Gary James Bridge shared Mary Wilson's photo.
Mary Wilson at Amoeba Music.
My new chocolate candy bars are available tonight at the Amoeba Music event. Touch
Thursday, November 19, 2015
Monday, November 16, 2015
Mary Wilson & Freda Payne LIVE at Amoeba in Hollywood, Weds. 11/18/15
Amoeba Music
Soul music legends Mary Wilson (founding member of Supremes) and Freda Payne (soul/R&B/jazz singer and actress best known for her 1970 hit single "Band of Gold") will be here to perform and sign copies of their albums & books this Wednesday, 11/18 at 6pm!
Saturday, November 14, 2015
The Supremes BABY LOVE
The Supremes were on top of the Billboard charts again with their second consecutive No. 1 “Baby Love,” on this day in 1964.
Listen to the track again here: http://smarturl.it/BabyLoveStream
Get the full album here: http://smarturl.it/SupremesWDOLG-a
Listen to the track again here: http://smarturl.it/BabyLoveStream
Get the full album here: http://smarturl.it/SupremesWDOLG-a
Sunday, November 8, 2015
Mary Wilson,Martha Reeves at Cleveland's R & R Hall of Fame Smokey Robinson Tribute
Mary Wilson, Martha Reeves pay tribute to Smokey Robinson
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Lauren Onkey never stood a chance.
Onkey, a Tri-C professor, was at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum Saturday morning to interview Motown legends Mary Wilson of the Supremes and Martha Reeves of Martha and the Vandellas.
The two were in town to honor Smokey Robinson, 20th subject of the Rock Hall's Music Masters series in "The Music and Life of Smokey Robinson."
Before the two divas could even take their seats on the stage, before Onkey could ask one question, the women were off and running, talking about their lives, careers and the old days of Motown. The sparks flew, and the conversation sparkled.
"When we were at Motown, a woman named Maxine Powell actually taught us how to sit down," said Reeves.
Wilson concurred.
"She said you never cross your legs when onstage. Just cross your ankles."
"We were told that we were diamonds," said Reeves. "And they just needed to polish us."
Reeves told the audience that she got her start singing in her grandfather's church.
"There was a singing contest at the church, and my brothers and I won. I began performing as Martha Lavelle. Shortly after that, I met a man from Motown named Mickey Stevenson. He was the head of artist development. He gave me his card and told me to come by.
"I went over there the next day. He acted surprised to see me. He said the auditions weren't until the following Thursday. Then he asked me to answer the phone and he would be right back. He didn't come back for four hours. By that time, I was a secretary at Motown."
Wilson and Reeves went to the same high school in Detroit and had the same singing teacher named Abe Silver. When the Supremes and the Vandellas toured for Motown, Mary and Martha always roomed together.
"We're like sisters," said Reeves. "That's why we'll always love each other," she added about their good-natured banter.
The Rock Hall's 164-seat Foster Theater was almost sold out for the day's Smokey conference.
"I met Smokey the first day I worked at Motown," said Reeves. "He was a vice president there, but he was also one of the 17 songwriters who came in every day, working regular hours writing songs for the Motown artists. I would see him walking around the office, lost in thought, mumbling lyrics to himself. It was as if he was trying to draw them out."
Wilson said that Robinson and Motown founder Berry Gordy Jr. were much alike.
"They even dressed the same way. But Berry Gordy had this thing where he could look at a person with one eye and decide whether or not that person had talent. Whether that person had potential to become a star."
Wilson also said that the Supremes owed a debt of gratitude to Robinson.
"After our first album came out, there wasn't a hit on it. Behind our back, they were calling us 'the no-hit Supremes.' They didn't think I knew. But I did."
"And then Smokey wrote some songs for you," Reeves interjected. Wilson just smiled.
At one point, Wilson and Reeves teased one another about who kissed up to Gordy more.
"I ain't got no babies that look like Berry Gordy," said Reeves to gales of laughter from the audience.
