• 6/20/2000 - Mary Wilson's Supreme Memories (DETROIT NEWS)
• Wilson Says It's No Supremes Without Her (SonicNet)
• Mary Wilson Says She Found The Replacement Supremes (Yahoo News)
• Supreme Diva Keeps Her Fans Waiting (Launch)
• 12/2002 - Where Did Our Love Go (American Corporate Entertainment)

LAUNCH

SUPREME DIVA KEEPS HER FANS WAITING

Tuesday May 09 11:47 AM EDT

Darren Davis, Atlanta

A Supreme Diva Keeps 'Em Waiting In Atlanta

Wilson eventually appeared, and the performance went quite well…up until the 10 p.m. deadline. All performers were told to wrap up at 10 p.m., but Wilson, probably feeling bad for keeping the crowd waiting, went past the deadline. The only problem was that the stage PA speakers were shut down by the festival officials due to union rules. Wilson nevertheless continued to play, singing through her own sound system for about 15 more minutes, and then stormed off the stage, shocked that they would pull the plug on her. Fans were also notably upset about the festival pulling the plug.

Backstage, Wilson was so livid she canceled all interviews and was in a very volatile mood. Her appearance closed the festival.

Where Did Our Love Go

Original Link

Mary Wilson has got to be one of the most gorgeous 50-something women in this country. In fact, many women 20-years younger should be jealous. But beyond all that sex appeal, this is the story of three of the most famous women in American music history. Mary brings to corporate America not only the success of the Supremes, but music that has been her inspiration and her life. Her life as a Supreme was filled with heartache, despair, love, triumphs and disappointments. Through all of these human conditions, Mary moved forward .

Dare To Dream is the story of The Supremes. “It’s the beginning, the middle and the end. There are some wonderful great ‘highs’ and there are also many real ‘lows’.

I was born in the south but grew up in Detroit. I had a wonderful childhood. At thirteen, I met Florence Ballard and Diana Ross and started singing at that time. It was kind of strange. My teacher in high school told me that I should be a writer. I was too much into my music - writing was the farthest thing from my mind. I never even thought I could write. I was just going to school to get through it. We had become the local success story and my mind was strictly on our music. It really disappointed my mom that I was not going to college after I graduated because she had saved her hard earned money from being on welfare just to see that I had that kind of opportunity. I just knew that we were going to make it.

Throughout high school, all we did was sing. We made our gowns and we traveled on the week-ends doing our music. We would still do the record hops and date and go to the White Castle. As I said before, I had a pretty wonderful childhood.”

It was 1963 when the “real” break started to happen. “ Prior to that we were singing, but were only successful locally. We weren’t making any money, we were just getting known. More than that, though, it was probably the best time in my life. It was a time when the three of us were real close. We were planning and talking, laughing, sharing and dreaming. As I look back, those were the fun years. We started making money and became successful in 1964. Here we were, three girls, living in the projects, our parents still on welfare, starting to travel with the jet set and performing for royalty. This was also the time when the Civil Rights Bill was being passed...we weren’t even considered citizens and were living our dreams. All of a sudden we became citizens and divas in the same year. It was mind-boggling and I am still in awe about how much we accomplished. Socially we made such a huge statement only because we believed in ourselves, we practiced...we made Motown sign us. Motown didn’t come to us. We ran up to Berry Gordy’s office every day after school.”

“You know, that is why I think my message is so important to kids. First of all, this is supposed to be a time when it is becoming terribly difficult to become successful. My story just proves that if you believe in yourself, anything is possible. You can’t let other people’s fears scare you away from your dreams. I have lived a Cinderella story. It has not all been easy. I have had a lot of hardships in my life but I have not let one of them knock me down. I achieved one of my dreams so early in life that it showed me no matter what happens, I can still rebound from it, come back and achieve. There have been times when we had to use failure as a challenge.

