The Supremes, The #25 Artist of the Rock Era, Part Two

 

(Continued from Part One)

 

"You Keep Me Hangin' On" also topped the U.S. chart and hit the Top 10 in virtually every country in the world.  Dozier created the stuttering guitar line at the open, played Robert White, one of the members of the Funk Brothers  It is another of the trio's classics in The Top 500 Songs of the Rock Era*.

 

"Love Is Here And Now You're Gone" also went to #1 and has sold over one million copies.

As has become their custom, the Supremes released a new album after the two singles had become hits, and the result was The Supremes Sing Holland-Dozier-Holland.

The group then released covers of show tunes by the songwriting duo of Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart called The Supremes Sing Rodgers & Hart.  

Gordy arranged gigs for the group (shown at the Copa on May 20,1967) at clubs such as the Copacabana, which included mixing in Broadway and pop standards in with their own hits.  The Supremes broke down racial barriers and became mass appeal superstars, regularly appearing on television shows such as The Ed Sullivan Show, on which they made 17 appearances, Hullabaloo, The Della Reese Show, and The Hollywood Palace.

Ballard felt she had been relegated to a lesser role in the group.  She became depressed and began to drink heavily, gaining weight to the point where she could no longer fit comfortably in her stage outfits.  She missed recording dates and arrived at some shows too drunk to perform.  Marlene Barrow replaced her on these dates.  The friendship, as well as the working relationship with Ross, became strained.  

 

"The Happening" was written for the movie of the same name with Anthony Quinn and Faye Dunaway.  The movie was a bust, but the song went to #1 in the United States, #2 in Canada and #6 in the U.K.

In April of 1967, Gordy was looking for a more permanent replacement for Ballard, originally leaning towards Barbara Randolph, but Ross and Randolph did not get along well. Eventually, Gordy settled on Cindy Birdsong, a member of Patti Labelle and the Blue Belles.  Birdsong was brought in to begin rehearsals, and although Gordy did not fire Ballard at the time, he asked Ballard to quit on her own.  Ballard, who first founded the group, believed she was in a probationary period and did not leave.

On June 29, 1967, the group returned to the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, billed for the first time as the Supremes with Diana Ross.  Ross was being groomed for a solo career as early as 1966, but Gordy left her in the group for several more years.  The first two shows went off without a hitch, but on July 1, Ballard discovered an extra set of gowns and costumes that had been brought along for Birdsong.  Angered at this, Ballard performed the first show of the night inebriated.  This further enraged Gordy, who sent Ballard back to Detroit and fired her from the group.  Birdsong debuted as a permanent member of the group in the second show of the night.

"Reflections" is another innovative song with the oscillator-generated sound effects which were groundbreaking at the time.  "Reflections" rose to #2 in the U.S., #3 in Canada and the Netherlands and #5 in the U.K. and it too has sold over one million units.

 

"In And Out Of Love" was a bit of a departure for the group in that they recorded the song in Los Angeles rather than Detroit.

Ballard received a one-time royalty payment of $139,804.94.  She made an attempt at a solo career with ABC Records but when two singles did not chart, the arrangement was shelved.  

In 1968, the Supremes released the album Reflections, which includes the final songs the group recorded in association with their songwriting team of Holland-Dozier-Holland before the three writers and producers left Motown due to royalty and title disputes. 

The trio, now billed as Diana Ross & the Supremes, released the albums Diana Ross & the Supremes Sing and Perform 'Funny Girl' and Love Child.   

 Diana Ross & the Supremes Join the Temptations, the latter of which featured the collaborative Platinum hit "I'm Gonna' Make You Love Me"

The departure of Holland-Dozier-Holland, the genius songwriting team behind much of he Supremes' success, resulted in a drop in the quality of available material at Motown.  Only six of eleven singles from 1967-1969 made the Top 20.  Tension within the group and a strict touring schedule meant that neither Wilson nor Birdsong appeared on many of the singles during this period, replaced by session singers such as the Andantes.

Several different producers and production teams worked on the group's next album.  Nickolas Ashford & Valerie Simpson, who had teamed to produce singles for Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell, wrote and produced the album's first single, "Some Things You Never Get Used To".  But when the song stalled at #20, the Supremes' worst performance since 1963, Gordy set out to improve the group's sales.  He brought together some of the top songwriters at Motown (Frank Wilson, Pam Sawyer, Deke Richards, Henry Cosby, R. Dean Taylor, as well as Gordy himself.  

