In 1959 two fifteen year olds, Florence Ballard and Mary Wilson, met at a talent show. Milton Jenkins, who managed a local doo-wop group the Primes, wanted a sister group to accompany the Primes for stage performances. Jenkins asked Ballard to put together such an act. Ballard remembered Wilson and the two of them brought in sixteen-year-old Betty Travis. Primes member Paul Williams recommended a fifteen year old from Detroit's Brewster Housing project, Diane Ross.
Jenkins named the group the Primettes after Diane's parents gave their permission to join. The Primettes then started doing club dates. Travis was forced to quit the Primettes because her parents wanted her to pay more attention to her studies. Barbara Martin took her place, but had to leave shortly, as did Ballard, under the same parental conditions. Wilson and Ross continued to work as a duo until the two improved their grades and were allowed to rejoin.
The group's influences ranged from the McGuire Sisters to Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, and unlike most black groups of the time were not largely influenced by gospel music. Ballard, Wilson and Ross could all sing lead, but Ballard's voice was considered the best and most powerful.
In 1960, they met Ross' neighbour William 'Smokey' Robinson and auditioned for him in the basement of the home of his girlfriend Claudette Rogers in hopes of getting to Motown's Berry Gordy. Rogers would later become Robinson's wife and an original member of the Miracles. The audition turned into a dead end, but they did audition for Gordy later, singing the Drifters' 'There Goes My Baby'. Gordy told them to come back after they completed high school.
"Florence had a very strong gospel voice, and she was the original lead singer. When the group came to Motown, it was Flo's group, she had formed it and named it." - Carolynn Gill of the Velvelettes.
Undaunted the girls began hanging out in Motown's office reception room. They continued doing local talent shows where they were spotted by Richard Morris, who brought them to Lupine Records owner/producer Bob West. They recorded two sides, 'Pretty Baby' with Wilson on lead and 'Tears of Sorrow' with Ross on lead for West. Released in 1960, the record went nowhere and they were soon back hanging around Motown again, doing handclaps on Marvin Gaye's early records and singing some backups for blues artist Mabel John.
The Supremes' first single, issued on Tamla in April 1961 was 'I Want a Guy' and the second an R&B dance tune 'Buttered Popcorn' with Ballard on the lead. Both went nowhere. The next three singles barely made the bottom of the Hot 100. Things were going so badly that in the middle of 1962 Ross took a job in the cafeteria of Hudson's Department store in Detroit and Martin left to get married. The best of their early releases, 'When the Love Light Starts Shining', in the fall of 1963, reached number 23 on the charts.
'Baby Love' followed in September 1964 and reached number one in pop, R&B and in the UK. The Supremes with 'Baby Love' became the first all-girl group to reach number one in England. The Supremes became the first American group to have three number ones from the same album when 'Come See About Me', released in October, reached number one. With 'Stop! In the Name of Love', the Supremes became the first group to have four number ones in a row on the Billboard Hot 100. The song also reached number two in R&B and number seven in England.
The Supremes began on the historic Motown Revue tour through Europe. It was while on this tour that the Supremes developed their hand motions (resembling a traffic cop stopping oncoming car) for 'Stop! In the Name of Love' in the men's room of a London TV studio with the help of Berry Gordy and the Temptations' Paul Williams and Melvin Franklin prior to a live appearance. 'Back in My Arms Again', on June 12, 1965, became the Supremes' fifth number one. Not only were the Supremes competing head on with the British Invasion, they were becoming superstars in the realm of pop entertainment.
On July 29, 1965 they headlined New York's famous Copacabana nightclub. The same month, 'Nothing But Heartaches' was released and broke the string of number ones, only reaching number eleven. But it was a short-lived decline; 'I Hear a Symphony' reached number one on November 20th. In early 1966 they had hits with 'My World Is Empty Without You' (number five) and 'Love Is Like an Itching in My Heart' (number nine). 'You Can't Hurry Love' reached number one on September 10, 1966 which began a new string of number ones that included 'You Keep Me Hanging On', 'Love Is Here and Now You're Gone' and 'The Happening', which was the last of ten number ones written by Holland-Dozier-Holland for the Supremes. Holland-Dozier-Holland left Motown to form their own labels, Hot Wax and Invictus.
"Over a period of time, favouritism surfaced, which I believe had something to do with the romantic link between Berry Gordy and Diana Ross." - Carolyn Gill of the Velvelettes.
By now the friction between Ballard and Ross had taken its toll and Ballard missed two shows in Montreal and New Orleans, part way through the Supremes' appearance at the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas. Ballard was fired by Gordy and replaced by Cindy Birdsong of the Bluebelles.
"Initially there was a phone call - someone from Motown's office asked me to audition as a replacement for one of the Supremes. I didn't know who it was. I actually thought it was a joke. It surprised me, but I got on a plane and went straight over to Berry Gordy's house. The Supremes were in a meeting in another room and I was waiting outside. Then Florence came walking through the living room in tears and that's what made me know that it was her they wanted me to replace." - Cindy Birdsong.
Gordy now renamed the group Diana Ross and the Supremes. Though Diana was gaining stature on her way to a solo career, the new lineup was not nearly as successful saleswise. Over the next two years twelve singles were released with only 'Love Child' reaching number one. The group's first two singles, 'Reflections' (number two) and 'In and Out of Love' (number nine) were carryovers from the Holland-Dozier-Holland days.
The group did several good remakes with the Temptations. 'I'm Going to Make You Love Me' was one of them, but Diana was growing more and more estranged from the others - to the point where they even stopped recording together. If they were in town just for one day during a tour, Diana would do all the leads and then the studio group would do all the back-up vocals when they left. This really built up alienation.
'Someday We'll Be Together', issued in October 1969, became the Supremes' last number one record, the trio's last record together and they performed it in the last of 20 appearances on the Ed Sullivan Show. Also, it was the last song they sang together when they appeared at the Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas on January 14, 1970. Then while on stage Ross introduced her replacement Jean Terrell. On March 7, 1970, the Jean Terrell-led Supremes reached the Billboard charts with 'Up the Ladder to the Roof' (number ten) and proved the name still had power even without Ross.
Florence Ballard, after leaving the Supremes in 1967, did two singles for ABC Records and then spent several years fighting Motown in a lawsuit over her firing. She lost the suit and spent some time on welfare attempting to support her three children. Overweight and despondent, Ballard died of a heart attack at Monte Carmel Mercy Hospital in Detroit at the age of 32.
Mary Wilson went on to form her own group, Mary Wilson and the Supremes, with Karen Jackson and Karen Ragland. In May 1983, she, Ross and Birdsong reunited for Motown's 25th anniversary TV show.
In 1984, Mary Wilson wrote her story Dream Girl: My Life as a Supreme.
The Supremes were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988.
The number one female group had 18 Hot 100 hits as the Supremes, nine as Diana Ross and the Supremes, three as Diana Ross & the Supremes and the Temptations, twelve as the Supremes after Ross left and two as the Supremes and the Four Tops.
Obviously, the whole was always greater than its parts to its fans, and the Supremes sound as good at the end as they did when the hits first started.
Footnote:
Mary Wilson (b. March 6, 1944 - d. February 8, 2021)