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DIANA ROSS AND THE SUPREMES
SUMMER 2000 '
RETURN TO L
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VH1 - THE WIRE - ROADIE 1/5/2000 Back To The Top A TOUR SUPREME: MOTOWN GREATS PLOT COMEBACK
So the time may be just right for a Supremes reunion. At least that's what former Supreme singer Mary Wilson thinks. Wilson, who had been quite public about her one-time estrangement from Ross, told Hollywood reporters Marilyn Beck and Stacy Jenel Smith, "Diane [as she still calls the singer] and I spoke in December, and I can firmly say that it's a reality. If they can get all the plans together, we'll go into rehearsals in May, then head out on tour this summer. We're going to start in the U.S., and if that goes great, then I'm sure we'll extend it." Singer Cindy Birdsong, who replaced original member, the late Florence Ballard, will round out the legendary trio. If they plan to go to the U.K., Wilson may want to suggest to Miss Ross that they consider using Gatwick Airport. It's turning out to be a Motown kind of millennial year, now that the Four Tops have also announced they're about to release a new record. They've just completed Four Tops 2000, produced by former Temptation Norman Whitfield, and featuring the elegant lead voice of Levi Stubbs. The Four Tops have not released a new record in eight years. In that time, the group lost original member Lawrence Payton, who passed away in '97. He was replaced by Theo Peoples, who had formerly sung with the Temptations. The quartet may be offering an updated version of some classic sounds, but don't expect the record to take a traditional route to the stores. The group hasn't been on Motown for years and they plan to do what so many younger artists have turned to in our brave new entertainment world: they want to distribute their work via the internet and through indie distribution.
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PR Newswire
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VH1.COM EVERYTHING'S COMING UP DIVAS
Despite an avalanche of emails from VH1.com users begging for Janet Jackson and, er, Teena Marie to perform at Divas 2000: A Tribute to Diana Ross, it appears Mariah Carey, Donna Summer and Faith Hill have elbowed their way to the front of the line to honor the sole Supreme. All three will be appearing at the Divas 2000 show broadcast from Madison Square Garden on VH1 on April 11 at 9 PM ET. Producers are planning for the artists to perform their own hits; songs made famous by Ms. Ross like "I'm Coming Out" and "Upside Down;" and also team up with the diva of divas herself for a series of duets. The show will be something of a return engagement for Carey and Hill, who have both performed at previous Divas events. Carey brought the house down when she opened the first VH1 Divas Live in 1998 with her song "My All." Faith Hill officially arrived in diva-land in 1999 when she performed her hit "This Kiss." Since then, Hill has topped the charts with her latest album Breathe. In other good news for Faith Hill, this week she was nominated for eight different TNN Music Awards, including Female Artist of the Year and Album of the Year. In the category of Entertainer of the Year, she will be competing against her own husband, Tim McGraw. The awards will be presented on June 15 in Nashville. You can see special, behind-the-scenes IPIX photographs of her latest video shoot on VH1.com. Just click here to experience the beautiful Faith Hill as you never have before. It's the first time Donna Summer has played Divas, but to her fans, it's about damn time. Tony emailed us saying, "Donna has always respected Diana and it should be a great show. Don't mess this good thing up! April 11th could be a history making moment if you can get an original Donna/Diana duet and release it as a single." Curtis had other ideas. "Let me tell ya, if Mariah's really going to be there, you've gained yourself a million viewers!!!! It would be so awesome if Diana Ross, Donna Summer, and Mariah did a Supremes song together like, 'Stop in the Name of Love' or whatever. That would be the highlight of the night. I bet Mariah will sing her powerful rendition of 'Do You Know Where You're Going To' from the movie, Mahogany." Well, you never know. Fans of Janet and Teena - and who knew there were so many of you out there - are best advised to have a little lie down and be sure to tune in on April 11. Because you never know who might drop in to pay their respects... Accompanying Divas 2000, or rather gritting their teeth and reeking of Brut, will be the Men Strike Back show. Scheduled to perform are the swoonsome Backstreet Boys, a fully clothed (maybe) D'Angelo, an emotion-drenched Enrique Iglesias, a nearly bald Sting, and a priapic Tom Jones. And maybe a partridge in a pear tree. No, we don't mean David Cassidy. It was just a joke.
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SHOWBIZ TODAY
DIANA ROSS HAS SUPREME CONFLICT
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SUPREMES REUNION...ON THE ROCKS?
Back To The Top
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Las Vegas Review-Journal Back To The Top February 4th, 2000 Ross, Wilson setting aside past differences for Supremes tour. It's no longer a rumor.
Diana Ross and Mary Wilson, after years of being on the outs, are publicly
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The Detroit News
DIANA ROSS PICKS HER SUPREMES FOR TOUR Back To The Top
That much-ballyhooed Supremes reunion is a go, but it looks increasingly unlikely that Diana Ross will be swapping "oo baby baby's" with Mary Wilson and Cindy Birdsong. At the same time Wilson's press agent Jay Schwartz was insisting his client and Ross were still talking, two "later" Supremes -- Scherrie Payne and Lynda Laurence -- were already being fitted for sequined sheaths and posing for pictures with Ross last week. "Diana Ross with the Supremes" will debut on an Oprah show in April, to be followed by 30 concert stops in North America, and then a European tour. An announcement of tour locations and dates is expected shortly. Ross had been trying to revive her legendary girl group with original member Wilson and Birdsong, who replaced Florence Ballard in 1970 -- it would have been the Supremes Mach II's first show together in 30 years. But Wilson has said that she wants a more "equitable" share of the profits with her former lead singer. Laurence, who'd been a backup singer for Stevie Wonder, joined
the Supremes in 1972, while Detroit native Payne, who is the sister of singer
Freda Payne, joined the Supremes in 1974. In recent years, after leaving
Mary Wilson's Supremes, Laurence and Payne have been touring as "Former
Ladies of the Supremes," and have enjoyed a warm relationship with Ross,
who visited them backstage in Europe last year and posed for photographs.
"It really puts the stamp of approval on our group," Scherrie Payne
told The Detroit News last year. "I appreciated the fact that she felt it
was done in Supremes fashion, because that's what we do. She was very gracious,
very kind."
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Atlanta
Journal Constitution
Back To The Top
Battle Supreme: Behind the scenes at Atlanta's
big festival, a feud rages over who has bragging rights to Motown's 'Dreamgirls'
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BE (Black Elegance)
Back To The Top
Where Did The Love Go?
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SONICNET.COM
Back To The Top
Update:
Wilson Says It's No Supremes
Without Her
Contributing Editor Eric Schumacher-Rasmussen reports: Singer Diana Ross said her tour with replacement members of the Supremes isn't about the names on the bill and that it doesn't matter that founding member Mary Wilson and longtime member Cindy Birdsong won't be sharing the stage with her. "The tour's not about me. It's not about the individuals," Ross, 56, said at a press conference Tuesday in New York. "It's really about the music and about what we represented and still represent in music as far as image and possibility." But Wilson said that if she's not on the tour, it's not really a Supremes tour. "If there's going to be a reunion, I'd have to be in it," Wilson said from her dressing room at St. David's Hall in Wales, where she performed Tuesday in a Motown revue. The show, billed as "Dancing in the Streets," also features "War" singer Edwin Starr and Martha Reeves of Martha Reeves and the Vandellas. The tour, which opens June 14 in Philadelphia, is being billed as Diana Ross and the Supremes. Lynda Laurence and Scherrie Payne, who joined the group in 1972, will sing with Ross. Wilson left the group in 1976, while Payne, Laurence and other singers continued to tour billed as the Former Ladies of the Supremes. "I never even considered it to be a reunion tour," said Ross, who wore a metallic pink leather outfit and black T-shirt at the press conference. Ross said she was planning a solo tour, and it was suggested that she bring the Supremes along. Wilson, 55, said she had heard rumors of a possible reunion as early as the beginning of 1999, but she said Ross didn't approach her until December. At that point, Wilson said, she thought the two of them needed to "talk things over" before she committed to the reunion. She said Ross wanted "to do the business first." "If Paul McCartney was going to put the Beatles back together, I don't think he'd wait a year to call George [Harrison] and Ringo [Starr]," Wilson said. "Possibly, I wasn't even really wanted on the tour." Ross said she wishes Wilson had been able to join her. "I made the initial call to her to be here," she said. "I would have been honored to be onstage with all of the Supremes." She said all seven other singers who've been members of the group since its inception were offered slots on the tour. Birdsong replaced the other founding member, Florence Ballard, in 1967. Ballard was dismissed from the group after missing concerts, and she died of cardiac arrest in 1976 at age 32. The Supremes originated with four members, including founding member Betty Travis. Travis left in 1960 and was replaced by Barbara Martin, who soon left the group. "Change has been a part of the Supremes from the beginning," Ross said. Wilson claimed she was offered $2 million to join the tour, out of a total talent fee budget of $15 million to $20 million. During the press conference, tour promoter Arthur Fogel of TNA International disputed Wilson's assertions, though he declined to discuss the money involved. Through a spokesperson, TNA President Michael Cohl said the Toronto concert promotion firm does not discuss dollar amounts regarding tours. "This is meant to be a celebration of the Supremes, and the ladies who are singing with Diana have sung with the Supremes for 25 years," the spokesperson said. Laurence said at the press conference that she is proud to be a member of a group that "was, and still is, an incredible image for young people." The TNA spokesperson said she didn't think the absence of Wilson and Birdsong would hurt ticket sales. Mark Hogarth, the U.S. representative for the International Diana Ross Fan Club, said he plans to go to at least one show. "Deep down inside, I'm disappointed it's not going to be with Mary and Cindy," Hogarth said from his Arlington, Va., home. "But I disagree with Mary that it's not really a Supremes tour without her. She's not the housekeeper of the Supremes name." The Ross-Wilson-Ballard lineup recorded a string of hits in the '60s, including "Stop! In the Name of Love." Ross was the only Supreme singing on the group's last #1 pop and R&B hit, "Someday We'll Be Together" ( RealAudio excerpt ). It was also the last song Ross recorded with the group before she left in 1970. Tickets for some shows will go on sale next week, according to Fogel. Ross said she's contacted songwriters Denise Rich, Diane Warren and Luther Vandross about writing a song called "Return to Love" to serve as the tour's theme.
