The Supremes
AN URBAN MAKEOVER
1968 was a turbulent year and soul was
documenting the changes. Motown itself
was also facing diffi culties. Following the
departure of chief songwriters Holland,
Dozier and Holland, Berry Gordy was left
with a huge gap to fi ll, especially where his
fl agship artist The Supremes were concerned.
Ashford and Simpson were fi rst to have a go
at providing them with a hit, but Some Things
You Never Get Used To only scraped to No.30,
their lowest chart placing since 1964’s Run,
Run, Run. Devastated, Gordy had a rethink.
“I took my battle into the studio, where my
mission was clear – to come up with a record
for The Supremes that sounded so much
like HDH that nobody would know the
diff erence,” he
wrote in To Be
Loved, his 1994
autobiography.
Except it didn’t
turn out that way.
Instead, writers
Deke Richards,Frank Wilson, R. Dean Taylor and Pam Sawyer,
holed up in Detroit’s Pontchartrain Hotel,
tapped into the prevailing street mood –
poverty, deprivation, drugs, violence – and
came up with their own spin on it, a song
about teenage pregnancy and the
consequences of premarital sex. For
America’s sweetheart Diana Ross to voice a
song about such a taboo subject was a brave
move. To this day, it’s surprising that Gordy,
always the businessman, gave it the
go-ahead. This dramatic attitudinal shift
came with a more socially aware image
makeover – out went the sequinned gowns,
in came a more sussed-looking Diana, with
an afro wig and oversized yellow sweatshirt.
Mary and Cindy wore pantsuits and jackets.
The song returned The Supremes to the top of
the US chart and the subsequent album hit
the US R&B No.3. But it was bittersweet and
marked the end of The Supremes as a group,
with Mary and Cindy replaced on the single by
Motown session singers the Andantes and
singing only on some of the album tracks.wanted a singing career, so we’ve got to get
a hit record’. I started crying and he said,
‘Listen, this is defi nitely a smash and you’ve
got to trust us.”
Where Did Our Love Go hit US No.1 on
22 August 1964 and set them on their way
to becoming the fi rst act since Elvis to have
a run of fi ve consecutive US No.1s – Baby
Love, Come See About Me, Stop! In The
Name Of Love and Back In
My Arms Again. They
would go on to score
fi ve more No.1s
and a chart-
topping
album,
1966’s The
Supremes A’
Go-Go, before
Ballard departed
in 1967. Only The
Beatles rivalled
them in the
US for chart
dominance, there
was no stopping
them. On 29 July
1965, The Supremes
headlined the Copa
and in August Gemini 5
astronauts Charles Conrad
and Gordon Cooper asked to hear
Where Did Our Love Go from Gemini
control. In December, they opened the
Houston Astrodome with Judy Garland. By
1966, each Supreme was estimated to make
between $300,000 and $400,000 a year.BUT SUCH RAPID SUCCESS came
at a price. In 1966, Ross collapsed on stage
at Boston’s Blinstrub’s nightclub and was
treated for exhaustion. For Ballard, Ross’s
increasing dominance of the group was
taking its toll. “Being such a great singer and
not being able to sing as much as she wanted
to bothered Flo,” says Wilson. “She wasn’t
happy... she started drinking to be able to
cope... In the end, it took over her life and
eventually she self-destructed.”
Ballard put onweight, much to Gordy’s
chagrin. She was also late for recording
sessions, rehearsals and press conferences.Cindy Birdsong (right)
replaced the troubled
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