Together, they wrote "Love Child", another of the group's best, a #1 smash that has sold two million copies and a solid member of The Top 500 Songs of the Rock Era*.

 

The Supremes released the album of the same name in 1968, with help from Motown producers Smokey Robinson, Johnny Bristol, and Harvey Fuqua.  The group followed up with the album Let the Sunshine In, which featured the single "I'm Livin' In Shame", the sequel to "Love Child".

The Supremes and Temptations teamed up for a second time for the album Together.  

In 1969, after seeing Jean Terrell perform in Florida, Gordy decided that was the time for Ross to begin making the transition to a solo career, and Terrell was the person to replace her in the Supremes.  Terrell began recording with Wilson and Birdsong during the day, while Wilson and Birdsong toured with Ross at night.  In November, Ross and Gordy made a public announcement that she was leaving the group for a solo career.

 

Ross recorded "Someday We'll Be Together" as her first solo single, but since Gordy wanted one final #1 for the Supremes, the song was released with the banner Diana Ross & the Supremes, although neither Wilson nor Birdsong contributed to the song.  The group released the album Cream of the Crop and performed with Ross on The Ed Sullivan Show on December 21.  Diana Ross & the Supremes performed for the final time on January 14, 1970 at the Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas.

 

The Supremes continued to record and perform in the '70's. Frank Wilson did much of the production work on the album Right On, which featured the Top 10 hit "Up The Ladder To The Roof".

 Borrowing from their earlier collaborations with the Temptations, the New Supremes, as they were being billed, recorded The Magnificent 7 with the Four Tops, another of Motown's premier acts.  The two supergroups released "River Deep--Mountain High".

"Stoned Love", the plea for peace and love written by Wilson, was the lead single on the album New Ways but Love Stays.

In 1971, Ballard sued Motown for $8.7 million, charging that Gordy and Ross had conspired to forcer her out of the group.  Motown won the case, and Ballard eventually sank into poverty and died of coronary thrombosis on February 22, 1976 at the age of 32.

The Supremes released three albums in 1971 produced by Wilson, The Return of the Magnificent 7, with the Four Tops, Touch, featuring the contributions of many Motown artists and writers, and Dynamite, a third collaboration with the Four Tops.

Smokey Robinson wrote and produced the final Top 20 hit for the Supremes, "Floy Joy", featured on the album of the same name.

Birdsong left the group after recording the album, replaced in the group by Lynda Laurence, a former backing singer for Stevie Wonder.  The group released the album The Supremes Produced and Arranged by Jimmy Webb, but it was not well received.  Laurence urged Wonder to write and produce a hit for the group, but that attempt, "Bad Weather", stalled at #87, and a self-titled album didn't catch on either.

Laurence left the group to start a family, with Birdsong coming back to the Supremes.  Terrell also left and was replaced by Scherrie Payne.  Although their recording success had dried up, the group was still a popular live act, especially in the U.K. and Japan.  But Birdsong left in 1976 and was replaced by another backing singer with Wonder, Susaye Greene.

The final iteration of the Supremes released two more albums, High Energy and Mary, Scherrie & Susaye.  On June 12, 1977, the Supremes performed for the final time at the Drury Lane Theater in London and disbanded.

The Tony Award-winning musical Dreamgirls, loosely based on the history of the Supremes, opened in 1981 on Broadway and included 1,522 performances.  A movie version of the play starring Beyonce, Jennifer Hudson, Jamie Foxx, and Eddie Murphy was released in 2006.

The Supremes were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988, received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1994, and became members of the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1998.  Three of the group's classics--"Where Did Our Love Go", "You Keep Me Hangin' On" and "Stop!  In The Name Of Love" have been accepted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.  

The Supremes were a great influence on female groups which followed, such as the Three Degrees, the Emotions, the Pointer Sisters, En Vogue, TLC, and Destiny's Child.

Ideas about a reunion tour circulated in the years that followed, and Ross, Wilson, and Birdsong performed "Someday We'll Be Together" on the television show honoring Motown in 1983--Motown 25:  Yesterday, Today, Forever.

This incredible trio piled up 45 career hits, with an astounding 21 of those going Top 10 and an even more incredible 12 reaching #1.  They have sold over 100 million albums worldwide.