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YAHOO NEWS
Back To The Top
Mary Wilson Says She Found The Replacement Supremes (4/19/00, 3 p.m. ET) - Mary Wilson wants everyone to know that she is the person responsible for Scherrie Payne and Lynda Laurence being members of the The Supremes . At a Los Angeles-area book-signing event last Friday, Wilson was asked about Payne and Laurence, and whether they deserved to be called Supremes alongside Diana Ross . Wilson said: "I found Lynda Laurence and I also found Scherrie Payne. I auditioned, hired them, got them their record deal at Motown, taught them -- not everything that they know, because they were excellent singers before I ever met them -- but I taught them how to be Supreme. "And for them now to be hired as the Supremes, I'm very upset about it," she added. "But I want everyone to know that I still think that they're excellent performers and entertainers and vocalists." A Mary Wilson interview will be shown on the ABC newsmagazine 20/20 tomorrow at 10:00 p.m. (ET/PT), and Wilson's next live performance is Saturday at the Sandestin Hotel in Destin, Fla. The Diana Ross & the Supremes Return To Love tour, featuring Laurence and Payne, gets underway June 14 at the First Union Spectrum in Philadelphia. -- Bruce Simon, New York, and Craig Rosen, Los Angeles
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The Detroit News Back To The Top
For Supremes tour, ticket sales are anything but
Wilson, of course, dropped out of contention for the almost-a-reunion tour when she and Cindy Birdsong reportedly were turned down when they demanded the same compensation Ross was slated to receive. At that point, Lynda Laurence and Scherrie Payne, who had done stints as Supremes in the post-Diana '70s, were signed to sing backup. Reportedly, Laurence's and Payne's gowns were already being cut by Bob Mackie while negotiations went on with Wilson and Birdsong, but nobody's talking on the record. At any rate, with the Philadelphia tour kick-off show slated for June 14, there isn't a sellout at a Supremes show yet, although tickets have been on sale for the 24-date tour since April. It's true that these are large rooms to fill -- most of the venues are arenas seating 14,000-17,000. And the ticket prices are high -- a supreme $250 for the top seats, going down to $39 for the nosebleed section.
Fans may well wonder why they should pay $250 for what is essentially a Diana Ross show with
backup singers.
So what exactly does a $250 "superfan" ticket get you? You don't get to zip Ross
up into her gown, although at some venues it buys you entry to a backstage reception. At the Palace, it just puts you as close as humanly possible
to the trio; you'll be able to bond visually with the Supremes, but you'll also risk assault from a stray spangle or bugle bead.
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Supremes Reunion Rumors Back To The Top From: "Thomas Ingrassia" <thomasingrassia@hotmail.com> To: motown@onelist.com
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GO.COM Back To The Top
April 4, 2000 Diana Ross Announces Supreme Tour June 13, 2000 SUPREMES' PAYNE SPEAKS OUT ON TOUR June 15, 2000 Diana Ross, 'Supremes' Begin Tour
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JET MAGAZINE
Back To The Top
MARY WILSON REVEALS WHY SHE WON'T TOUR WITH DIANA ROSS AND THE SUPREMES
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SONICNET.COM Back To The Top
Diana
Ross To Launch Summer Tour With Supremes
Update:
Wilson Says It's No Supremes Without Her
Diana
Ross To Appear On '20/20'
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VH1 ONLINE - The Wire Back To The Top
GOD SAVE THE QUEENS:
MADONNA, ARETHA FRANKLIN, DIANA ROSS, AND SCARY SPICE TREAT THEMSELVES ROYALLY
....Diana Ross may not have been described as a queen, but she's a diva second to none. Engaged by the accounting firm of PricewaterhouseCooper -- you know, the folks who tally the Academy Award votes, among other activities -- to perform at their '99 holiday extravaganza at Madison Square Garden, Ross changed outfits 11 times during her ninety-minute show. That means she dazzled partygoers approximately every 8 minutes and 10 seconds with some new fashion display. There's been no word if Miss Ross was sartorially inspired by her recent close encounter with the happily half-dressed L'il Kim at the MTV Music Awards.
A TOUR SUPREME:
MOTOWN GREATS PLOT COMEBACK
Diana Ross has been popping up in all the right places these days. And maybe one of the wrongs ones too. She made a splashy appearance at the MTV Music Video Awards, accompanied by two latterday divas, the regal Mary J. Blige and the sartorially splendid L'il Kim. She headlined an extravagant holiday party at Madison Square Garden thrown by the deep-pockets accounting firm of PricewaterhouseCooper, in which she came armed with plenty of spectacular costume changes for her ninety-minute set. And she was at the heart of a less glamorous, but major headline-making, recent brouhaha at London's Heathrow Airport over her treatment by a British Airways security guard. So the time may be just right for a Supremes reunion. At least that's what former Supreme singer Mary Wilson thinks. Wilson, who had been quite public about her one-time estrangement from Ross, told Hollywood reporters Marilyn Beck and Stacy Jenel Smith, "Diane [as she still calls the singer] and I spoke in December, and I can firmly say that it's a reality. If they can get all the plans together, we'll go into rehearsals in May, then head out on tour this summer. We're going to start in the U.S., and if that goes great, then I'm sure we'll extend it." Singer Cindy Birdsong, who replaced original member, the late Florence Ballard, will round out the legendary trio. If they plan to go to the U.K., Wilson may want to suggest to Miss Ross that they consider using Gatwick Airport. It's turning out to be a Motown kind of millennial year, now that the Four Tops have also announced they're about to release a new record. They've just completed Four Tops 2000, produced by former Temptation Norman Whitfield, and featuring the elegant lead voice of Levi Stubbs. The Four Tops have not released a new record in eight years. In that time, the group lost original member Lawrence Payton, who passed away in '97. He was replaced by Theo Peoples, who had formerly sung with the Temptations.
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WALL OF SOUND Back To The Top
April 4, 2000 Diana Ross Announces Supremes Tour Dates Saying she was "very excited" and "very thankful," Diana Ross today announced her 30-date, two-and-a-half month "Return to Love" tour with the Supremes, which kicks off June 14 in Philadelphia and is scheduled to wrap up Aug. 5 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Tickets for the first few dates of the tour are slated to go on sale Monday. "I decided to do this again for the fans. This tour will really be dedicated to all the songs from the early days," Ross, 56, said during a press conference at New York City's Grand Central Station, ticking off Supremes favorites such as "Stop! In the Name of Love," "Baby Love," "Come See About Me," "The Happening," "You Keep Me Hanging On," and others. "My intent is to go out and have fun and sing the songs." There has been a great deal of controversy surrounding the tour, however. Ross has been criticized because she'll be performing with Detroit native Scherrie Payne and Lynda Laurence, two latter-day Supremes who joined the group after Ross left in 1970. Many fans feel that she should be touring with Mary Wilson — who co-founded the group in 1959 in Detroit — and Cindy Birdsong, who replaced original member Florence Ballard in 1967 and sang on many of the group's hits. Wilson has said that she and Birdsong were unable to come to financial terms with Ross and the tour's organizers, Toronto-based TNA/SFX Productions. TNA's Arthur Fogel appeared at the press conference, denying the validity of artist fees that have appeared in published reports. Ross, meanwhile, deflected responsibility for the schism with Wilson and Birdsong, placing it on TNA/SFX and its New York-based partner, Scott Sanders Productions. Of Wilson, Ross said, "I wish she was here. I would have been honored to be on stage with all eight of the Supremes. Sometimes there are obstacles. I don't think anybody was willing to go as far as [Wilson] thought they should." But, Ross added, "Change has been part of the Supremes since the beginning … This was never called a reunion tour. I never even considered it a reunion tour." Ross added that she initially planned to do her own tour this summer to promote a new album but was convinced to use the Supremes name by promoters. She did manage to take a shot at Wilson, though, by saying that Payne and Laurence — whom Wilson hired, trained, and subsequently sued when they continued to perform as the Supremes after leaving the group — "really are the ones who kept the legend alive by singing Diana Ross and the Supremes songs for a long time. "When I decided to do this tour, I though the music was more important than the individuals," Ross said. "To me it's all about the music." Ross said she had spoken to Motown founder Berry Gordy Jr. about the tour and received "his blessing." She added that while the show would concentrate on Supremes music, she would also perform some hits from her solo career and a new song, "Return to Love," written especially for the tour by Luther Vandross. The tour's costumes, Ross said, will be "fresh and not retro. We are going to wear our gowns, but it's still fresh and new." The group will offer a preview of the tour on Wednesday's Oprah show, which was taped last week in Chicago. The tour is being sponsored by E*Trade and VH1, and a portion of ticket revenues will go to three charities: City of Hope, the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, and the youth foundation A Better Chance. Ross said tour rehearsals will begin in May. As for further dates beyond the 30 that are scheduled, she said, "I don't know. This may be it, just a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity." For fans who just can't wait until June, Ross, along with Payne and Laurence, will appear on VH1's Divas 2000: A Tribute to Diana Ross, airing on the cable network April 11. — Gary Graff
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20/20
BARBARA WALTERS Back To The Top
"The offer for her was [that] she didn't have to pay for anything,"
"She didn't have to pay for anything. Not a hotel room, not a car, not a gown, not a music arrangement, no set, nothing."