Onkey played part of an early hit song that Robinson had written for Reeves, called "No More Tear-Stained Make-Up."
"It's so amazing how Smokey was able to write that song from a woman's point of view. How he was able to get into another person's mind like that," said Reeves.
During the Q&A session, an audience member asked the two women what special associations they had with Cleveland. Wilson didn't hesitate.
"It was Leo's Casino. I will never forget playing that place. I remember one night when we had a new comedian open up for us. His name was Richard Pryor," she said.
"We had Flip Wilson open for us at Leo's," said Reeves.
A singer for the local Pink Floyd tribute band, Wish You Were Here, Sharron McPherson Foxx, asked the singers how they rest their voices between performances.
Wilson had her own personal remedy.
"I drink tea, honey, lemon and Courvoisier," she said.
Reeves had another method.
"I shut up."
The audience was lucky neither of them used that technique Saturday morning.
Onkey, a Tri-C professor, was at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum Saturday morning to interview Motown legends Mary Wilson of the Supremes and Martha Reeves of Martha and the Vandellas.
The two were in town to honor Smokey Robinson, 20th subject of the Rock Hall's Music Masters series in "The Music and Life of Smokey Robinson."
Before the two divas could even take their seats on the stage, before Onkey could ask one question, the women were off and running, talking about their lives, careers and the old days of Motown. The sparks flew, and the conversation sparkled.
"When we were at Motown, a woman named Maxine Powell actually taught us how to sit down," said Reeves.
Wilson concurred.
"She said you never cross your legs when onstage. Just cross your ankles."
"We were told that we were diamonds," said Reeves. "And they just needed to polish us."
Reeves told the audience that she got her start singing in her grandfather's church.
"There was a singing contest at the church, and my brothers and I won. I began performing as Martha Lavelle. Shortly after that, I met a man from Motown named Mickey Stevenson. He was the head of artist development. He gave me his card and told me to come by.
"I went over there the next day. He acted surprised to see me. He said the auditions weren't until the following Thursday. Then he asked me to answer the phone and he would be right back. He didn't come back for four hours. By that time, I was a secretary at Motown."
Wilson and Reeves went to the same high school in Detroit and had the same singing teacher named Abe Silver. When the Supremes and the Vandellas toured for Motown, Mary and Martha always roomed together.
"We're like sisters," said Reeves. "That's why we'll always love each other," she added about their good-natured banter.
The Rock Hall's 164-seat Foster Theater was almost sold out for the day's Smokey conference.
"I met Smokey the first day I worked at Motown," said Reeves. "He was a vice president there, but he was also one of the 17 songwriters who came in every day, working regular hours writing songs for the Motown artists. I would see him walking around the office, lost in thought, mumbling lyrics to himself. It was as if he was trying to draw them out."
Wilson said that Robinson and Motown founder Berry Gordy Jr. were much alike.
"They even dressed the same way. But Berry Gordy had this thing where he could look at a person with one eye and decide whether or not that person had talent. Whether that person had potential to become a star."
Wilson also said that the Supremes owed a debt of gratitude to Robinson.
"After our first album came out, there wasn't a hit on it. Behind our back, they were calling us 'the no-hit Supremes.' They didn't think I knew. But I did."
"And then Smokey wrote some songs for you," Reeves interjected. Wilson just smiled.
At one point, Wilson and Reeves teased one another about who kissed up to Gordy more.
"I ain't got no babies that look like Berry Gordy," said Reeves to gales of laughter from the audience.
Onkey played part of an early hit song that Robinson had written for Reeves, called "No More Tear-Stained Make-Up."
"It's so amazing how Smokey was able to write that song from a woman's point of view. How he was able to get into another person's mind like that," said Reeves.
During the Q&A session, an audience member asked the two women what special associations they had with Cleveland. Wilson didn't hesitate.
"It was Leo's Casino. I will never forget playing that place. I remember one night when we had a new comedian open up for us. His name was Richard Pryor," she said.
