Originally Posted by
jim aka jtigre99
Since at the time she recorded that disco was still very popular, Motown probably wanted to continue to capitalize on that market, witness some of the other releases-even the Boss and diana. I read an article decades ago that Mary gave to Jeffrey Wilson where she stated that her initial album was just a starting point and that she looked at it as a starting point and planned to develop further from there. When she went to Gus Dudgeon and had 4 songs that were terrific development for her, she was released from her contract and given her masters back and was told they were only releasing dance music. So, yes she looked at the debut as just a launching point and was determined to develop and streamline from there. Had Motown not released her and completed a second album with the Dudgeon tracks among others, she may have had a fighting chance to be marketable as a recording artist. Just a thought that really shows Motown did not really want her as a soloist. In 1983, when Suzanne DePasse was thinking a Supremes reunion ala the Tempts with Mary, Scherrie & Cindy-Mary wrote that they wanted Scherrie to do all of the leads. Plus DePasse told Mary she had an "interesting" voice and there was "something they could do with it". Mary said she dropped her guard long enough because that was the first time anyone at Motown had ever complimented her. So, do we think that Motown really wanted to promote her as a solo? I honestly feel it was just to get her to drop the lawsuit, they put minimal investment in her solo work in order to get some return on their investment or that as a business they could write it off as a loss.
Bookmarks