"But it was never enough. I think if we had offered her the moon she would not have been happy. She's coming from a place of being
angry, envious and jealous. We've got to send her a lot of love and give her our prayers."
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ABCNEWS
(
original
link
)
Battle of the Divas
“She really wasn’t the spokesperson. We could all talk. But we were taught at home never to air your laundry in public,” she says. “We’d get on these shows, and all of a sudden, people would stop talking to Florence [Ballard] and I, and they would direct all the questions to Diane,” she adds.
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Billboard - 6/30/00 Back To The TopDiana & Supremes Tour Averaging 50% CapacityWhile its producers admit that the Diana Ross & the Supremes "Return To Love" tour is performing below expectations, the outing -- which has drawn ire for its lineup of Ross and former Supremes Lynda Laurence and Scherrie Payne -- is not stiffing as badly as some industry insiders have speculated. Arthur Fogel, president of tour producer SFX/TNA International, describes it as doing "reasonably well," averaging between 7,000 and 8,000 attendees per night, mostly at arenas that can accommodate double that capacity. Less than halfway into the tour, some markets are drawing fewer than 5,000, while others are doing significantly better. Successes include the June 14 tour opener at Philadelphia's First Union Center, which drew about 10,000 and grossed $692,859, and a June 19 date at the Palace of Auburn Hills (Mich.), which drew about 10,000 and grossed $584,449. Others are not doing as well, including a June 24 stop at the Ice Palace in Tampa, Fla., where sales were below the tour average. Meanwhile, the act could gross as much as $1.3 million on July 6 from a sellout at Madison Square Garden in New York. All in all, the tour's success in major markets may offset its lackluster performance in smaller markets. It wraps Aug. 5 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. -- Ray Waddell, Nashville
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THRILL ENTERTAINMENT GROUP
Supremely Qualified; Lynda Laurence and Scherrie Payne Worthy Indeed of Diva-esque Praise
The Diana Ross and the Supremes "Return To Love" Tour ended in mid-stride On Stage -- they re-united with former Supreme, Jean Terrell, in 1987 to form a group called -- what else -- "Former Ladies Of The Supremes" (FLOS). Though Terrell eventually departed in pursuit of other goals, Laurence and Payne carry on appearing globally in concert with such Motown household names as the Four Tops, the Temptations, the Commodores, and Martha Reeves & the Vandellas. Outside the Motown ranks, they have been billed with a plethora of other major acts from Tom Jones to George Benson to James Brown, to name a few. In the Courts -- the FLOS were sued by Mary Wilson -- another former Supreme -- for trademark infringement, among other thins. Motown yawned. The Court issued a Summary Judgment in favor of the FLOS. The lower court ruling was upheld upon Summary Judgment in favor of the FLOS. The lower court ruling was upheld upon Wilson's appeal: then the court slapped Wilson with a decision to award Laurence and Payne attorney's fees. With the court's blessing, they continue as the Former Ladies Of The Supremes. In the end, elegant, graceful, seasoned, and talented, they too, breathe the rarified air of "Diva" performers. The Former Ladies of The Supremes always perform in "Supreme" fashion, sustaining the legacy and perpetuating the Diva image while enhancing and entertaining fans the world over. As with any legacy, there are those who sustain and perpetuate, and then those who imitate and emulate. Those who will always be, and those who wish they were. Though they prefer to do their talking on stage and in costume, being dubbed "fakes" could not go unanswered. As for Laurence and Payne, they are -- by legal standards among the eight, count 'em, Supremes delivered to the world by Motown as "The Supremes" (a Motown trademark). Between 1961 and 1977, The Supremes reigned supreme, with Laurence (71-73) and Payne (73-77) clear participants. They are rightly recognized as among The Supremes and thus -- also -- heirs to the continuing legacy which they honor in style.
Since Motown -- and Ms. Ross -- selected Laurence and Payne -- then and now - |
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THE TOUR... Back To The Top
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THE TOUR DETROIT NEWS June 16, 2000 - Diana Ross Coming Home to Motown with 'Love' Tour June 20, 2000 - Hometown girls Ross and Payne Wow the Crowd June 20, 2000 - Ross Reigns Supremely June 20, 2000 - From All Over the World, Fans Flock to see Diana June 20, 2000 - "Love" Tour Costumes are Supremely Sensational June 20, 2000 - Mary Wilson's Supreme Memories June 20, 2000 - Diana Ross Tour Brings Back Fond Memories of Yesteryear June 20, 2000 - Supremes Set the Standard for Onstage Glamor and Elegance
June 22, 2000 - If nothing else, Diana Ross is still Supreme
TAMPA
July 15, 2000 - Die-Hard Diva July 20, 2000 - Fiasco Turns Ross' Image Upside Down
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PHILADELPHIA
Back To The Top
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NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Back To The Top
Diana Ross Still Singing
In the Key of Me
By JIM FARBER
At the tour's opening night Wednesday at the Spectrum, Ross kept a huge and telling distance from the two other singers. Seldom did she make eye contact, and only once did she reach out and touch them. While the early Supremes wiggled and cooed shoulder-to-shoulder, this time the spangled backup women knew their place. There's something honest about this. Before this tour, Ross had never sung with these women (Linda Laurence and Scherrie Payne), though the star made sure to mention twice that Laurence's association with the post-Diana group dates to 1972 and Payne's to '73 (after the hits ran dry). I'm sure there's enough blame to go around in the breakdown of negotiations between original surviving Supreme Mary Wilson and Diana. But the resulting, high-profile catfight cast a pall over the tour, which surely helps account for the hundreds of seats that went vacant in Philly. (Tickets likewise remain for the tour's stop at Madison Square Garden, July 6.) The fact that the top ticket price is $250, and lots of seats go for $85, probably hasn't helped move things along. So what do the fans get for their big cash payout? Some worthy musical bits and campy theatrics amid the usual Diana weirdness. Of course, true fans consider Diana's weirdness a draw. The fun began even before the show did. A generous assortment of drag queens showed up in full '60s regalia. Apparently, cross-dressers are to a Diana Ross show what panty-throwers are to a Tom Jones tour. One trio, decked out in hot-pink miniskirts, won the "realness" prize hands-down. Ross divided the night into two one-hour segments. The first was devoted to 16 Supremes hits. The second featured just Diana on her solo smashes, plus a group return — the latter a letdown, since by then they had run through the hits. In the first Supremes section, Ross never sounded fuller of voice. She soared through some of her most-exuberant hits, such as "Come See About Me" and "You Keep Me Hangin' On," with conviction. It was a pleasure to hear the songs in their full form, free of the usual, cynical, Vegas-style medleys. The group even served up such second-string hits as "Forever Came Today" and the post-Diana winner "Up the Ladder to the Roof," which was sung with real power by Laurence after Ross left the stage. Meanwhile, the video screens provided some mystifying moments. During "Reflections," the visuals centered on protest marches and Martin Luther King, as if Ross were Angela Davis. During the socially conscious "Love Child," we were treated to a visual history of Diana's hairstyles. Ross had her own visual aid in the show: The largest TelePrompTer in history, hung from the roof. She made good use of it, even reading lines like "I'm so thankful" and "Love is all I ever hoped for." When the screen failed, during "Touch Me in the Morning," Ross stopped singing cold. But the star turned more blabby in her solo segment. Mainly, she gushed over fans: "I believe in you!" "I knew you would be here!" At one point, she had the audience breathe with her. Ross also enjoyed one big diva moment, staging a sit-in when she couldn't hear the band. "I'll wait until you get it right," she told an unseen, and no doubt cowering, sound man. The crowd gave this moment a special cheer. Even if such ego fits helped nix a real reunion of the greatest girl group in history, fans know that's part of what makes Diana Ross supreme.
