1970-1973 cgarts for The Supremes & Diana Ross Singles

[jobeterob]

As mentioned above, Ross was white hot when she went to RCA. She was one of the biggest stars in the world. Almost every producer and songwriter would have given their eye teeth to work with her. Yet, look who she picked! It is almost laughable. The woman was professionally psychotic, and maybe still is when you look at her 30+ year-old stage act, and the non-stop pushing of her children and grandchildren into her professional realm. I as a fan never gave two hoots about them, and I am not alone. I love the singer and the star, not the mommy and old grandma that she pushes and pushes and pushes.

I remember when Ross brought a younger Rhonda on stage. We were forced to watch her do cartwheels and then applaud.

Personally I can understand it - sometimes

Professionally it makes no sense. Tracie and Evan are multi millionaires and the others are millionaires. The fans are tired of it. But she calls the shots

[Ollie9]

As mentioned above, Ross was white hot when she went to RCA. She was one of the biggest stars in the world. Almost every producer and songwriter would have given their eye teeth to work with her. Yet, look who she picked! It is almost laughable. The woman was professionally psychotic, and maybe still is when you look at her 30+ year-old stage act, and the non-stop pushing of her children and grandchildren into her professional realm. I as a fan never gave two hoots about them, and I am not alone. I love the singer and the star, not the mommy and old grandma that she pushes and pushes and pushes.

I remember when Ross brought a younger Rhonda on stage. We were forced to watch her do cartwheels and then applaud.

I think Diana has always done this as a way of counteracting the public perception of her as a spoilt, self-indulgent petulant diva.
If you appear a good mother, you can’t really be all that bad.

[RanRan79]

I also wonder how some seem to know how and why Motown and Berry Gordy felt, plotted and planned.

Because he told me. Now take that Luck!

[RanRan79]

Sup and Ollie, basically y'all are saying the same thing, but perhaps coming at it in two different angles.

It is well documented that Gordy did not like ROAT and did not want to release it as the debut single [[or a single at all). Yet, it was the first single. Gordy called the shots and at the end of the day if he was hellbent against the song, it never would have seen the light of day. The reality is that, no, Diana did not call the shots anymore than any other artist on the Motown roster. However, she had a personal relationship with Gordy. Tack onto that the fact that he saw her as the key to everything he wanted. Perhaps Diana was able to talk him into it with some nighttime persuasion, if ya know what I mean. Perhaps she begged and whined and Gordy figured after everything she had done since 1965 to help him in his quest to be the star maker, that he owed her one.

Whatever the reason, and despite his desire to do something different, "Reach Out and Touch" became the debut single. Diana got her way, but Gordy ultimately had the power.

[RanRan79]

Personally I can understand it - sometimes

Professionally it makes no sense. Tracie and Evan are multi millionaires and the others are millionaires. The fans are tired of it. But she calls the shots

I can believe Tracy is a millionaire/multi millionaire, but what has Evan or any of Diana's other children done that makes one guess that they too are millionaires, other than perhaps having gotten early inheritances?

[RanRan79]

I think Diana has always done this as a way of counteracting the public perception of her as a spoilt, self-indulgent petulant diva.
If you appear a good mother, you can’t really be all that bad.

Remember too, Diana's upbringing. On one hand she had a father that she felt was never really in her corner, and this may have caused her to make certain that her own kids could never feel that way about her. On the other hand, she did have a very supportive mother, and Diana may just be emulating that example. Mrs. Ross was never in a position to parade her children before the world, but she may have been just that type of mother if she had.

[daviddh]

Imo keeping Ross off TV,Sullivan for over a year hurt her sales.
I have always thought her career was sort of ,out of sight ...out of mind..
She seemed to come and go...giving way to other female singers..she lost ground... Would return a year or so later. But ...then disappear...for another year or two.
Sorry I can't give as much credit to BG as I feel he did as much harm to her career as the Col did for Elvis.
After a while ,the Col Parker was useless and created more trouble than he was worth.
I'm in many ways ....glad Ross left motown . Although some work needed further polishing,overall, she had a good run.she seemed more visible in the 80s

[Ollie9]

Remember too, Diana's upbringing. On one hand she had a father that she felt was never really in her corner, and this may have caused her to make certain that her own kids could never feel that way about her. On the other hand, she did have a very supportive mother, and Diana may just be emulating that example. Mrs. Ross was never in a position to parade her children before the world, but she may have been just that type of mother if she had.

