Drats

[jim aka jtigre99]

I have thought about what I wanted to say and how I was going to post this and I am sure I will make some lapses and errors but still this was my thoughts. The original Supremes were 3 people who joined together and worked together to achieve musical success. All three were capable of singing leads . Flo excelled on the more soulful Etta James type songs, Mary was her best singing ballads and Diana was better on the lighter pop songs. They were 3 people who together started from the bottom and worked hard to achieve success.

As lead singer, Diana was in a position to be the most recognizable face and voice yet initially all 3 were recognized as each contributed something special to the group-Diana with her exotic looks and voice,Florence with down to earth demeanor tinged with a playful smile or look and Mary with her breathtaking beauty,poise and movement.

Vocally, had it only been Diana and Florence without Mary, they would have not had their anchor to blend and smooth their sound. But with recognition and ambition, came turmoil. Of course, Mary and Florence loved Diana but surely they needed to communicate better once Diana was so upfront with Berry as her mentor. Diana was aggressive and self assured but she was also insecure or she would have gone solo as soon as 1966 or when Florence left. I think she felt she needed the group to launch her until she was ready.

Mary had been with her since the beginning so naturally she had a different viewpoint than Cindy. She saw Diana's aggressiveness, Berry's attention and the group she loved dissolving when Florence left. If she had Flo's demeanor she would have just left, too. Cindy entered when Diana's name was out front. Unlike Mary, she wasn't there to see it as a group group, she saw it as Diana's group. She didn't have the experiences that Mary and Florence had with Diana so she saw it so differently. That is why Cindy came in, blended in and did what she was told. Clearly, she didn't have the stake that Mary and Flo did with originating the group, she came in and saw an opportunity to hit it much bigger than she ever did with Patti Labelle's group.

Who knows if Cindy disliked some of Diana's aggressiveness but held back.
Who knows if Diana didn't see what was going on with the group but kept apart since she was being groomed by Berry and was under so much pressure that she didn't want her launching pad to implode after Flo left. Who knows how Mary really felt because she would sometimes say things and then retract a bit.

One thing, Diana actually did owe Mary something for her loyalty to the group. Mary allowing herself to be placed even further back in the group as DRATS in many ways was no longer a group but a launching pad of a few years for Diana's solo career. Being the lead singer and focus is one thing but DRATS was another-an opportunity for Diana in ways to be solo yet stay secure in the group setting. Diana as solo in 1970 was a way different venture than Diana as a solo in 1967 would have been.

I think Mary had a way different experience with Diana then any further Supreme would have-Cindy I wrote didn't have that time starting together and building it up together, By the time of Jean it was no longer a group group and Mary stated Jean did grow weary of the constant comparison to Diana. Lynda and Scherrie probably looked at RTL as an opportunity to make money and didn't have the history with Diana that Mary did. Once it became DRATS, the group America fell in love with was no longer the same.