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DETROIT
Back To The Top
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The Detroit News
Diana Ross coming home to Motown with ‘Love’ tour By Susan Whitall PHILADELPHIA With the current mania for game shows, here’s one to topple Regis from his throne: Fans try to out-diva Diana Ross . It can’t be done, as proven Wednesday night at the opening date of the Return to Love tour, with Ross and the “Supremes 2000,” as she called them. The tour continues Monday night at the Palace of Auburn Hills, and if Wednesday’s show was any indication, the fans will be getting in on the act. In the front row alone of this city’s First Union Spectrum arena, there was a fellow in a head-to-toe silver-sequined cowboy outfit; a tall man wearing a tasteful black cocktail sheath with veiled hat, and nearby, three enthusiastic gals dressed as “Supremes,” one of whom, playing “Diana” with a feathery, flowing hairdo, almost certainly was born a male. The real Diana’s hair was still bigger. Her makeup was immaculate; her gowns were spanglier and more fabulous, the bangles and sequins on her Bob Mackie-designed gowns lighting up the hockey arena all the way up to the nosebleed $50 seats. She didn’t skimp on the outfits for her co-Supremes either; Scherrie Payne and Lynda Laurence almost matched her sequin for sequin. A troupe of dancers who frugged, did the jerk and swim behind the divas was right out of Shindig — or Austin Powers — with their day-glo orange and lime hip-huggers, mini-skirts and long swingy hair. The co-Supremes were more polished vocally and visually than in their recent Oprah appearance, dressed in identical cut-to-flatter Mackie glitter, and belting out lead vocals when Diana ran off to change costumes. While performing as Supremes, Payne and Laurence both shimmied and swayed off to Diana’s left, their movements as feminine and sinuous as if famed Motown choreographer Cholly Atkins, who liked girl singers doing graceful movements, had put them through their paces. Philadelphia native Laurence is proud and stately, while the diminutive, Detroit-born Payne is flirty and clearly delighted to be there. The affection that flows from Supremettes to Diana, the Supreme goddess icon, seems genuine and flows both ways. Ross, after all, befriended Laurence and Payne while they were out on the road in Europe playing as “Former Ladies of the Supremes.” Original Supreme Mary Wilson, who’d hired Payne and Laurence to tour with her Supremes, had sued them for using the name “Supremes” at all, but lost. Clearly the bad feelings weren’t going to go away overnight. Wilson and the promoters couldn’t come to financial terms, so we have “Supremes 2000” instead of a reunion tour. But A Return to Love is aptly named — it really is an unabashed love fest for Ross herself. The audience was an Oprah-friendly sort, a smattering of couples, many gays and hordes of high-fiving girlfriends out for a night on the town with their favorite primal goddess icon. It was the Diva Supreme from the Brewster-Douglass projects they came to see, the skinny, striving Cass Tech girl in the middle of the three Supremes who is now a lush, womanly figure who towers over her colleagues. The first segment of the show is mostly ’60s-era Supremes, with a nostalgic, retro feel to the costumes and arrangements. Ross wiped away tears as she did the requisite diva arm movements to “Stop in the Name of Love,” (tapping her head on the “think it over” line). The crowd sang along to “Can’t Hurry Love,” “Love Child,” “Where Did Our Love Go?,” “The Happening,” etc. But the audience was every bit as enthused about Ross’ solo segment, which included a moody “Love Hangover,” as well as “Endless Love,” “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” (billed at the time as Diana Ross and the Supremes, although only Ross was on the song), “Reach Out,” and a smattering of covers, like “Somewhere” from West Side Story (a regular in the original Supremes’ show), the Barrett Strong Motown classic “Money” and, most apt, Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive.” Ross seemed to take particular joy in the lyrics to the latter, which have a woman triumphantly rejecting the lover who had previously mistreated and rejected her. The star of the show seemed more vulnerable than in previous concerts past, and it wasn’t just opening-night jitters. But she was most effective at such moments, reacting on the spot — twirling around with a toddler or hugging Luther Vandross as they sang “Amazing Grace” — instead of reading a scripted prayer, however heartfelt (wishing her fans every blessing she has received in life). There were some frayed edges; times the orchestra didn’t end when Ross did, and vice versa, which detracted from the Technicolor punch and polish of the evening. Despite the advance rumblings about slow ticket sales, and trash talking from Mary Wilson’s corner, Ross was clearly buoyed by the hyped-up audience on the main floor, at one point jumping down to personally hug each one in the first row. Somewhere, Oprah was smiling.
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Hometown girls Ross and Payne wow the crowd
Back To The Top
 AUBURN HILLS -- Diana Ross revealed her Supremes 2000 and the Return to Love tour to a hometown crowd promoters estimated at 10,000 at the Palace last night, several dozens of whom were her family and friends, whom she introduced to the audience. She also twirled around with her youngest son while singing the encore, Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive." Her fellow hometown girl Scherrie Payne, who became a Supreme in the post-Diana mid-'70s, was well-represented by kinfolk too, with her big sister, Freda Payne ("Band of Gold"), and father, Sam Farley, out in the crowd. Also in the house: Esther Gordy Edwards and Detroit Police Chief Benny Napoleon. Edwards, who is Motown boss Berry Gordy Jr.'s sister as well as Ross' former manager, waved when Ross introduced her. "Am I proud?" Freda Payne said, laughing nervously. "I am. That's my sister up there! Scherrie isn't nervous, though, just excited and thrilled. I think I got nervous for her."
Uh oh, ex-Supreme Mary Wilson: Many fans gave the new-model Supremes a thumbs up. Another fan came prepared for "Stop! In the Name of Love" -- Debbie Jenkins, 27, of Detroit, who wore a pair of black over-the-elbow, formal evening gloves. "I've only had a chance to wear these gloves once, so I figured tonight would be a great opportunity to wear them again," said Jenkins. Freda Payne confided that her sister was going to get to sing a solo on "Stone Love," the '70s Supremes hit, and indeed Scherrie Payne did, several songs into the show, unleashing a gospel wail that almost cracked the foundation of the arena.
Not to take away from Ross, whose voice sounds more robust than in her Motown heyday -- for years she's famously
taken heat for having a light pop voice. But as Esther Gordy Edwards always said, Ross' cooing, girlish tones were perfect for the lush
pop Berry Gordy was fashioning for the Supremes in the early '60s. It still is a voice that commands attention, although today it sounds buttery and lush, just as Ross' silhouette is more womanly and full-bodied now. "I can remember listening to the Supremes on my brother's transistor radio back in '66," said Kim Delange, 39, of Grand Rapids. "I have no reason to believe that Diana's vocal prowess has diminished. She's definitely the star." Out in the crowd, Maxine Powell's pert yellow hat could be seen bobbing to the beat of "Back in My Arms Again." Powell headed up Motown's famous charm and etiquette school, and she taught kids from the projects like Ross how to dress, use the right forks and comport themselves in high diva wear like the low-cut, high-slit gowns she wore Monday night. Further along Row 3 was a proud Fred Ross, Diana's father. "I'm excited," he conceded. Although pressed for his favorite song by his daughter, he threw up his hands. "I like them all!" The dance troupe accompanying the tour was a potent visual plus, giving the arena audience -- especially in the rear -- intense citrus colors and authentic '60s dances to focus upon, as if the Technicolor glitter emanating from Ross, Payne and Laurence wasn't enough. Right smack in the front row was Derek G. Thornton, who oversees the tours at the Motown Museum, holding Derek K. Thornton, age 6.
"I don't know what people expected -- Diana Ross always gives a good show," Thornton said. In a more perfect world, Ross might have a revolving cast of Supremes, smoothing it over with Mary Wilson for one tour, then going off with Scherrie and Lynda for another. It would defuse some of the bad publicity and maybe fill more seats for what is actually a worthwhile show. Maybe in some parallel universe: for now it was Ross and her later-model Supremes, infusing the frothy Supremes songbook with a womanly gusto.
"It's real nice to hear them do all the old songs," said Hugh Conahan, 50, of Brighton. "For me, it's
a trip back -- convertibles, summertime and Motown."
Detroit News reporter Adam Graham contributed to this report.
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Ross reigns supremely Back To The Top
Diva returns to Motown to share memories of the way life used to be
By Susan Whitall The Detroit News
As Diana Ross looked out into the audience at The Palace of Auburn Hills Monday night for her "Return to Love' tour with Supremes 2000, there surely must have been some bittersweet reflections by the woman who is Cass Tech's most glamorous graduate. In the concert, Ross called her life story a "rags to riches" tale as black and white film of the singer frolicking with her original Supreme-mates, Mary Wilson and the late Florence Ballard, flickered on a screen at the rear of the stage. Ballard, known to Wilson and Ross as "Blondie," left the group in the late '60s for a solo career that was supposed to launch her as a soulful legend, but her career sputtered and she ended up on welfare in Detroit, where she died in 1976. At least one of her daughters was set to attend Monday's show. Yet, when Ross sang the lines in Back in My Arms Again that refer to the former Supremes, Wilson and Ballard, she didn't mention their names. Instead of "How can Mary tell me what to do/when she lost her love so true," Ross sang "How can people tell me what to do. ..." While Wilson, who couldn't come to financial terms with the promoters, definitely wasn't in the audience, Ross surely saw Esther Gordy Edwards, her manager and sister of the boss, Motown's Berry Gordy Jr. The bandbox-fresh Maxine Powell, Motown's famed etiquette teacher, was no doubt sitting right up front to see if her star pupil remembered how to walk gracefully in those cut-to-there Bob Mackie dresses. Friends and family were rubbing shoulders in the front row with the dime-store Dianas, packs of rowdy girlfriends and Motown colleagues. The show wasn't a sellout, but the crowd was alive. Ross gave away 400 tickets to the Broadstreet Parade Band.
The show started, aptly, with Ross and her two latter-day Supremes, Lynda Laurence and Detroit's Scherrie Payne,
singing Reflections, about a woman dreaming about "the way life used to be." |
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From all over the world, fans flock to see Diana
By Nicole Volta Avery / Detroit News Style Editor AUBURN HILLS -- Well folks, you just can't out-diva Diana. That's why in spite of all the Supremes' background drama and speculations of poor ticket sales, Metro Detroiters turned out in force last night for the Return to Love concert at the Palace, giving major props to the queen of pop. The effervescent crowd (estimated at 10,000) held a love-in for Ross, nouveau Supremes, Sherrie Payne and Lynda Laurence, and the Motown sound. It became clear early on that the evening's main attraction was Diana; most fans agreed that they didn't care who backed her. "I have 7,666 pictures of Diana," said Phillip Calloway of Detroit, while waiting to take his seat. "I have been a fan for 38 years. Diana is the ultimate diva, and the No. 1 female entertainer. It's her eyes. Her expressiveness. "Oh, and those gowns. You know she changes like 12 to 13 times a show?" (Well, actually Phillip, Monday night Ross changed six times.)
"I grew up with Diana," said Ronald Wilson of Detroit. "We went to Cass Tech together." "Diana Ross and the Supremes are Detroit," said Costella Winbush. "They are unbeatable. And being that we are relatives, this was something we couldn't miss." "I love Diana," said Francine Gardner of Lathrup Village, who came with a dapper Jimmy Jackson of Detroit. "She is a superb artist. She is well-bred, and I just think she is marvelous. "I grew up with the Supremes," Gardner, 60, added. Then Jackson chimed in: "This is the oldie, but goody." The fans were dressed in everything from denim shorts and nondescript T-shirts to sherbet-colored dress suits (worn Detroit-style with matching gators, of course). As for the audience, it wasn't exactly the diva-inspired fashion fest one might expect. And surprisingly, Miss Ross' typical drag queen posse was conspicuously absent. But still, the faithful came from all over -- the world, that is.
Paul Bignell and his brother, Tim, traveled from north England to catch a glimpse of Ross. The Bignell brothers
dropped $125 each for concert tickets, not to mention what it cost them to fly into Detroit.
