Quote Originally Posted by telekin View Post
I agree with most of what you said, Ran. But some added context - there are few groups who survive on the same level after a lead singer departs and becomes a star of Diana's magnitude. I mean, you had The Miracles who had a good run after Smokey left, of course. But I'm having trouble coming up with too many others. I think The Supremes had about as good a run as one might expect, in some ways.

Point being The post-Ross Supremes were being hit hard for their revolving door lineup, in a way that The Temptations weren't. And The Temptations had many more lineup changes than The Supremes had. While I think The Supremes had a bit of a raw deal in the 1970s, at the same time, circumstances being what they were, ending the group when it did helped stop some of that bleeding.

Where I depart slightly is that I find that while Pedro was a bad husband, I tend to think he often gets scapegoated for things that were largely already in motion. Mary was far from the only female entertainer who resorted to having her husband manage their affairs, but that's another thread.
You're right, few groups do it, but honestly, at the beginning, the Jean Supremes seemed to be headed in that direction. Better single choices and eventually better live act structure could have kept the Jean Supremes relevant longer. They were never going to be bigger than the Flo Supremes. Even DRATS couldn't compete with that. But if handled properly, I think at least the first five years of the 70s could have seen the group remain a household name.

Mary certainly was not the first or last woman to bring her husband in as manager. Sometimes it doesn't work, but sometimes it does. So sure, in and of itself, hiring Pedro isn't an "out of nowhere" decision. However, he wasn't just Mary's manager, he was Scherrie, Cindy and Susaye's manager also, which would have certainly put him in a position to look out more for her interests than the others. But since he didn't seem to have much in the way of business sense, or at least music business sense, he couldn't even look out for Mary's interests in a way that was truly beneficial. He sucked.

Plus Pedro being an abuser, "manager" allowed him complete access and control of Mary- which abusers crave- in a way he never would have had if Mary had worked in an office or a department store. So chances are he wasn't even all that serious about the job. But I do think by the time he came on that the writing was on the wall. The group didn't have much left in the tank, new blood or not.