Hi! I first discovered The Supremes in 1964 when I was listening to my transistor radio in Maryland and I heard Where Did Our Love Go? for the first time. From that moment I was a fan for life. That's why I've started this blog. And I welcome you and thank you for coming by!
Birthday remembrance to Florence Ballard
(June 30, 1943 – February 22, 1976). She is best known as one of the
founding members of the The Supremes from 1959–1967. In 1988, Florence
Ballard was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of
the Supremes alongside Diana Ross and Mary Wilson. GARY
The Supremes' "Back in My Arms Again" hit No. 1 on the Billboard pop chart 50 years ago today.
It set a record for being the fifth straight single released by the Supremes to top the charts.
In an unusual move for the time, Motown Records decided to highlight the individual members of the group on this release.
Each
of their signatures are featured prominently on the record cover — and
Diana Ross name-checks Mary Wilson and Florence Ballard in the lyrics. Courtesy of MPR News.
Legendary soul group The Drifters will be performing as part of the
Legends Live Tour this year - and on Saturday October 3 they'll be at
The SSE Arena in Wembley .
The band will be performing alongside soul and R&B greats Dionne Warwick, Roberta Flack and Mary Wilson of The Supremes.
The
Drifters have seen great success both in the UK and the US since the
group formed in 1953, with hits such as You're More Than A Number In My
Little Red Book and There Goes My Baby.
They have also been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in recognition of their lifelong global success.
Motown royalty and iconic entertainer, Mary Wilson returns.
“If Wilson’s command of stage and song surprises people, then they
just haven’t really been listening for the past 30 years or so.” – PopEntertainment.com
“One singer brought the house down… glory be to the heavens Mary
Wilson’s luxuriously exquisite voice rang ‘like a bell’ as they say, and
peeled through the cavernous Festival Theatre auditorium so clearly, so
beautifully, it brought tears to the eyes.” – Australian Stage
Melbourne Recital Centre welcomes back Mary Wilson of The Supremes –
Motown royalty, cultural ambassador and iconic entertainer. Get up
close and personal with Mary and hear stories and songs from across her
celebrated career – thrilling performances of classic American pop songs
alongside the standards.
The Supremes were the most successful vocal group in American
history, with 12 #1 singles on the Billboard Hot 100, countless
international tours, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and Lifetime
Achievement Awards from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Vocal
Group Hall of Fame.
In Mary Wilson: Up Close you’ll hear hits such as My World Is Empty Without You as well as Wilson’s own impeccable versions of standards such as New York State of Mind, I Am Changing and Both Sides Now.
Singer and performer Mary Wilson was
a founding member of The Supremes. With that group she helped set a
record for the most consecutive Number One hits by an American group.
Mary's also had her own successful recording and performing career, and
written autobiographies about her years in The Supremes. She's in
Australia for a number of concerts from June 11 to 15 performing in Brisbane, Cairns, Melbourne and Sydney.
MARY Wilson is a true star of Motown. An original member of the
Supremes, Ms Wilson has toured for over half a century, authored books
and mingled with presidents. At 71 she's still going strong, and chatted
to Daily Mercury reporter Lucy Smith while in Mackay.
Have you had a look around Mackay today?
I haven't had a chance, no, because it was kind of overcast and everything I didn't want to get my voice messed up. I've heard you're involved with Hillary Clinton's upcoming presidential campaign?
I wasn't when she ran before and I'm looking forward to being a part of
it this time. Who knows, she may not call me. I believe that a woman
should be the next president, they've had a black man so now it's time
for a woman.
What issues do you think the next US president should address?
I would think, for America, and as I watch the news here, I think that
poverty is something that really needs to be looked at. So much of
what's happening in the US is that people don't have jobs. Education is
another area that I think needs to be looked into.
How did you get to know Hillary?
I wouldn't say I'm good friends with her, but certainly I know her and I
do know her well. I've always been, since the Supremes, political. We
were endorsing Hubert Humphries back in the '60s. We've always been
involved with world affairs, American affairs, the civil rights
movement. We were always going with Dr King, when he was having his
marches in Washington.
What do you think of reality TV shows like American Idol? Have they had positive or negative effects on the music industry?