"For me, the draw is Diana Ross. She has style. She has presence," he said. "Plus, she loves
London." "I bought the tickets at 10:01 the first day they went on sale," he said. "It was either make a house payment or see Diana Ross -- Diana won." Toth didn't come to the concert empty-handed. He brought two-dozen long-stemmed red roses to give to Ross. Upon spying the flowers under his seat, Palace security told Toth he could only hand them to Diana if she reached for them. If not, security would bring them to her backstage after the show. (A major drag for a die-hard fan.) "She'll reach for them," said Toth, confidently. And true to his words, during "Baby Love," Ross walked to the edge of the stage and graciously took the flower from Toth's outstretched hand.
When the hair stops blowing and the sequins have stopped sparkling, that is why fans will always love Diana Ross.
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'Love' tour costumes are supremely sensational
Back To The Top
"The audience is getting New Year's Eve. The gowns are all standouts," said Michele Knepp, a costumer with the Return to Love tour, which rolled into the Palace of Auburn Hills Monday night. Knepp is the lucky lady in charge of dressing Diana Ross. "The opening looks are just drop dead. They're breathtaking," she said. Looking like shapely disco balls, Ross, Payne and Laurence, first took the stage swathed in huggy, side-slit slinks covered with cut mirror. If this is what middle age looks like, sign me up! And how long did it take to craft such confections? "Oh, please, it was Herculean! And then, there were three of them," said Ray Aghayan, who has designed Supremes costumes with the legendary Bob Mackie since 1968.
"Of course, I did one of my usual stupid things and said they could be made in five days," he added. "Diana is very involved," he said. "She always comes with something in mind." The onstage vibe is vintage Supremes with a modish, cabaret bent … green sequin gowns edged with ostrich feathers, and one bright yellow feathered coat. (Guess who wore that?) The hot pink, bell-bottom jumpsuits dotted with rhinestones? Amazing. And of course, let's not forget Miss Ross' trademark red "I Will Survive" pantsuit. "These are not just dresses, they are a little bit more," Aghayan said. "When little girls close their eyes and imagine that they are glamorous, this is what they think about."
And when adults reminisce about by-gone days, Diana Ross and the Supremes is what they see. ... Survive, indeed.
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Mary Wilson's Supreme memories
Back To The Top
The former Supreme talks about the group as reunion tour goes on without her
The girls didn't get the recording contract they had dreamed about. "Seeing that there were four of us young teenagers who weren't even out of high school rather scared Mr. Gordy," says Wilson from New York City. "He said, 'Listen, after you guys graduate, then come back and see us.' "But we fooled him!" Wilson adds with a laugh. Wilson, Diane (not yet Diana) Ross, Florence Ballard and Betty Martin refused to give up, hanging around Motown's Hitsville USA studio until they landed occasional jobs singing backup for such established Motown stars as Mary Wells, Marvin Gaye and Smokey Robinson. They went on, of course, to form the Supremes, one of the most successfulMotown groups. On Monday night, Diana Ross brought the Supremes' new Return to Love tour to the Palace of Auburn Hills for a hometown concert -- without Wilson. Wilson says she was always interested in singing and had been active with her school choirs and glee clubs. One place she did not sing during her childhood was in the church, because it was intimidating, she says. "At one point, my family attended the church that Aretha Franklin's father was the pastor of," Wilson says. "On any given Sunday, we could hear her and her sisters singing, and you didn't want to get up there and sing with them!" In January 1961, while the persistent teen-agers were still in school, Gordy finally relented and signed them to his label, but by then, Martin had quit the group under pressure from her parents to concentrate on her studies. The trio of Diane Ross, Mary Wilson and Flo Ballard never did finish high school. Gordy suggested a name change, and Ballard came up with the Supremes -- a moniker that Wilson and Ross initially resisted. The group became a household name around the world, one of the most famous vocal groups in history, recording 12 No. 1 hits and 33 songs that reached the Top 40, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988. But success was not instantaneous. It took three years before the trio's tunes received national airplay. "Originally, we recorded about 10 or 11 songs and released them locally," Wilson recalls. "Many of them were either written or produced by Smokey Robinson or Berry Gordy. But we did not get anywhere until Mr. Gordy put us with the Holland Brothers and Mr. Dozier. That's when it all clicked." The pairing of the Supremes with the songwriting trio of Brian and Edward Holland and Lamont Dozier provided the first breakthrough, a Top 30 hit in January 1964, titled "When the Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes." It was the beginning of a solid-gold relationship, although it took a while to blossom. The second Holland-Dozier-Holland song recorded by the Supremes, "Run, Run, Run," only made it to No. 93 on the charts, and the songwriters had to push hard for the Supremes to give their next composition a try. "We didn't like it at all," Wilson says of "Where Did Our Love Go," which linked a sad story to a lilting melody that took full advantage of the trio's fluid, tightly woven harmonies. "The Holland Brothers were really determined that that was the record that would put us over the top," Wilson says. "We said, 'Yeah, yeah, yeah.' We said we wanted a hit record like the Marvelettes or the Vandellas. They had come to Motown after we did, and they had hit records before we did. We were not happy with that. We said we wanted something more soulful, but we had to take it." The songwriters' instincts were proven right. "Where Did Our Love Go" topped the charts for two weeks and sold more than 2 million copies, putting the Supremes at the top of the pop music world. By the end of 1964, the group had two more chart-topping hits penned by Holland-Dozier-Holland, "Baby Love" and "Come See About Me." Over the next several years, the Supremes were averaging one national television appearance or major concert per week, with each single virtually guaranteed to be a hit. How did the three twentysomething friends, reared in a Detroit housing project, adjust to the overwhelming fame and fortune? "I don't want to answer for Diane," Wilson says, still using her famous friend's childhood name, "but generally speaking, for Diane and me, it was fabulous. It may have been a little more difficult for Florence. She was a more down-to-earth person than me and Diane." Furthermore, Motown's staff had initiated programs to teach social skills to their recording artists, most of whom had grown up in poverty, and worked with their artists to prepare them for the pressures of fame. Ballard, however, resented the increasing attention placed on Ross by the public, the media and Gordy. She started to miss concerts, later attributed, by her colleagues, to mood swings and alcohol abuse, and Motown was forced to recruit a stand-in, Cindy Birdsong, of Camden, N.J. In 1967, Ballard was fired after missing a show in Las Vegas and was replaced permanently by Birdsong. Ballard went through a lot of personal struggles in the following years and died in 1976, in poverty, of a cardiac arrest at age 32. Ross, meanwhile, was on her way to superstar status as a pop-music diva and entertainment icon. Gordy elevated her status within the group by rechristening the trio Diana Ross and the Supremes, but she left to pursue a solo career in 1970. "When Florence left, for me, as far as I was concerned, the group was kind of over," Wilson says. "And then, when Diane left, it was all over. It was really just myself. But once you're a performer, you're always a performer." Despite the loss of two original members, Wilson tried to keep the Supremes going for seven more years. She said it wasn't until 1977 that she felt confident enough to disband the group and step into the spotlight as a solo artist. She has since recorded several solo albums, acted on Broadway, on television, and in several minor Hollywood movies, and has written two best-selling autobiographies.
"I haven't had a lot of success as a solo recording artist," she acknowledges. "But it really has been
wonderful to have emerged from all this, and to have the name Mary Wilson be known around the world." Wilson says she has spent "millions" in legal fees trying to keep bogus vocal groups from calling themselves the Supremes, even though she does not own the trademark. "I was the first person to trademark the name 'the Supremes,' " she says, "but somehow the old Motown got the rights to that name. It's one of those not-too-nice stories." When she's not flying around the country performing, Wilson usually can be found with her nose in a book -- a textbook, that is.
She enrolled at New York University three years ago and plans to become a "professional student."
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Diana Ross tour brings back fond memories from yesteryear
Even in the days when she bussed tables in Hudson's basement and ironed her orlon sweaters to make them look classier, Diana Ross always had some special, hard-to-place magic. Of the original Supremes, she wasn't the stop-and-stare beauty. Mary Wilson had the face that made boys and men Stop in the Name of Love. And Florence Ballard had the voice that reminded you of heavy-bosomed church ladies with sweat-shiny foreheads and mouths that pleaded, "Jesus, won't you come by here." Yet, Diana's trembling cooing-dove voice captured the sound of teen-aged heartbreak, and she had the hunger, too. The nonstop pursuit of a goal that some people call single-minded and others called ruthless. Maybe it's because in her head, where dreams start, she always saw herself wrapped in satin and sweat-free. By the time you read this, Diana Ross and the Supremes' Return to Love tour will be history around here. But the Auburn Hills show stirred up many memories for people with first-hand knowledge of that supreme diva, Diana Ross, and other Motown grads.
The Supremes weren't my favorite Motown act. Sure, I liked to hum their songs and sip their success, but their
soda-pop sound, with just a hint of grit, never hit my heart like Marvin Gaye's rendition of Distant Lover. But the Supremes had the patent on gloss and glamour, and they were pioneers, too, the first exponents of the Motown Sound to reap the rewards of mass popularity. They brought elegance to pop music and opened up the night club circuit to contemporary entertainers. And like Motown itself, they represented the '60s, the dream of justice and the reality of young people coming together for something as simple as a good time. They made little girls everywhere think that maybe they, too, could shine and shimmer. In 1970, Diana Ross left the Supremes to become a solo singer and actress. Jean Terrell became the lead singer. She was the sister of heavyweight boxer Ernie Terrell and a member of his singing group, Ernie Terrell and the Heavyweights. Terrell, Mary Wilson and Cindy Birdsong recorded hits such as Stoned Love. In 1972, the lineup changed again. Cindy Birdsong left and was replaced by Lynda Laurence, a member of Stevie Wonder's backup group and the daughter of Ira Tucker of the legendary Dixie Hummingbirds. In 1973, both Laurence and Terrell left. Cindy Birdsong returned and Scherrie Payne joined the group in 1974. In 1976, Birdsong was replaced by Susaye Green. Now, it's Ross, Laurence and Detroit's own Scherrie Payne, the Supremes that never were but might have been. I didn't see their sequin-splashed show last night, but just thinking about them took me back to a time when you could hear the whole Motown gang booming the company song around midnight on West Grand Boulevard. For those memories alone, I thank them.
