Quote Originally Posted by marybrewster View Post
By her own accord, as membership started to change, Mary took a much bigger role in ownership, knowing she would forever be the only constant. I'd think that Jean, Mary, and Cindy had a 33/33/33 voice into the group; by the time it was Mary, Scherrie, and Susaye, it was probably more like 60/30/10.

Your story about Susaye liking the blue icicles, and Mary picking out the gowns further solidifies that Mary was "stuck" into the Supremes image of the 1960's. We can talk gowns for 100 years, but by the time Susaye joined, very few, if any, Diana-era gowns should have been utilized.
i think the assessment of MJC being 33/33/33 isn't accurate. part of what i've heard over the years is that Mary definitely was working to position herself as the group leader during the 70s. However, jean was doing nearly all of the leads in the studio. M and C were still very often not on the records and so that's even more lopsided. And onstage and on tv, Jean was also doing nearly all of the singing AND she was often singing live. whlie M and C were lip syncing. So Jean's POV could have been that she's doing 80% of the work yet not receiving money that justified that AND she wasn't leading the group's decisions and strategies. also it's Jean's voice that really was a primary part of the sound being successful. I'll be the first to acknowledge the importance of M, and F and C and L, etc but the fact does remain the much of the "secret sauce" to a hit record is the lead singer. seems that was a bit part of the problem between J and M.

as for Mary's abilities to properly manage the group's direction, yeah that certainly something that could be debated. I have my opinions on things but they're based off of general info and speculation. so i don't want to position them as being more than that. but my thoughts are that Mary's best career path for a big-time successful pop music career would be as part of a group like the Supremes. her voice isn't one typically associated as lead on pop tunes. her sound and talent worked beautifully as 1 piece of an ensemble.