Infamous Motown quotes...

[marybrewster]

"They're taking our history but they don't have our DNA. It really is a form of identity theft.” - Mary Wilson

[topdiva1]

" I knew they would come crawling" David Ruffin to Eddie Kendricks

[topdiva1]

Once it was alright - tony turner

[topdiva1]

That's a stupid woman - Berry Gordy commenting on Mary Wilson

[Glenpwood]

"Well, you should just check before you go taking it upon yourself, MR. KNOW IT ALL, giving out people's addresses, because nobody around here died and left you boss. AND, you have NO CLASS WHATSOEVER!"

Diana Ross to Tony Turner in 1968, "All That Glittered" pg. 196 [[Quote caps reprinted as shown in book)

[nomis]

"Tony Turner is dreaming.." [[Martha Reeves 1995)

[topdiva1]

Anybody but Martha!!!

[marybrewster]

"I'll roll my big self over the top of her" - Tony Turner, on Cindy Birdsong

[topdiva1]

"Tony Turner is dreaming.." [[Martha Reeves 1995)

Nomis - where did this quote come from - what is the source?

[jonc]

Nomis - where did this quote come from - what is the source?

Who needs a source? La Turner rarely named her sources.

[pshark]

Why was the same quote repeated twice @ bottom of page 2 of this thread?

[jillfoster]

Anybody but Martha!!!

What's wrong, topdiva? Is Martha too harsh for your taste?

[topdiva1]

What's wrong, topdiva? Is Martha too harsh for your taste?

This is a quote from ALL THAT GLITTERED MY LIFE WITH THE SUPREMES - in the book the situation is where a friend of Mary Wilson's is mistaken for Martha Reeves and the lady makes that statement - ANYBODY BUT MARTHA - so you see it has nothing to do with me - thank you kindly.

[marybrewster]

"But those things were heavy, one night I told Greg "Put some on me!"" - Tony Turner, on the Supremes eyelashes

[marybrewster]

"Honey, you're starting to look kind of tired" - Flo Ballard to Tony Turner

[marybrewster]

"Tony, you've been drinking" - Flo Ballard to Tony Turner

[Glenpwood]

"You sound like a frog!" Tony Turner's Stepfather to Tony

[Glenpwood]

"Honey, you didn't tell me it was this bad. Get me another tin of Beluga caviar" Flo Ballard

[Glenpwood]

"Dont be surprised if you don't see me around here much longer, honey, they're trying to push me out, they're trying to make me quit. But I ain't going, they'll have to throw me out..." Flo Ballard

[luke]

Glenwood-lolol that caviar quote!!

[luke]

"HMMMMHMM" Florence after singing People at top of her lungs in dressing room and people applauding; after song taken from her and sung by Diana at Copa. All that Glittered.

[topdiva1]

"Michael remained a perpetual kid, yet he was brillant enough to call most of the shots in his own career". from TO BE LOVED by BERRY GORDY

[midnightman]

"It's my blood that runs through Jermaine's veins, not Berry Gordy's." - Joseph Jackson

[jillfoster]

This is a quote from ALL THAT GLITTERED MY LIFE WITH THE SUPREMES - in the book the situation is where a friend of Mary Wilson's is mistaken for Martha Reeves and the lady makes that statement - ANYBODY BUT MARTHA - so you see it has nothing to do with me - thank you kindly.

Oh , yes! I remember that , now.

[nomis]

"Theres just one thing everynight we have a different show and theres one reason - our conductor drinks!"
[[Diana stage patter mid -60s)

[Glenpwood]

"Martha, don't you come in here with none of that, 'cus you ain't hardly kicking nobodys ass in here..." Florence Ballard

[nomis]

Martha: "I want to scratch your eyes out!"
Diana: "But Martha..Berrys on the phone..he wants to speak to you.."
Gordy;"Now Martha..Diane didnt mean to buy the same dresses as you..when you get back to Detroit I will buy the Vandellas some new Dresses.."
[[1964)

[topdiva1]

"I will never give you less than too much"!!! Diana Ross in Tony Turner's All That Glittered My Life With The Supremes.


And she has keep her word, thank God!!!!!

[Glenpwood]

"Does anyone remember who won the Best Actress Oscar last year?"

Ron Miller when his session for "Touch Me In The Morning" was about to be shut down due to Diana's mood over losing the Oscar to Liza Minnelli

[jobeterob]

About the Oscar......................no idea who won last year! Liza won that year and Helen Mirren won recently; but like most of the rest of the world, no idea who won last year.

"Ladies and Gentlemen: Live from the RKO Proctor Theatre in New Jersey, brought to you at great expense: Me!" [[Mary Wilson).

[topdiva1]

"Although we decided to record and release records on Florence as a solo artist, before we could do so she got an offer from ABC Records and severed her relationship with Motown".