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Supremes set the standard for onstage glamor and elegance
By Nicole Volta Avery / Detroit News
Tagged the hottest girl-group of all time, the Supremes' ascent had as much to do with their signature sound as it did with their unique style -- a perfected blend of elegance and sass, funk and refinement. Here's a glimpse at some of the Supremes' most memorable looks: 1965 -- Frosted lips, kohl-rimmed eyes and modish wigs -- can you say drama? The diva-trio, better know as the Supremes, have '60s glam down pat -- and four gold records to boot. 1966 -- Under the tutelage of Motown's legendary etiquette mistress Maxine Powell, the Supremes are a well-wrapped package of elegance and poise. 1967 -- A measure of mod meets a splash of innocence, and the signature Supremes look is born. The group achieves fashion icon status, and now it's "Diana Ross and the Supremes."
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The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: 6.23.2000
Back To The Top
Stop! Something's missing from these Supremes
By Sonia Murray Reflections of the way Diana Ross & the Supremes used to be were kind of hard to make out Thursday night at Philips Arena. Sure, the trio cranked out all the hits in the efficient and mechanic way of a jukebox. And the black and white images on three of the four wide screens were of such '60s moments as a thin James Brown patting his process and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., reminding the half-full crowd of the epoch when Detroit's Motown machine unleashed arguably the most renowned girl group in the world. But hold the mirror up to Diana Ross and these Supremes. Not only were these not founding members Mary Wilson and the late Florence Ballard by Ross' side, but how could this really be the "Return to Love" tour when there was so much publicly-aired trouble with staging Ross' return to the group (in name only) she left in 1970? If you didn't catch the "20/20" interviews, Ross asked Wilson and Cindy Birdsong (who replaced Ballard) to reprise the Supremes for about $2 million each, Wilson says, while Ross was reportedly getting between $15 million and $20 million. (Clearly organizers were planning to sell plenty of tickets as high as $252, plus $18 coffee mugs). Anyway, they both passed on the invite. Then to make things even more prickly, Wilson hit the road with her own Supremes, who came to Atlanta last month during Music Midtown and gave a more huskily-delivered take on "Baby Love" and other signatures. So Thursday night it was Ross' turn, the real, chirpier, voice of the Supremes, with post-Ross Supremes Lynda Laurence (who joined in '71) and Scherrie Payne (who joined in '73). Capable vocal accompaniment though they were, you got the feeling they were just going through the motions, maybe following along with the lyrics rolling on the fourth screen, hanging in the center of the venue, and making sure they weren't the object of a pre-"VH-1 Diva" moment. Which happened right after opener, "Reflections." "More band please," Ross curtly instructed. And after the second admonition right after, the 40-piece orchestra cranked up and too often overpowered Ross' still-recognizable voice. But the well-dressed crowd of people who mostly looked to have grown up with 56-year-old Ross, just clapped and motioned along to the soundtrack of their younger days - pushing their hands out, palm forward, on "Stop! In the Name of Love."
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TAMPA
Back To The Top
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Ross proves she still can steal a show Back To The Top
By GINA VIVINETTO St. Petersburg Times, published June 26, 2000 The year's most controversial concert tour may turn out to be its most enjoyable. Diana Ross' Return to Love show Saturday at the Ice Palace in Tampa was two hours of non-stop fun, despite woefully low ticket sales. An estimated 5,000 fans filled a fraction of the Palace, which has the capacity to seat 20,000. Billed as a reunion of the Supremes, the 1960s Motown trio that made Ross a star, the tour has received harsh criticism for including later members of the act, with whom Ross herself has never sung. Ross initially offered Mary Wilson, the Supremes' other surviving original member, just $2-million to participate. (Ross is rumored to be making $15-million for the tour plus a percentage of ticket sales.) Of course, all of the commotion only adds to Ross' reputation as a difficult diva. But Saturday night, the 56-year-old legend could not have been warmer. Accompanied by a full-piece orchestra, backing band, three additional back up singers, 10 dancers and a video screen depicting famous images of the 1960s, Ross still managed to steal the show. How? With charisma and costumes, including one floor-length yellow feathered boa that made her look like Sesame Street's Big Bird, only far more fabulous and sexy. Ross' voice, too, still has plenty of oomph, despite her lamenting about singing the tunes in their original key.Ross encouraged the crowd to sing along, an easy task for those who could spy the lyrics on a video monitor hanging from the arena's ceiling to help Ross' memory. (Hey, these hits started back in 1962, people; that's almost 40 years.) Ross promised a night of nostalgia, and from the opener Reflections fans got a dizzying string of hits, including My World Is Empty Without You, Where Did Our Love Go? and You Can't Hurry Love. Don't forget Come See About Me, Love Child and You Keep Me Hangin' On. Later in the show, Ross treated fans to I'm Comin' Out, Ain't No Mountain High Enough, a super funky Upside Down and other hits from her 30-year solo career. Though she's known to be a rigid perfectionist, Ross was refreshingly loose, giggling when she flubbed lyrics and chatting with the audience. (One exchange with an overzealous fan: "I love you, too. No, I love you more. Well, I love you to infinity.") During Stop! In the Name of Love, the singer strolled through the audience, letting the crowd sing into her microphone. Ross laughed, kissing and embracing fans who swarmed at her from every direction. The singer joked about the lack of an intermission, although previous shows contained one. She said she got caught up in the fun. Did Ross really forget to stop? Who knows? She asked the crowd if anyone needed a break, but there were no takers. After a tepid start to the Theme from Mahogany (Do You Know Where You're Going to?), Ross asked the audience and the band if she could try again. At one point Ross -- Diana Ross -- even took requests, which led her into a gorgeous version of Touch Me In the Morning. As for those "faux" Supremes? Lynda Laurence and Scherrie Payne, Ross' "two best new girlfriends," provided smooth backup vocals, coy go-go dancing and one show-stopping solo number each. The performance closed with a breathtaking, slowed-down soul version of the Four Tops' Reach Out I'll Be There. Ross and her entourage encored with I Will Survive, the disco hit made famous by Gloria Gaynor.
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If nothing else, Diana Ross is still Supreme
Back To The Top
By Rod Stafford Hagwood, Sun-Sentinel Fashion Columnist Posted June 22, 2000 "It's about the music," Diana Ross laments in the lead. "It's about the respect (i.e. the money)," Mary Wilson sings out in the background. Cindy Birdsong, the only other surviving member from the '60s pop iconic girl group the Supremes, mouths something, but no one can hear her. Her microphone was never really turned on. That's the cacophony coming from one of the most controversial concert series of the summer: the Diana Ross and the Supremes Return to Love Tour. The tour hits National Car Rental Center at 8 p.m. Sunday. It's all about Miss Ross; it always has been and it always will be. That's why being a diva is so difficult: It's always about you, even when you really don't want it to be. Take this tour, for example. If it is about the music, you'd never know it from the lambasting Ross endured for hiring Scherrie Payne and Lynda Laurence - women who everyone on the planet now knows joined the group after Ross departed in 1970 - instead of Wilson and Birdsong, with whom the Motown legend shared billing with in the later '60s (after original member Florence Ballard got booted in 1967). Ross might have fared better if she had simply hit the road as "Diana Ross Sings the Supremes" and avoided the muck and mire. But she gamely went on with the tour, promising her fawning fans the hits written by Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier and Edward Holland Jr. that made the terrific troika second only to the Beatles in record sales during the turbulent era. "I think Diana miscalculated the public's emotional connection to the Supremes, and that's because she doesn't really have an emotional connection to the Supremes," J. Randy Taraborrelli, author of the 1989 unauthorized biography Call Her Miss Ross, told Philadelphia's Inquirer newspaper. "She didn't have an emotional connection with them when she was with them. Her connection has always been with the audience." Taraborrelli was an enthusiastic member of the opening-night audience in Philadelphia's First Union Spectrum June 14. If it were about the music, you'd hear only song titles like Where Did Our Love Go?, Baby Love, Come See About Me, Stop! in the Name of Love, Back in My Arms Again, I Hear a Symphony, My World Is Empty Without You, You Can't Hurry Love, You Keep Me Hangin' On, The Happening and Reflections. All of those hits were written by the Holland/Dozier/Holland team. It is a body of work worthy of some major props: infectious crossover hits that made the call-and-response in black music sound natural to white kids who had no frame of reference for the Afrocentric sounds. The Supreme sound is all about Ross' yearning, plaintive "call" to the Supremes' "response" of ooh, aah, and baby. But this was sophisticated soul, often as ambitious as its lead singer. With Ross' thin-textured but laser-intense delivery and precise phrasing, the Supremes went on to record everything and everyone - from the Funny Girl Broadway score to a country album. Ross' voice is at its best crystalline and unmistakable. You know it's her. It can't be anyone else. And back then, the young ladies could truly harmonize better than the McGuire Sisters in their sleep or even current girl group knockout TLC. When the Supremes returned to their light r&b-tinged pop records, you could actually hear the distant rumbling of a soul storm gathering. Listen to the Berry Gordy-penned Try It Baby, sung with the Temptations in 1968, or the soaring melodrama of Love Child and follow-up with the church-flavored Someday We'll Be Together (which was recorded and released with nary a Supreme in the studio). Because they were so glitzy with their image, the Supremes never got the recognition they deserved for their music (Baby Love in '64 and Stop! in the Name of Love in '65 were the only Grammy nominations). Or for their leadership. The Supremes also introduced many in the United States, Europe and the Far East to other Motown artists. They introduced a slew of black fans to standards written by Rodgers & Hart, George and Ira Gershwin, Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields, Cole Porter and Irving Berlin as well as France's Frank Singer/Gilbert Becaud/Pierre Delanoe. The Supremes sang everything. Ross' voice was extremely malleable with styles, giving Fats Waller the robust sounds he needs and Sam Cooke the stirring soul shout he needs. And little other than Ross' voice has changed. Despite some solid singing with her thicker, smokier sound (a process that started with the recording of the Lady Sings the Blues soundtrack in 1971), the Supremes Return to Love Tour is getting generally favorable reviews and healthy crowds (despite inaccurate reports), but little respect. Even with a 40-piece orchestra and an enormous video screen projecting everything from faces in the audience to vintage footage of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights struggle in the '60s, there are few props for Ross, Payne or Laurence. They will have to make do with their campy Bob Mackie costumes, a bevy of hyperkinetic dancers and a state-of-the-art sound system, because it clearly isn't about the music. A portion of the proceeds from ticket sales will be donated to three charities: A Better Chance, City of Hope and the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation.
