To mark the 60th anniversary of The Supremes signing
to Motown Records, we chart their journey from the
Detroit housing projects to rivalling The Beatles,
with memories from Mary Wilson
T
he Supremes story began in 1958
when Mary Wilson and Florence
Ballard, two eighth graders raised
in Detroit’s Brewster Projects, met
backstage at a talent contest.
Mary Wilson, born 6 March 1944 to Sam
and Johnnie Mae Wilson, was already in
a group with Aretha Franklin’s younger
sister Carolyn. Florence, nicknamed Blondie
because of her light hair and complexion,
had been taught to sing by her guitar-
playing father Jesse. At the talent contest,
Mary lip-synched to Frankie Lymon
And The Teenagers’ I’m Not A Juvenile
Delinquent, which she knew from the
Alan Freed movie Rock, Rock, Rock!.
Florence, meanwhile, sang Ave Maria.
“She looked like a movie star,” Mary
Wilson says. “After the show, we started
complimenting each other on our
performances. We wandered home
together and decided we’d form a
group when the opportunity arose. Six
months later, she said this male group
she knew, The Primes, wanted to put
a girl group together and did I want to
be a part of it?”
The Primes, a local doo-wop combo
featuring future Temptations stars
Paul Williams and Eddie Kendricks,
were recruiting a sister group called
The Primettes. Williams had signed
up his girlfriend,
Betty McGlown,
and Kendricks
suggested another
Brewster Project
resident, Diane
Ross. “We’d seen
her running around,” said Mary. “Turned
out she lived right across the street. The
three of us became best friends. Flo was
always laughing and playing little jokes,
very outgoing. Diane was more serious.”
The Primes were managed by Milton
Jenkins and their fi rst rehearsal took place
at his house. Ballard sang Ray Charles’ Night
Time Is The Right Time and Ross performed
The Drifters’ There Goes My Baby. Williams
then taught the four of them The Twist,
which Ballard took the lead on; Wilson
and McGlown provided perfect harmoniesthroughout. At the end of the night, both
Jenkins and The Primes were impressed
and The Primettes started performing
at Detroit’s sock hops. In July 1960, they
entered the annual Detroit/Windsor
Freedom Festival amateur talent contest
in Canada and won the fi rst prize of $15.
“It gave us the confi dence to take it a step
further,” adds Wilson. “Diane knew Smokey
Robinson, who was fi rmly established at
Motown, singing with The Miracles, so we
thought we’d try out there.”“It was Smokey who introduced me to
Berry Gordy,” Ross said, “when I was living
on the same street as him in Detroit. His
cousin was one of my best friends and when
I used to sleep over at her house I’d sit on
their basement stairs and listen to The
Miracles practise. When I moved to the
Brewster projects, I called Smokey to ask if
he’d listen to us. We auditioned for him and
then he took us to see Berry.”
“Smokey liked them,” Bobby Rogers, the
tenor singer in The Miracles, said, “but he
liked their guitarist Marv Tarplin more andasked him if he’d come play with us on
a few dates. Marv was the perfect gentleman
and said he’d have to ask the girls if that was
OK. They said yes, but I don’t think they
intended for him to then join The Miracles
full-time. Smokey, though, put in a word
with Berry about them.”IN SUMMER 1960 they got their
audition at the white-painted suburban
house situated at 2648 West Grand
Boulevard. Inside the studio, Gordy was
joined by Robert Bateman, talent scout
and producer, and Richard Morris,
writer and engineer. The girls sang four
a capella songs: There Goes My Baby,
Night Time Is The Right Time, The Twist
and There’s Something On Your Mind.
“At the end, Berry said he liked us,”
says Wilson, “but he turned us down.
He didn’t want four teenage schoolgirls
running around his company. He told us
to fi nish school and get some experience.”
Impressing Richard Morris, though,
who took them under his wing, they began
to raise their profi le, opening at Detroit’s
Graystone Ballroom and The 20 Grand
and signing to Bob West’s Lu-Pine label
in Detroit, where they got to back Wilson
Pickett and Eddie Floyd and cut their 1960
debut 45 Tears Of Sorrow, with Ross on
lead, and Pretty Baby with Wilson’s lead.
It fl opped, but they
returned to Motown
intent on being
signed. By now,
their friend Barbara
Martin had
replaced McGlown.
“Motown was a big deal because they had
records playing on the radio,” said Wilson.
“If you had a record on the radio, you were
somebody. Mary Wells, Marv Johnson,
Barrett Strong, The Miracles, these people
we were hearing on the radio, would walk
right past us as we hung out at Motown.”
Eventually they got a break, providing
backing vocals for Mable John’s 1960 single
Who Wouldn’t Love A Man Like That. “They
were sweet girls,” said John. “They knew
how to behave from the off. They knew
where to stand and could sing. Berry told“BERRY LIKED US, BUT HE TURNED US
DOWN. HE DIDN’T WANT FOUR TEENAGE
GIRLS RUNNING AROUND HIS COMPANY.”WORDS BY LOIS WILSON
The SupremesThe Primettes/Supremes line-up of(^1960) - (^62) : Diana Ross, Florence Ballard,
Mary Wilson and Barbara Martin
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