"We had Flip Wilson open for us at Leo's," said Reeves.
A singer for the local Pink Floyd tribute band, Wish You Were Here, Sharron McPherson Foxx, asked the singers how they rest their voices between performances.
Wilson had her own personal remedy.
"I drink tea, honey, lemon and Courvoisier," she said.
Reeves had another method.
"I shut up."
The audience was lucky neither of them used that technique Saturday morning.
Mary Wilson, Smokey Robinson at R & R Hall of Fame, 11/07/2015
Mary Wilson thrilled to honor 'Motown Family' member, Music Masters recipient Smokey Robinson
Mary Wilson, pictured at a 2009 appearance, will be in town on Saturday, Nov. 7, to honor her "Motown Family'' friend and mentor, Smokey Robinson, who is the Rock and Roll Hall of Fae's 2015 Annual Music Masters recipient. Wilson and the Supremes were inducted into the Rock Hall in 1988. (Darron Cummings, AP file)
Smokey Robinson: 2015 Music Masters
- Motown family helps Smokey Robinson celebrate turn as 20th Music Masters winner (photos)
- Smokey Robinson on dreams and history: Interview with a legend (photos)
- Rock Hall begins final push to honor Music Masters recipient Smokey Robinson
- Annual Music Masters tribute to Smokey Robinson: The week's schedule
- Temptations' Dennis Edwards recalls Smokey Robinson as 'the peacemaker'
- Mary Wilson thrilled to honor 'Motown Family' member, Music Masters recipient Smokey Robinson
- Robert Glasper Experiment to offer new twists on Smokey Robinson songs at Music Masters show
- Berry Gordy Jr.: Motown founder to appear at Music Masters show honoring Smokey Robinson
- Musical director Adam Blackstone determined to get Smokey Robinson onstage for Music Masters show
- Former Destiny's Child member Michelle Williams anxious to honor Smokey Robinson, meet other Motown legends
- Case to award Smokey Robinson honorary doctorate at Rock Hall's Music Masters concert
- Smokey Robinson named 2015 Music Masters honoree by Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
CLEVELAND, Ohio – "The Motown Family.''
The phrase crops up over and over in conversations about the Detroit-based machine founded by Berry Gordy Jr. and run with the help of his right-hand man, singer-songwriter-producer Smokey Robinson.
But only those who were there know just how close it really is to being more than a movie catchphrase. Just ask former Supremes alto Mary Wilson, who will be in town on Saturday, Nov. 7, when the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame honors Robinson as the 2015 Annual Music Masters recipient.
Note the word "is.'' Not "was.'' Yeah, Motown is still around, now operating out of Los Angeles. But the label's true heyday was from 1959 to 1972 in the city that gave it its name.
Those who lived that – like Wilson – know just how close "The Motown Family'' is, and it's one reason she agreed to participate in the ceremony honoring Robinson.
"It's always like a family reunion whenever we're together,'' Wilson said in a call to her hotel in Branson, Missouri, where she was performing earlier this fall.
"I just performed with the Four Tops a couple of weeks ago, and the Temptations, too,'' she said. "It's like seeing your cousins.
"You do what you do at family reunions, with conversations like, 'Hey remember that time ... ?' '' she said, laughing.
"We always meet up as if it was just yesterday."
It's a sure bet that some of that "Hey, remember that time'' reminiscing when Wilson and her "Motown Family'' relatives Dennis Edwards and Robinson get to gabbing will have her time-traveling to 1960 and hanging around the Motown offices then.
It wasn't all peaches and cream back in those days -- but for a young Wilson, it was heaven.
"Let me tell you, it wasn't stressful at the time,'' she said. "Motown was a fabulous place to be.
"First, I was a teenager, 16 years old, so all these handsome guys being around was a great thrill,'' she said. "You'd have Marvin Gaye in the corner, playing the piano and singing in his sexy style and asking everybody, 'What do you think about this?' ''
For the Supremes – Wilson, Florence Ballard and eventual lead vocalist Diana Ross -- it was a heady time and place.