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Ross finds where love went Back To The Top
By SEAN PICCOLI Web-posted: 11:33 p.m. June 25, 2000 SUNRISE -- Twentieth-century diva Diana Ross never disguised her motives for coming back: Relive some glory; make a mint. It was her methods that came under fire on the Motown queen's "Return to Love" tour -- a "reunion" with the concept, if not the actual people, known as the Supremes. Those methods were immediately suspect on Sunday night at the National Car Rental Center in Sunrise. Ross and the new Supremes, in glittering silver gowns, and a massive orchestra arrayed in tiers behind them opened with Reflections. They positively blundered the song's wistful, R&B-pop elegance at every turn, even with Ross singing off a Teleprompter mounted above the floor, while pictures of the late civil-rights hero The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., flickered on a screen above the bandstand. It looked as if it was going to be that kind of night: Performers selling edited memories to a highly suggestible audience; artists admitting their failures up front by trying to invoke the credibility of greater figures than they. Wasn't there a more honest way to make nostalgia pay? Yes, and Ross eventually found it. A performance that threatened train wreck for openers improved as the evening went on. It wasn't Ross' singing that suddenly improved; at age 56, she carries her flamboyance more effectively than certain notes. What she did was make people love her again, or remind them why they had in the first place. Ross plunged into the crowd to dispense and accept hugs. She brought audience members on stage. She turned the spotlight over the stand-in Supremes Lynda Laurence and Scherrie Payne, who sang more forcefully and more in tune than Ross but without her fragile, ethereal style. Appealing directly to her fans, Ross also surprised them with her choice of songs. For every expected hit -- Love Child, Where Did Our Love Go, Baby Love -- the "Return to Love" cast reached back: I Will Survive, done Gloria Gaynor straight; a smoky version of the Motown classic I'll Be There; and a sassy cover of Money, a hit for the Beatles but written by Motown founder Berry Gordy Jr. Only a blind person would have missed Ross poking fun at her own diva mythology, strutting in lamé to a lyric like, "Money don't get everything, it's true/What it don't get, I can't use."
The two-hour show covered some 40 years of pop history, and as the songs piled up -- the sad sweet grandeur of
Ain't
No Mountain High Enough, the disco hustle of Upside Down -- the easier it became to forget the balky opening, admire the
orchestra for respecting the Motown sound, and salute Ross for taking ownership of her past. They are, after all, her reflections.
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DALLAS
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Reigning Supreme Back To The Top
Ross-era hits prove highlight of reunion 06/30/2000 By Thor Christensen / The Dallas Morning News Diana Ross and the Supremes taught us you can't hurry love. But you also can't hurry hits, which was the major problem with the group's lopsided concert Thursday night at Reunion Arena. The first 35 minutes of the flashy two-hour show were pure serendipity, as Ms. Ross and company hammered out 10 Supremes gems from the '60s in a row: "Reflections," "Baby Love," "Come See About Me," "Stop! In the Name of Love" and on and on until the sheer melodic joy (combined with the heavy dose of nostalgia) was overwhelming. A 40-piece orchestra tried to warm up the crowd with a cheesy Vegas-style overture medley of hits, but once the show actually got started, the Supremes' 11-piece backing band nailed the songs on the head. The jubilant Motown bass line was perfect. The rhythms were insistent and airtight. And while Ms. Ross' voice was a bit lower and raspier than it was in her heyday, the songs carried her. Reunion Arena might have been two-thirds empty - a result, perhaps, of those jaw-dropping $250 top ticket prices - but the fans who were there responded to "Back in My Arms Again" and "Where Did Our Love Go" by dancing furiously. Yet once the barrage of Supremes hits ended, so did the magic. The show became a poorly paced grab bag of cover tunes and Ms. Ross' solo hits, and the illusion that this was a special Supremes "reunion" quickly faded. Scherrie Payne and Lynda Laurence - who actually joined the Supremes after Ms. Ross quit in 1970 - sounded just fine, especially with the support of an additional backing vocal trio. But it was painfully obvious they were just Ms. Ross' hired help. The singer rarely came within spitting distance of her two bandmates, and they appeared as separate entities on the video screens (Ms. Payne and Ms. Laurence occupied one camera shot; Ms. Ross had her own). And while Ms. Ross seemed to be having a ball - strutting through the crowd and inviting fans to sing as "honorary Supremes" - she also seemed ill-rehearsed at times. Although she boasted, "I remember every song I did in the '60s," she certainly didn't remember the lyrics: Despite the presence of a huge video TelePrompTer for every song she sang, she still briefly botched the words to "You Can't Hurry Love" and one other tune. But the show's biggest drawback was the skimpy number of Ross-era Supremes hits after the first grand barrage. For the finale, we got hit-and-miss covers of "Money (That's What I Want)," "Reach Out I'll Be There" and "I Will Survive," as well as two of Ms. Ross' tunes: the sugary solo ballad "The Best Years of My Life" and a tentative version of "Love Hangover." I would have traded all of those for a show-closing snippet of "Someday We'll Be Together."
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Houston
Chronicle Back To The Top
June 30, 2000, 8:48AM MUSIC REVIEW Supremes take fans back in timeBy MICHAEL D. CLARKCopyright 2000 As impressive as a number like 70-plus hit singles is, Diana Ross' impact on American rock music can only be seen in person. At the Compaq Center on Wednesday night, where Ross reunited with the Supremes, middle-aged white women stood with three generations of a black family on one side and men dressed in gaudy Diana drag on the other. All had an attachment to, a history with and an affection for the original diva of Motown. All knew the words to every song. All felt that what they were watching was a piece of them. Numbers also don't explain why Diana Ross can unite with former Supremes for the first time since she left them 30 years ago and fill only half a venue. True, these Supremes -- Lynda Laurence and Scherrie Payne -- are not the girl group Motown mogul Barry Gordy formed around Ross in 1959 (originally known as the Primettes). One original Supreme, Florence Ballard, died in 1976. The other, Mary Wilson, along with Cindy Birdsong (who replaced Ballard in 1967), decided against participating. Laurence and Payne, however aren't exactly stand-ins. Both have been associated with the Supremes for three decades and helped continue the hit machine after Ross left. Some pundits have thought that the lack of original Supremes may have caused a backlash for the 23-date Return To Love tour that began two weeks ago. A more positive spin would be that this formation shows where the Supremes might have gone had Ross stayed on board. Though Laurence and Payne both became Supremes within years of Ross leaving, until now the three woman had never performed together. In all this politicking, the one thing that never changes is the validity and sanctity of the R&B songbook Ross etched into the American consciousness with her delicate, sympathetic whispers. Backed by an orchestra of strings, brass and woodwinds in addition to a modern band of guitar and percussion, the crowded stage looked ready for an Oscar ceremony. When the sheer curtain parted, the three women, gowned as shimmering disco balls, marched forward. In their '60s heyday, the Supremes rivaled the Beatles as the biggest rock 'n' roll force in the world, but their mystique always pressed further than radio play. At a time of civil unrest, the Supremes represented how three black women could overcome. Enveloped in ball dresses, they boldly and successfully mixed tales of racial and gender equality into a recurring theme of love. That spirit was captured on this stage. Highlighted by historical films of Martin Luther King Jr. preparing to speak in front of the Lincoln Memorial, Reflections began a 27-song, two-hour, six-outfit tour back to Motown's Detroit roots. On Come See About Me and Love Is Like an Itching in My Heart, Laurence and Payne swooped and whirled in unison like, as Ross described them, her "two new best girlfriends." The second-generation Supremes have aged marvelously, but Ross has simply defied the gods. Toned and thin with that wild mane of relaxed dark hair, she sets an impossible Barbie-like standard for physical beauty among mature women. She flattered every outfit, be it a pink bell-bottom jumper or a casual orange pant suit. Even more amazing is how her voice has retained the adolescent idealism of her youth. Stop! In the Name of Love and Baby Love still sounded like a sock hop, while Love Hangover (Do You Know Where You're Going To) still wept with hopeless caution. Most precious was watching Ross dance like a teen-ager to I Will Survive followed by a trip into the audience to shake hands during the telling Best Years of My Life. To watch grown men, tears streaming down their cheeks, clutch at this waif of a woman is to absorb Ross' personal power. Few cared that a large screen in the rafters ran the words to all the songs above the heads of the audience to aid Ross, or that she slipped a dance step or botched a lyric. For the gathered, this was a testament to the music that laid the foundation for all of rock 'n' roll. They were right.