I think it a likely combination of many factors Ran. It’s rather surprising she hasn’t done anything of note with Rhonda, Tracee, or Evan the way Streisand has with her son Jason.

[daviddh]

The supreme,seemed to suffer from left hand didn't know what the right hand was doing.
Nothing but heartaches ,seemed a perfect example of confusion at the top.
That seemed to be more apparent after HDH left Motown.....and into the 70s...
Motown closed Detroit. Sealed the fate of many.

[Ollie9]

She hsd a good run.she seemed more visible in the 80s

Often for all the wrong reasons.

[bradsupremes]

I'm in many ways ....glad Ross left motown . Although some work needed further polishing,overall, she had a good run.she seemed more visible in the 80s

She made a smart move financially going over to RCA, but if there's one thing she has never been good at is knowing what's best for her career in the creative sense [[her RCA albums, her setlists, RTL, promotion for her albums, etc.). Her career did better when she had Gordy guiding it - left to her own devices the material was subpar. Just look at The Wiz - it killed her film career. In the 80s when her contemporaries like Dionne, Aretha, Patti, and Gladys were finding resurgences, Diana was faltering. A good comparison is Lucille Ball - with Desi, she was able to do what she did best while he fixed any of the creative issues. After their divorce and she had to run the show by herself, she didn't know what was going to work or not. She became difficult and the material suffered.

[Levi Stubbs Tears]

Of course the UK charts in the 70s were much more impressive for both The Supremes and Diana. EMI in the UK had he autonomy to release and promote singles rather than just repeating what the US labels did.

This meant regular chart hits every year - at least while there was material of merit. The UK wasn't able to make anything out of poor albums like 'Jimmy Webb' but managed to make hits [[even top tenners) from Diana's album tracks:

1970 #6 Up the Ladder
#3 Stoned Love
#11 River Deep [[w/Tops)
1971 #5 Nathan Jones
#25 You Gotta Have Love [[w/Tops)
#9 Floy Joy
1972 #10 Automatically Sunshine
1973 #37 Bad Weather


1970 #33 Reach Out & Touch
#6 Ain't No Mountain
#7 Remember Me
1971 #10 Surrender
#1 I'm Still Waiting
1972 #9 Touch Me In The Morning
#12 Doobedood'ndobee
#9 All of My Life
1973 #35 Last Time I Saw Him
1974 #5 You Are Everything [[w/Marvin)
#25 Stop, Look, Listen [[w/Marvin)
#38 Love Me
1975 #5 Mahogany
#23 Sorry Doesn't Always Make It
1976 #32 I Thought It Took
1977 #23 Gettin Ready for Love
1978 #54 Lovin, Livin & Giin
#45 Ease On Down The Road [[w/ MJ)
1979 #66 Pops We Love You [w/ Others)
#40 The Boss
#59 No-one Gets The Prize
#32 It's My House

In 1970 & 71, you could easily claim the Supremes had greater success than Diana.

[jobeterob]

I can believe Tracy is a millionaire/multi millionaire, but what has Evan or any of Diana's other children done that makes one guess that they too are millionaires, other than perhaps having gotten early inheritances?

Evan has been in several movies - one was some major success

[marybrewster]

I can believe Tracy is a millionaire/multi millionaire, but what has Evan or any of Diana's other children done that makes one guess that they too are millionaires, other than perhaps having gotten early inheritances?

At least for Ross [[and Evan), it was Daddy's $$$.

[Ollie9]

Diana got her way, but Gordy ultimately had the power.

At least he thought he did lol.

[Ollie9]

At least for Ross [[and Evan), it was Daddy's $$$.

Can’t think how else they would be multi-millionares. Wealthy perhaps.

[lucky2012]

Because he told me. Now take that Luck!

Didn't know you were so well-connected, Ran! I have so many questions for Mr. Gordy!

[marybrewster]

Can’t think how else they would be multi-millionares. Wealthy perhaps.

Naess Jr. reportedly had a net worth of $600 million at the time of his death. I believe he had 7 kids; roughly $85 million a piece? I'd say Ross and Evan are doing quite well.

[Ollie9]

Naess Jr. reportedly had a net worth of $600 million at the time of his death. I believe he had 7 kids; roughly $85 million a piece? I'd say Ross and Evan are doing quite well.

Just a ‘tad.