Originally Posted by
RanRan79
I haven't noticed Mary's mic any louder than the others, but it's clear that, when Susaye was added to the group, it was three lead singers on a song regardless of whether or not they were all singing the actual lead. I've said it before, it's like the three of them were competing with each other rather than attempting to compliment one another in the harmony.
The choreography for most of the Scherrie years sucked IMO.
I find this period of Mary to be annoying. I don't think she was trying too hard to be liked or glamorous [[she had years of both under her belt), but she does seem to be extra. I think in some ways Mary regressed as a Supreme. All of those years of being polished seems like it wore off. There was none of this during the Flo years, DRATS years or Jean years. She always came across so smooth and cool. In fact, that's the image I would've given her instead of "the sexy one" [[not that she wasn't sexy, but I don't think she was anymore sexy than Florence or Diana), "the cool one". She just always had that air about her.
But when you think about the position she was in, it's hard not to feel bad for her. This was a woman who spent the first ten years of her singing career nestled between two large personalities in Flo and Diana, two big egos in Flo and Diana, two big talents in Flo and Diana, two take charge personalities in Flo and Diana. In addition to that, Gordy was hands on with everything involving the group, and with Flo gone, Mary still had to contend with everything falling on the heads of Gordy and Ross. With Diana gone, and some of the pressure off, I'm sure Mary felt some responsibility for the group. But Cindy was with her, and to a lesser extent Jean, and Motown still seemed to have some invested interest. With Jean and Lynda's exit, the writing was on the wall for Mary. She was in this all by herself no matter how many women stood alongside her on stage. Nothing about Mary Wilson during most of the Supremes years suggested she was a leader. I'm not referring to lead singer, I'm talking about a leader personality. She really had to throw herself into that role out of necessity, and even then with Pedro standing over her shoulder, she still wasn't exactly in charge. On top of keeping the group together, she was getting her ass beat when Pedro felt like it, and a battered woman's nerves is all over the place. Who can think rationally and keep their mind on straight in that situation? The more I think about it, no wonder she seemed all over the place on stage. How many licks had she taken upside the head? Sad.
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