Berry Gordy in TO BE LOVED pg 256

Gordy the boss is the only one who ever put this forward - I do not recall this fact that Motown wanted to record Florence Ballard as a single at all. How could they? Supose Flo had gotten a hit record - good lawd - Ross would have went berserk. Just saying!

[pshark]

Don Cornelius to Rick James

I said you'll never be nothing and now I gotta eat my words

RJ's response

I said the same thing about you and I was true

[topdiva1]

"But over the years no rumor was as painful to me as the one that accused MOTOWN of cheating it's artist" -


PG 270 in TO BE LOVED BY - BERRY GORDY.

[nomis]

"Yes..this maybe the most important moment of my life..we are being televised live around the world again today!..I want you to calm yourselfs..listen..can you feel me?.." [[Diana Central park)

[topdiva1]

"this must be the Miss Ross Show" Paul Williams of The Temptations about the TCB taping - Quote from Mary Wilson's Dreamgirl My Life As A Supreme.

[jboy88]

"For the last time, I'm not Verdine White!"-Nick Ashford

[topdiva1]

"For the last time, I'm not Verdine White!"-Nick Ashford

What a quote ! Thanks for this one.

[jobeterob]

This isn't a quote...................but lawyer talk.

When Berry Gordy says his company wanted to record and release records on Florence Ballard, that is the best evidence you can get on a question like that; it was his company; he was there; he said it.

What I think of it, or what Diana Ross, or Tony Turner or Ralph Terrana, or Andy, or Top Diva think of it might be interesting but it is unacceptable evidence in Court and worthless as evidence.

We might not like it but there is no other better evidence.

Another quote: "I tried that and it didn't work."

[topdiva1]

...."Mary, you'd say anything to get out at night."

Berry Gordy to Mary Wilson on page 234 in Too Be Loved by Berry Gordy

[nomis]

"Phil Collins stole this song from me..so Im stealing it back" [[Diana Central Park)

[topdiva1]

As I read the vast amount of Motown based books - I try to take the writers point of view and the reason why he or she may have felt that way at the time of the writing - for instance - he is a quote from Mama Diva Diana Ross herself, from Secrets of a Sparrow - page 154


"the girls had treated me very badly. They had gone against me with a vengeance." and in addition Ros said "...talked about behind my back when my back wasn't even turned." Ross is referring here to Mary Wilson and Cindy Birdsong. If you listen to Mary Wilson's accountants they differ - she seems o say that Cindy and herself - only love Diana.

So once again it is as the writer sees it - and what's so wrong about that - honey!!!

[uptight]

Wow, PShark. Rick James says, "We're all talking about a possible film... We don't want to say too much about it..." Meanwhile, rival Prince and his management begin planning such a musical film.

[jobeterob]

"Wow, this room! It's been 20 years, more than 20 years since we first appeared here, in a tape I saw today. Anyways, I'm happy to be here; I've rushed a long way; I hope you've had a good time."

Diana Ross, the Motown at the Apollo Finale

[pshark]

Wow, PShark. Rick James says, "We're all talking about a possible film... We don't want to say too much about it..." Meanwhile, rival Prince and his management begin planning such a musical film.

Hey Uptight
Yes I remember they were talking about a movie called ALICE IN GHETTOLAND with Teena Marie playing Alice. I don't know why the movie was never released but I'm guessing that Motown was afraid it was going to flop like THANK GOD IS FRIDAY & THE WIZ. And also the non Motown film SGT PEPPER'S LONELY HEART CLUB BAND. Here's an old Jet article:
http://books.google.com/books?id=trY...page&q&f=false

And there's another Jet article where Don Cornelius admts that he really don't like Rick James. I think there were rumors of RJ & Suzanne DePasse, Don's girlfriend at the time.

[jobeterob]

"She's one of the finest people I've ever met." Rick James on Diana Ross

[nomis]

"What Kind of Book is it Mary? Is it a good book or a bad book?" [[Diana to Mary backstage '85 on Dreamgirls manuscript)

[pshark]

What better way to quote someone than to actually hear it coming straight from their mouths?

Barry Gordy is a man I do not know. I only met him about 3 times.

[marxthespot]

..."Stop hurting me [[hurting me, hurting me)...Now don't you think you're overdoing it?"........

[[First line of that "unforgettable" early Supremes "classic" "My Heart Can't Take It No More."

[marxthespot]

"...I am now a part of the Gordy family, I am a sister..."

[[Diana @ Supremes farewell concert 1970...what the heck did she mean by that?)

[topdiva1]

What better way to quote someone than to actually hear it coming straight from their mouths?

This says a lot.

"Once it was alright". Tony Turner - from both All That Glittered and Deliver Us From Temptaion - a last line if ever there was one.