was very prominent with her ad libs. Same with the last two singles where Susaye's ad libs were also featured. It seems the formula was no longer the lead with backing vocals, it was more shared. I wondered if this was deliberate to not copy the Diana Ross years and wonder whose idea it was. The producers? Mary? Motown?