You know, we have become so accustomed in life to thinking that you have got to be a superstar to be a winner. That simply is not true. You have got to use what God gave you to your fullest. You don’t have to ‘be’ somebody. You already ‘are’ somebody. If you have read my book Dreamgirl, you know that everything wasn’t peachy all the time. But to succeed you have to play the hand that you are given. You can’t win if you are never in the game. I have memories of being with with the Queen, and the Beatles. Now, I think back about the teacher who told me that I should have become a writer and I am now using that talent too. It not only led me to write two books, but it has generated this great lecture which gives me the opportunity to influence lives. Hey, I’m just an ordinary person who has accomplished what I have because I dared to dream.”

Where did the name The Supremes come from? “Well, that was a name that Florence picked. We were originally called The Primettes. In those days a lot of acts ended with “ettes”. When we signed with Motown, Berry Gordy told us that name wasn’t good enough. We all went about picking names and Florence’s “Supremes” ended up being the choice. There was really no significance. It became a wonderful name.”

After forty albums, thirty-three top 40 hits of which twelve went to number 1, what caused the group to fall apart? “When Florence Ballard left the group, that was our downward trend. As far as I was concerned, that was the end of the group.” Florence had become somewhat upset with Diana’s taking hold of the reins. Personalities began to change. Where the three girls at one time went everywhere together including shopping for their wardrobes, now Diana would go alone, often times refusing to show Florence and Mary what she had bought. Florence started feeling the pressure and began to drink heavily. Mary knew that she should do something, she just wasn’t sure what. After many episodes of being late to rehearsals and other incidents, Florence was sent home from the tour and Cindy Birdsong was brought in as a replacement. Although Florence rejoined the tour on several isolated dates, it was never really the same. Diana had not helped the situation, snitching on Florence to Gordy every time there was an incident. After a while however, it became clear to Mary that Florence wanted out, she just didn’t know how to do it gracefully.

“I want you to know that Cindy was a great replacement...and she fit into Florence’s gowns. I just really missed Florence. I missed a part of my dream. Cindy had a great personality and that helped but as far as I was concerned, the heart and soul were gone.”

“It was at that point Diana and Berry had already decided that Diana was going to go on her own. It was tough for me but I had seen the writing on the wall.” The group had already gone from The Supremes to Diana Ross and The Supremes and even on The Tonight Show when approached by Johnny Carson, the group denied that it was going to dissolve. That was one of Florence’s last appearances and Carson had questioned the group about Cindy “standing in” for Florence. In Dreamgirl, Mary relates how Diana responded referencing that there were stand-ins or replacements available for both Florence and Mary. “It was a very devastating time for me. Life was just doing one of it’s normal things. But for me at the time, it was falling to pieces. I decided that just because someone else's dream had changed didn’t mean that mine was going to. I decided to keep the group as opposed to quitting as perhaps they thought we should. I continued for seven years more. After that I finally came to the realization that it was no longer the same three girls with this shared dream. The beauty was gone. So I moved on in a different direction.”

Even though The Supremes kind of faded in the United States after Diana began her solo career, they became international celebrities. It was unusual how foreign audiences were eager for the Supreme’s show (with or without Diana) and the new Supremes played to outstanding reviews. Yet the travel caused the girls to become weary and they yearned for home. “We had some great singers join Cindy and myself, but it just wasn’t the same. I finally decided that if it wasn’t going to be the same dream of the three little girls who started this journey, then it was time for me to dream by myself. I missed Florence and Diana tremendously, but it was a period of growth for me. I was on my own now. That is what I did and I haven’t looked back.”

Mary Wilson has now had the time to raise a family. She had three children but a few years ago she was involved in a tragic accident which claimed the life of her youngest son and left her on the brink of dying. She sustained a broken collar bone. All of her ribs were broken and her lung punctured. The hard times have made her endure. “After being in The Supremes for a while I lost a lot of self confidence. Diana was chosen as the lead singer and Florence and I were relegated to sing backgrounds. We both felt we had as much talent and either one of us were capable of assuming the lead role.” Diana was known to pout and have explosions of temper when it came to controlling issues.”