"We were trying to get a hit record, so it was an exciting adventure,'' she said. "There was no unhappiness there at all.
"People think there was competition, but the competition was different from trying to beat someone else,'' Wilson said. "It was more about trying to climb up to where everybody else was.''
And in a way, it wasn't that much different than the factories that dominated the Motor City at the time.
"Sometimes, it was about money, but that was secondary,'' she said. "Just as an example, most of the people who were older than we were, were trying keep jobs at Motown and would be there all day.''
Unlike a lot of today's corporate world, there was a sense of togetherness, from founder Gordy to Robinson and on down.
"Smokey was a vice president, but he was still one of us as well,'' Wilson said. "We never thought of him as anything but a singer. He never put on airs.''
That's one reason she jumped at the chance to be part of the Music Masters program.
"I was quite honored, because Smokey is one of the great songwriters and singers of our time,'' she said. "I just happened to know him. It's just a thrill to be able to say something about someone like Smokey.
"You could've asked anyone, and they would have jumped at it,'' Wilson said.
Wilson recalled the Supremes' first audition for Motown. It happened at the home of the woman who eventually married (and later divorced) Robinson, Claudette Rogers.
Ross had known Robinson from their school days and thought maybe he could get them into Motown.
"He invited us over to Claudette's house, and we auditioned for Smokey and the Miracles – all of the guys,'' she remembered. "They had his record out on the radio and here we were, auditioning for the stars.''
It didn't quite work out as planned right then. The girls showed up with guitarist Marvin Tarplin, who'd been backing them, and Robinson was impressed.
"He asked, 'Marvin, can you play this?' 'Marvin can you play that?' '' Wilson recalled. "He played it, and we never saw Marvin again.''
Tarplin became part of Robinson's band and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with the Miracles in 2012. Sadly, his induction was posthumous; Tarplin, who co-wrote one of Robinson's biggest hits, "The Tracks of My Tears,'' died a year earlier.
In typical "Motown Family'' fashion, Wilson has no hard feelings about Tarplin "winning'' that Supremes audition.
"The great part of it was Marvin ended up writing a lot of songs with the guys, and we eventually got the meeting with Motown,'' she said.
The Supremes signed with Motown in 1961, and began what was to be a storied career that saw them inducted into the Rock Hall in 1988, just two years after the first Hall of Fame class was enshrined.
And a lot of their success could be attributed to Robinson's songwriting skills, Wilson said.
"I think he's a poet,'' she said. "They're not just straightforward lyrics – they all have a little kind of twist to it, as in poetry. Also, his melodies are very beautiful.''
Because of that – and because Gordy liked to keep the money in-house – there was fierce competition for Robinson-penned songs, she said.
Could a Motown happen again?
"I guess you could, if you had another Berry Gordy,'' she said. "What's needed is someone who could corral a lot of different types of talent together in one house, and then people would come flocking.''
Especially if the "Family'' included another Smokey Robinson.
The phrase crops up over and over in conversations about the Detroit-based machine founded by Berry Gordy Jr. and run with the help of his right-hand man, singer-songwriter-producer Smokey Robinson.
But only those who were there know just how close it really is to being more than a movie catchphrase. Just ask former Supremes alto Mary Wilson, who will be in town on Saturday, Nov. 7, when the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame honors Robinson as the 2015 Annual Music Masters recipient.
Note the word "is.'' Not "was.'' Yeah, Motown is still around, now operating out of Los Angeles. But the label's true heyday was from 1959 to 1972 in the city that gave it its name.
Those who lived that – like Wilson – know just how close "The Motown Family'' is, and it's one reason she agreed to participate in the ceremony honoring Robinson.
"It's always like a family reunion whenever we're together,'' Wilson said in a call to her hotel in Branson, Missouri, where she was performing earlier this fall.