I think it's both. American Idol and all these various spin-off shows,
in one aspect it's good because it exposes everyone to a wider audience
that they would not be exposed to without. But there's also something
that's not so positive and that is a lot of times when we were starting
out, we had a lot of opportunity to learn behind the scenes. You don't
have billions of people watching you as you fall on your face. People
need an opportunity to learn without everyone watching them make
mistakes. That happens a lot in those shows, sometimes that can hurt you
so deeply and damage you for life.
Do you think there are positives to
the fact that in the music industry record sales are going down and now
the revenue is coming from performances?
No, because it makes you work harder. Those of us who've been around
for years, we don't want to work harder. I've been working for more than
57 years. I thought it was going to get better by now. I thought I'd be
in an island here off the shores of Australia. Again, you look at the
rappers, they've done some really great stuff. They're richer than we
ever were.
Do you ever get tired of touring? Do you ever want to give it up?
Oh God no! It is tiring and it's hard work. People don't understand
that unless you're really, really rich, you've got to work hard. I
always say make sure you enjoy what you're doing, because you're going
to have to work hard, but if you enjoy, well it's still fun.
Do you know how many concerts you've done over the years?
That would be good if someone could count them up, but I was never good at maths.
What has been a career highlight for you?
Very early on we did command performances and the Queen Mother was
there. Prince Charles was there. Princess Margaret was there, and
Princess Anne. That was just great because we were three little young
girls who had made it big and we were doing command performances. That
was like a fairytale.
Do you listen to much new music?
No I don't. I don't have time, first of all, but the other thing is
that I'm still stuck in the '60s. There's nothing like the Temptations,
the Four Tops. I'm stuck in the music I grew up with. It's the music I
loved, it's the music I danced to. It still gives me that feeling.
THE longest-running member of iconic Motown band the Supremes, Mary
Wilson, is fresh off the plane from Las Vegas and performed at the
Mackay Entertainment and Convention Centre yesterday.
The Daily Mercury conducted an interview with Ms Wilson backstage, as she prepared for the show.
Ms Wilson opened up about life on the road, being a grandma and her views on rap music and reality music television shows.
She even discussed her friendship with US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
Pick up Saturday's Daily Mercury to read the transcript of a chat with a true star of the 1960s.
1. The Supremes
Aside from being the most successful girl group of all time, the
Supremes are among the most popular musical artists ever, with Diana
Ross and co.'s songs sounding as timeless as ever. "Baby Love," "Stop!
In The Name Of Love," "Come See About Me," "You Keep Me Hangin' On,"
"Where Did Our Love Go"… the list of Motown classics goes on and on, and
although there have been many girl group smashes in the decades since
the Supremes ruled the Billboard charts, no collective has yet to
challenge their, for lack of a better word, supremacy.
Touch is the twenty-third studio album by The Supremes, released in the summer of 1971 on the Motown label. It was the third and final LP under the supervision of Frank Wilson, who had been the group's main producer since 1970, when Jean Terrell joined as lead singer. The album also marked the first Motown contributions by composer-producer Leonard Caston, Jr. and writer-lyricist Kathleen Wakefield: "Nathan Jones", a hit single sung by all three members, which was later recorded by Bananarama, and "Love It Came to Me This Time".
The album included contributions by several Motown artists and staff writers: "Here Comes the Sunrise" by actor-composer Clifton Davis (who had written "Never Can Say Goodbye" for The Jackson 5); Billy Page's "Johnny Raven" (recorded by Kiki Dee in her 1970 Motown album), and "Have I Lost You" by Pam Sawyer and Gloria Jones. Wilson also recorded Jean Terrell's vocals to the backing track of a cover of Laura Nyro's "Time and Love" that Bones Howe had produced for Diana Ross, but that was shelved and remained unreleased until 2002.
The other tracks were written by Sawyer and Wilson, including the
opening and closing numbers, "This Is the Story" and "It's So Hard for
Me to Say Goodbye"; "Happy (Is a Bumpy Road)", released as flip side of
"Nathan Jones"; and the album title track, "Touch", the first charting Supremes single to feature lead vocals by both Terrell and founding member Mary Wilson. The song missed the US top 40, peaking at #71, and it was later recorded by The Jackson 5.