The Beatles would not have been The Beatles without each and every one of them. The same holds true for The Supremes. Diana Ross was NOT the Supremes. “She was a very important part. I am not here to put Diana down. When we were together, we each loved each other and we admired and respected one another and each other’s talent. I feel the same way today about Diana... nothing has changed that. My only complaint is the way we are as a people - and perhaps we need to change our view - that each person is and should be unique and different. That is what I was unhappy about after a while. My talent was not able to grow and I had a lot. It might not have been visual then because Diana had all her dynamics that were uniquely hers being brought to the forefront and magnified. Florence and I were not able to have our talents grow...they were never developed. I am not about putting Diana down. But any one of us could have done the job. In reality, all of us should have done the job. It wouldn’t have taken anything away from her to add what we were doing.”

“When we first started out, we planned everything and we shared...up until we became famous. Then all of the decision making was taken away from us. Sometimes when you become a star, you become so very dependent on other people. That takes a lot of your strength away. We lost all control. Motown would not have been able to have such a dynamic group had we not done all of our work before we got there.”

“I don’t want that to sound like I’m putting Motown down, because I would rather be with them than anyone else. If I had it to do all over again, I would want to be with Motown, but I would like to have a little more knowledge of how to speak up for myself. I think the Supremes along with all the other Motown acts had the best sounds in the world. At the time, it was all young people and we brought a fresh new look and feel to the music world. It is really important to be surrounded by the right kind of people and to be able to be where your talent can be nourished.”

And where did the songs come from? “Motown was not just about recording artists. It included talented writers and musicians and we were all one big happy family. All our hit songs were written by Holland, Dozier and Holland. There were two brothers, Eddie and Bryan Holland and Lamont Dozier. They wrote not only The Supremes’ songs but hits for the Four Tops (“Can’t Help Myself”, “Baby I Need Your Lovin’”), The Temptations, and Martha and the Vandellas.

We shared the stage with many greats that I just loved working with. Sammy Davis was one of our all time favorites. Ethyl Waters and Lena Horn were wonderful as were pop acts like Jackie Wilson, The Dells, The Four Tops and the Temptations. Back in those days we pretty much worked with everybody. We were regulars with Ed Sullivan, The Tonight Show, and lots of regular variety show television appearances.”

If she had not been a Supreme what would Mary have done with her life? “People always ask me that and I just don’t know. I was just so young when we started that I really never thought about it. Teaching was always on my mind and as I look at myself now, I think teaching is something that I not only would have been good at, but something I would have enjoyed doing.

My son and my daughter pretty much have my philosophy on life and that is as a human being you have to know yourself and train yourself how to be loving and giving. That is a gift that each of us can give. Everything else is external. I have always taught them to be internal. I have never encouraged them to be in the entertainment business. They have seen how hard I have had to work. They don’t want to do this and I am glad. If they did, it would be fine. But they have to live their own lives and find their own direction. That is not for us as parents to choose. I told you that in the beginning my mom was upset that I had not chosen college. She had worked so hard to save the money that would lead me to a better life. Living in the projects, the ultimate goal of any black parent was to see that their children had more opportunities than they did. But when my mom realized that this was my love, she was there for me all the way.”

In 1976, Florence Ballard, one of the three Supreme dreamgirls, tragically died. It was after a long history of alcoholism followed by bankruptcy and despair that she passed away from what was later described as a heart-attack. This cute little girl whose dream world fell apart seemed to lose all reason to live. It was a devastating loss for Mary. Still Mary Wilson pushes on in pursuit of her dreams.

Mary Wilson has penned two best sellers based on her life as a Supreme. Dreamgirl is “A torch song about friendships” according to the New York Post. Astounding accolades come from Billboard, The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Herald, The San Francisco Chronicle and dozens more.

Supreme Faith is more personal. The preface of the book opens with Mary Wilson on the stage of The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel’s grand ballroom in 1988 accepting an award for the Supremes as they were being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame along side the Drifters, the Beach Boys, Bob Dylan and the Beatles. Florence Ballard had tragically died and Diana Ross had decided that she was far too busy to even acknowledge the group that had made her a household word.

Supreme Faith deals with all the battles that Mary Wilson went through to retain the name that Florence Ballard had invented- “Supremes.” It deals with the stardom and the despair that was the roller coaster ride of Mary Wilson’s life.

“I live by the philosophy that dreams don’t die; people just stop dreaming.”