Originally Posted by
RanRan79
Yes, novelty records and silly little ditties were the in thing at that point. "Buttered Popcorn" wasn't anymore silly than singing about pouring gravy on mashed potatoes.
I haven't read Raynoma's book since the 90s and I don't recall that particular anecdote. It doesn't make sense to me for two reasons:
1) If Berry truly only wanted one of the bunch, nothing that we know about him says that he wouldn't have just gone on and made Diana an offer and sent the other girls on their way, no matter what Raynoma said.
2) More importantly, if he only was interested in Diana, why bother cutting sides on the other girls at all? He could've named Diana the lead singer from the get go. Instead, he produced songs on both Flo and Mary, and greenlit the second single with Flo on lead. I suspect Ray's story could have been played up for dramatic purposes.
None of that is to say that Diana wasn't his favorite voice in the group. By all accounts it was. I don't believe he knew as early as 1960 or 61 or 62 or 63 that he wanted to use Diana in the way he would eventually do so. But had Gordy really thought Diana was the gem and the others were throwaways, he would have gladly tossed them aside and taken her on. After all, why pay four singers when you can pay just one, when all you want is the one?
I believe Gordy saw what Milton Jenkins, Richard Morris and Robert Bateman saw: that as a whole, the group was special. For Gordy, Diana just stood out.
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