After this release, producer Frank Wilson went on to work with Motown artis Eddie Kendricks. This album also contained liner notes written by Elton John, and sold over 100,000 copies in the USA.[1]
"Nathan Jones" is a hit single recorded by The Supremes, released in spring 1971 (see 1971 in music) on the Motown label. Produced by Frank Wilson and written by Leonard Caston - aka Leonard Caston, Jr. - and Kathy Wakefield, "Nathan Jones" was one of eight Top 40 hits the Supremes recorded after its original frontwoman, Diana Ross, left the group for a solo career.
The song centers around a woman's longing for her former lover, a man
named Nathan Jones, who left her nearly a year ago "to ease [his]
mind." Suffering through the long separation ("Winter's past, spring, and fall")
without any contact or communication between herself and Jones, the
narrator is no longer in love with Jones, remarking that "Nathan
Jones/you've been gone too long".
Supremes version
"Nathan Jones" is an unusual entry among the Supremes' singles
repertoire for several reasons, not the least of which is the fact that
all three members of the group (Jean Terrell, Mary Wilson, and Cindy Birdsong) sing the song's lead vocal in unison. Clydie King
was asked to sing along with the group to give the song a fuller vocal
sound. While working on the song, producer Frank Wilson had in mind a rock music
style of phrasing for the song, resulting in the unison vocals. The
unison vocals would repeatedly be dubbed to create a layered harmonic
tone similar to that present in the production of vocal group ABBA[original research?]. In addition, Wilson had his engineer, Cal Harris, use what can (now) be considered classic studio sensibilities to take The Funk Brothers' backing tracks for "Nathan Jones" and give them a phase shifting
sound at various points during the song. This was accomplished by
either using a second recorder (as the Beatles would have done) or (less
likely) an outboard processor such as the blue faced MXR flanger.[original research?]
Released as a single on April 15, 1971 with "Happy is a Bumpy Road" as the B-side, "Nathan Jones" peaked at number sixteen on the Billboard Pop Singles chart, number-eight on the Billboard R&B chart.[1] Overseas, the single went to number-five on the UK Singles Chart. "Nathan Jones" was the most successful single released from the Supremes' fourteenth regular studio album, Touch.
The Supremes
-- the biggest girl group of all time on Billboard's Hot 100 -- will be
the focus of a new exhibit at The Grammy Museum. Opening June 25, Legends of Motown: Celebrating the Supremes will chronicle the trio's legendary reign through rare artifacts from the private collection of founding member Ms. Mary Wilson.
In addition to photographs, the exhibit will feature concert posters,
tour books and fan memorabilia. An array of performance gowns dating
from the Supremes' start in the early '60s as the Primettes will also be
on display, including the "Turquoise Freeze" dresses the ladies wore
during their 1967 appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show.
On June 24, one day prior to the exhibit's launch, Wilson will take
center stage for the museum's interview/Q&A series, "A Conversation
With." Legends of Motown: Celebrating the Supremes will run through spring 2016.
In a release announcing the first-ever Motown exhibit, Grammy Museum
executive director Bob Santelli said, "We've been eager to feature an
exhibit celebrating Motown since we honored Berry Gordy and Smokey Robinson at our inaugural benefit gala [Architects of Sound Awards] in 2013."
"As you look at all of these wonderful treasures," added Wilson in
the release, "please be reminded that three little black girls dared to
dream and made their dreams come true."
Founded as the Primettes in Detroit by Wilson, Diana Ross and Florence Ballard,
the Supremes became the most popular female group of the '60s thanks to
a string of No. 1 R&B and pop hits. Among those classics are "Where
Did Our Love Go?," "Baby Love," "Stop! In the Name of Love," "Back in
My Arms Again," "You Can't Hurry Love" and 'Someday We'll Be Together."
All told, the Supremes scored 12 No. 1 singles on the Hot 100 -- the
most of any American group in history. Following Ballard's and Ross'
exits, later members of the Supremes included Cindy Birdsong, Jean
Terrell, Scherrie Payne, Susaye Greene and Lynda Laurence.
