The Supremes - As A Group, Not as a Lead & Two Background Singers

[supremester]

No one got trampled in The Supremes. I wonder how many girls in The Brewster Projects, when asked if they would like to sing bg ONLY in the biggest group in US history and become famous worldwide and make a ton of dough would say, "Oh NO! THAT wouldn't be fair. I'M not going to be trampled on. I'll go back to the projects, thanks anyway." Berry only signed The primettes because of Ross. There would be no Supremes without her. Zero. No Smokey audition. No Berry's interest asking to hear Ross' song again. Nothing. Berry didn't like Mary's voice and thought Flo was too ghetto. He didn't HAVE to like them. He told them what he wanted: Diana the sole lead. They agreed. They should have left Motown or shut up about it after they agreed. No one held a gun to their heads to sing bg - they agreed. People act like Berry had an obligation to support talent he didn't believe in. It's nuts. No one sought the services of Mary and/or Flo after they left Motown either. No one at all. HDH started Invictus right there in Detroit and could have signed either. Gil & Ross had to fight Berry to get people back in after The Copa and again to get Mary her spot on the song -he agreed only after Ross was sick and told Berry she needed the rest. Berry didn't WANT Flo or Mary to have any leads or to speak in interviews. . Miss Ross didn't have to give up People - she wanted Mary & Flo to have something and Mary knows that. She stabbed Ross in the back for it. Those are facts. No one at Motown felt Mary or Flo "was competition" for Ross - that BS came later by innuendo in Dreamgirl where Mary talked about People being taken away at The Copa, but forget to add that Flo would be singing it again just 3 weeks later - AND that Mary would be duetting on it with Flo on it. I wonder why Mary would forget to say that????? Hmmmmmm..... Berry & Diana did nothing sneaky, devious or underhanded - the agenda persued was exactly the agenda presented /agreed to DMF in 1963. They should have left then. Not much would be different in the long run: Ross would still have gotten rave reviews for her show last night in Atlanta.The Supremes had 3 31's and two hit albums before they were on Ed Sullivan. I think Flo & Mary were grea - the best possible Supremes - but not essential. Harvey Fuqua told me A LOT about the workings of the group, and his version doesn't jell with Marys, but it does with Gil & Colly's and Mrs Powell - ALL of which I have on tape.


QUOTE=BigAl;285603]Goodness knows I'm no champion of Diane by any stretch of the imagination, but it can't be argued that she was the best choice to lead the group for the kind of crossover success which Gordy envisioned. In addition, she had the obsessive drive to push herself tirelessly to get to the top, no matter what it took [[and, sadly, no matter who might get trampled in the process). But, as they say, that's showbiz. HDH must be credited for how they were able to tailor material brilliantly to her reedy voice to maximum effect. Mary and Florence were indispensable in making the group unique, however. Someone once termed The Supremes as being slick [[Diane), sexy [[Mary), and Sassy [[Flo), and that interplay was essential. Diane as a solo could not have managed it, nor could Mary or Flo, either, for that matter. It's regrettable [[nay, almost criminal) that the latter two were eventually so underutilized. It was my opinion, then and now, that, while Diane was the best choice to lead the group on the singles, no contest, Mary and Flo ought to have been allowed plenty of leads on albums and especially in live performance, rather the just the occasional one-off. This would not have hampered Diane's success one bit, but that wasn't the plan as Diane and Berry saw it, and, for better or for worse, they were in charge.[/QUOTE]