Okay, this is a long one. Hope it doesn't bore you!
While I'm not discounting every viewpoint on the issue, I think it's worth mentioning that when we discuss Jean it's always what the fans said [[and I'm always left wondering how the fans know all of this, was Jean and company really in the habit of letting fans in on what was going on in the group?) or what some "insider" has offered up as an explanation, but never what Jean has said about it. Granted, part of this is Jean's fault because she apparently doesn't talk Supremes publicly, and when you don't talk, others will gladly speak for you.
I refuse to believe that Jean was stupid or clueless about the entertainment industry. I also refuse to believe that she joined the Supremes and did not expect to sing their hit songs. Sorry, not buying it. I'm not suggesting that she loved doing that, maybe she wasn't fond of the Supremes' hits, but again, she'd have to be stupid or clueless not to recognize that once she joined the Supremes, the group wouldn't suddenly stop singing the hits made famous by previous incarnations. Besides hearsay, I don't believe this was as big a deal as it is made out to be.
When it comes to Jean being difficult, who has really accused her of that? Mary has written things from her POV, which is understandable since they were in the same group and surely had differences of opinion which Mary could have viewed as "difficult" because they were in opposition to her view. But has any of the producers described her this way? Any negative talk from Frank Wilson, Smokey, Stevie? Jimmy mentions Jean and difficult in article MaryB posted, but it's worded in a way that it doesn't read to me that he's accusing her of being difficult with him, but difficulties between her and Motown, which certainly could have been the case. [[Although I stand by my initial response that those problems were not the reason the album tanked.) Did the group's reputation suffer with tv productions and club work because of Jean's "difficulties"? And it's been said that Jean questioned Motown about finances, which led to some bad blood. Was this Jean being difficult? Or was Jean right in wanting to get the money right, and Motown being difficult because it never wanted to pay artists what was due to them?
All we seem to have is a lot of speculation. I would venture to say that, apart from Barbara, Jean is the one Supreme whose first person viewpoint we have very little of. That being said, I'll add my own speculation out of the speculations bounded about regarding Jean all the time.
Jean valued her craft and she wanted her skill to be respected by everyone. Any time she felt she was being undervalued, she had an issue. I don't blame her. I suspect that Jean wanted to take the Supremes in a particular direction but she had no power because Mary was queen, and rightly so. Unfortunately, Mary was not the most risky personality, and I think sometimes Mary may have had an attitude of "who does this chick think she is coming into my group trying to run things", which may have also hindered the group's evolution.
Jean needed to find the right fit for her. MaryB's assertion that Jean didn't need to be in the music business belies the fact that other artists were able to craft out careers with some degree of artistic freedom. Why would Jean have been any different? Perhaps a group, especially one as well known as the Supremes, wasn't the best idea for Jean. Maybe Motown, certainly known as a label that pissed on artistic freedom 99 percent of the time, was the wrong label. Who knows? And until Jean opens her mouth about it, it is so hard to know what to think.
One thing's for sure from my standpoint: Jean Terrell in the music business was a fantastic decision. She is one of my absolute, hands down, favorite singers ever created, and I shudder to think of a music world where the only way one might experience the gift of Jean Terrell is if one happened upon the church she is singing in or caught her with her friends at Karaoke night.
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