"I just performed with the Four Tops a couple of weeks ago, and the Temptations, too,'' she said. "It's like seeing your cousins.
"You do what you do at family reunions, with conversations like, 'Hey remember that time ... ?' '' she said, laughing.
"We always meet up as if it was just yesterday."
It's a sure bet that some of that "Hey, remember that time'' reminiscing when Wilson and her "Motown Family'' relatives Dennis Edwards and Robinson get to gabbing will have her time-traveling to 1960 and hanging around the Motown offices then.
It wasn't all peaches and cream back in those days -- but for a young Wilson, it was heaven.
"Let me tell you, it wasn't stressful at the time,'' she said. "Motown was a fabulous place to be.
"First, I was a teenager, 16 years old, so all these handsome guys being around was a great thrill,'' she said. "You'd have Marvin Gaye in the corner, playing the piano and singing in his sexy style and asking everybody, 'What do you think about this?' ''
For the Supremes – Wilson, Florence Ballard and eventual lead vocalist Diana Ross -- it was a heady time and place.
"We were trying to get a hit record, so it was an exciting adventure,'' she said. "There was no unhappiness there at all.
"People think there was competition, but the competition was different from trying to beat someone else,'' Wilson said. "It was more about trying to climb up to where everybody else was.''
And in a way, it wasn't that much different than the factories that dominated the Motor City at the time.
"Sometimes, it was about money, but that was secondary,'' she said. "Just as an example, most of the people who were older than we were, were trying keep jobs at Motown and would be there all day.''
Unlike a lot of today's corporate world, there was a sense of togetherness, from founder Gordy to Robinson and on down.
"Smokey was a vice president, but he was still one of us as well,'' Wilson said. "We never thought of him as anything but a singer. He never put on airs.''
That's one reason she jumped at the chance to be part of the Music Masters program.
"I was quite honored, because Smokey is one of the great songwriters and singers of our time,'' she said. "I just happened to know him. It's just a thrill to be able to say something about someone like Smokey.
"You could've asked anyone, and they would have jumped at it,'' Wilson said.
Wilson recalled the Supremes' first audition for Motown. It happened at the home of the woman who eventually married (and later divorced) Robinson, Claudette Rogers.
Ross had known Robinson from their school days and thought maybe he could get them into Motown.
"He invited us over to Claudette's house, and we auditioned for Smokey and the Miracles – all of the guys,'' she remembered. "They had his record out on the radio and here we were, auditioning for the stars.''
It didn't quite work out as planned right then. The girls showed up with guitarist Marvin Tarplin, who'd been backing them, and Robinson was impressed.
"He asked, 'Marvin, can you play this?' 'Marvin can you play that?' '' Wilson recalled. "He played it, and we never saw Marvin again.''
Tarplin became part of Robinson's band and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with the Miracles in 2012. Sadly, his induction was posthumous; Tarplin, who co-wrote one of Robinson's biggest hits, "The Tracks of My Tears,'' died a year earlier.
In typical "Motown Family'' fashion, Wilson has no hard feelings about Tarplin "winning'' that Supremes audition.
"The great part of it was Marvin ended up writing a lot of songs with the guys, and we eventually got the meeting with Motown,'' she said.
The Supremes signed with Motown in 1961, and began what was to be a storied career that saw them inducted into the Rock Hall in 1988, just two years after the first Hall of Fame class was enshrined.
And a lot of their success could be attributed to Robinson's songwriting skills, Wilson said.
"I think he's a poet,'' she said. "They're not just straightforward lyrics – they all have a little kind of twist to it, as in poetry. Also, his melodies are very beautiful.''
Because of that – and because Gordy liked to keep the money in-house – there was fierce competition for Robinson-penned songs, she said.
Could a Motown happen again?
"I guess you could, if you had another Berry Gordy,'' she said. "What's needed is someone who could corral a lot of different types of talent together in one house, and then people would come flocking.''
Especially if the "Family'' included another Smokey Robinson.
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