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Chicago,
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MADISON SQUARE GARDEN, NEW YORK
Back To The Top
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LA DOLCE MUSTO
Back To The Top
by Michael Musto, The Village Voice
Published July 19 - 25, 2000 ...Another 1973 cult item, that queen of queens Diana Ross, dazzled with her "Return to Love" concert at Madison Square Garden—again, you must believe me—and with my eyes half-cocked, that was Mary and Cindy and even Flo up there. Things started unpromisingly with an overture consisting mostly of Miss Ross's solo hits, but then Diana and her two "best friends" emerged, singing "Reflections" in silver sequins, and we were all thrown back to "the way life used to be-uh" in the flash of an upswept arm gesture. It was a gorgeous opener, and though Ross seemed to be on autopilot for some of the night—maybe she'd just found out the tour was going to be canceled—she sounded record-perfect and at least minimized her usual order-giving and needy "I love you" displays. A vessel of pure showbiz enchantment, Diana glittered through her trademark contradictions, performing her ghetto song, "Love Child," in pink bugle beads and blithely ignoring the reunion-debacle irony as she rollicked through "Money, that's what I want." The backup girls were more than serviceable, though they could just as well have been Vandellas or even Pips, and seemed to have their own backup girls helping out in the wings. But critics were wrong to complain that there was no interaction between Diana and the Supremes—there never was! For added authenticity, Diana brought up Luther Vandross for an impromptu duet on one of her recent releases—he didn't know it—after which her little son came up to moonwalk (oh, no, has Jacko been to visit?). By the end of his routine—I swear—Mommy was in a whole new outfit! The evening even came with a sideshow. In the crowd, drag performer Princess Diandra was spilling booze all over me and yelling at the stage, "You hideous has-been woman!" Security had to drag her down from dancing on a box, where she was trying to upstage the diva who gave us all birth. I worship you, Diandra, but the extra dr in your name is starting to stand for drama queen.
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Philadelphia Inquirer
Back To The Top
July 15, 2000 Die-Hard Diva
By Annette John-Hall
Die-hard divaDiana Ross' latest tour is sputtering and people are making jokes about her "Sub-premes," but this is one lady you don't count out.
Last we checked, that was Diana Ross' picture accompanying the word diva in the dictionary. Annette John-Hall's e-mail address is ajohnhall@phillynews.com
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USA TODAY Back To The TopFiasco turns Ross' image upside downBy Arlene Vigoda What's a diva to do after being dissed? The Diana Ross and the Supremes tour was a disaster, aborted in midstream by abysmal ticket sales, half-filled arenas and a public unwilling to shell out up to $250 to see a "reunion" trio that had never performed together. So what happens now? To paraphrase Ross' Theme from Mahogany: "Does she know where she's going to?" "Diana needs to retrench," says Gary Bongiovanni, editor of Pollstar, a concert industry trade magazine. "She can go back and do a Diana Ross tour and play smaller facilities at a ticket price that's more palatable to the public." Or, Bongiovanni says, Ross can "make peace with Mary Wilson and Cindy Birdsong and do a true tour." Wilson was a founding member of the '60s pop trio; Birdsong joined the group in 1967 after the departure of original member Florence Ballard. Months of behind-the-scenes negotiations for a projected reunion of Ross, Wilson and Birdsong broke down because of financial disagreements. Enter Scherrie Payne and Lynda Laurence, who briefly joined The Supremes after Ross left for a solo career. As for the likelihood of reuniting with Wilson and Birdsong, Bongiovanni says, "We've historically seen deep divisions between group members be mellowed by age and the lure of being able to make more money. Sooner or later, everybody seems to get back together." Not these three, says Tony Turner, who wrote All That Glittered: My Life With the Supremes. He says he was associated with all the members of the group from 1965 to 1988, eventually becoming Wilson's road manager. "Miss Ross will never work with Mary again. There's too much bad blood," Turner says. "I expect she'll take this same tour with Scherrie and Lynda over to Europe and Asia in October, where she'll get a better reception and she'll reinvent herself and go on with her solo career." Turner says Ross is in talks to be involved in a TV miniseries based on her life. No word on whether she'd be in front of or behind the camera. "Diana is a modern-day Norma Desmond who still believes the public is waiting," Turner says. "She has a point to prove now — that she is a bankable superstar and that what happened to this tour was not her fault." But Ross spokesman Paul Bloch says he's unaware of plans for overseas concerts or a TV project. In her only public comment, Ross last week expressed "severe" disappointment in the promoters for canceling the tour. The fallout could hurt Ross' career, says Carl Feuerbacher, president of the Mary Wilson International Fan Club, which has close to 3,000 fans worldwide. "Unless she gets a hit record, this could be difficult for Diana to recover from," he says, "and even though she's always had a solo career, that's not going great, either." Her most recent solo album, 1999's Every Day Is a New Day, sold poorly. J. Randy Taraborrelli, author of Diana and Call Her Miss Ross, says the diva may be down, but not out. "The fact that the tour got so much attention speaks to the notion that we still care about her," he says. "She'll do another album, another tour, and it will just go on and on and on. "I'd like to see her write her life story and do an album of more contemporary music. I'd also like to see her give an honest, in-depth, soul-baring interview to someone like Barbara Walters, where she really defends herself against some of the unfair allegations about her." Does he envision a Wilson-Ross reconciliation? "You have to first get them in the same room before you can get them on a stage," he says with a laugh, "but I've heard that Oprah Winfrey (who had the reconstituted Supremes on her show before their tour) is trying to get them together." Winfrey spokeswoman Lisa Halliday says Oprah hadn't heard the rumor, but "I just spoke to her . . . and now that she's heard it, she thinks it would be a fabulous idea."
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Boston Herald
(newspaper) You'll just have to wait: For a real Supremes reunion, that is by Larry Katz Friday, June 2, 2000 Unless she's more egomaniacal and a lot dumber than suspected, Diana Ross is learning some supreme life lessons. It turns out that people aren't as stupid as Ms. Ross thought. And, at this late stage of her career, they are not nearly as infatuated with her as she is with herself. This Supremes tour is shaping up as this summer's entertainment industry version of the Titanic's maiden voyage. It's a disaster in the making. And you don't have to be Mary Wilson or Cindy Birdsong, the two snubbed Supremes left out of the tour, to take satisfaction in seeing haughty Ms. Ross humbled. Ticket sales are lagging badly for the 24-date tour, which is supposed to open in Philadelphia on June 14 and come to the FleetCenter on July 13. Don't be surprised to see it scaled back or scrapped entirely. It seems fans are not eager to pay from $39.50 up to $250 to see a sham Supremes show. Which is exactly what Ms. Ross is presenting. A sham. The original Supremes consisted of Ross and her two Detroit girlhood friends, Mary Wilson and the late Florence Ballard, who left the group in 1967 and died of a heart attack in 1976 after enduring all manner of personal and professional problems. Not coincidentally, Ballard left the Supremes shortly after the name of the group was changed to the more Ross-centric Diana Ross and the Supremes. Her replacement was Birdsong, a former member of Patti Labelle and the Bluebells. Even that change wasn't enough for Ross, who officially became an ex- Supreme in 1970 when she went solo. Birdsong stuck until 1972. But Wilson kept the Supremes going with a series of stand-ins, among them Lynda Laurence, a member of Stevie Wonder's Wonderlove, and Scherrie Payne, sister of Freda ``Band of Gold'' Payne. What was left of the group disbanded in 1977, though Laurence, Payne and others continued to perform sporadically as bogus Supremes. There was one attempt at a true Supremes reunion, but it turned ugly. In 1983 at the taping of the ``Motown 25'' TV special, Ross reportedly pushed Wilson's microphone away from her face. Not nice. And, to protect the guilty, not aired on TV. Ross' reputation as a stage hog was further cemented in 1988 when she opted to skip the Supremes' induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame rather than share the limelight with Wilson. This history of bad blood between Ross and Wilson only would have made a reunion, whether warm or frosty, that much more poignant and alluring to curious fans. Birdsong's presence would have been an added bonus, the icing on the deal. But such a reconciliation was not to be. Given this splendid opportunity to demonstrate true graciousness and generosity, Ross acted every bit the spoiled prima donna instead. She decided to undertake the current Supremes tour before bothering to talk to either Wilson or Birdsong. When she did get around to it, Wilson and Birdsong balked at the short money offered: $2 million, later upped to $3 million for Wilson, and a measly $1 million or less for Birdsong - measly when you consider Ross' projected take of $15 million-plus. So an unperturbed Ross breezily went ahead and hired two experienced ringer Supremes instead, Laurence and Payne, neither of whom had ever worked with her. Meanwhile, a war of words broke out in print and on TV between Ross and Wilson. While proclaiming her love for Wilson, Ross told Barbara Walters that her old friend was ``unhappy,'' ``vindictive'' and ``angry, envious and jealous.'' While proclaiming her love for Ross, Wilson - who still likes to irk Ross by calling her by her given name of Diane - said the problem was not money, but that her old friend didn't really want her or Birdsong on stage with her. You can believe what you want. The upshot is that this Supremes tour is a fraud and we know it. Diana Ross plus two other singers does not equal the Supremes. Calling this a Supremes tour is blatantly dishonest. That's why ticket buyers are staying away in droves. Ross is operating under the delusion that she is all that counts in this enterprise. She couldn't be more wrong. She says she never claimed this was a reunion tour, which is scarcely believable when you've named your tour ``Return to Love.'' What return is she talking about? Imagine if Paul McCartney announced he was launching a Beatles tour without Ringo Starr or George Harrison and was calling it ``Return to Liverpool.'' He'd be universally condemned. Or committed to the Strawberry Fields Home for Mad Musicians. What Ross is attempting is not any different. When negotiations with Wilson and Birdsong didn't work out, she simply should have retitled her tour ``Diana Ross Sings the Supremes.'' Which would be no more than truth-in-packaging. But no-o-o-o. Instead she's once again playing the big-headed diva by insisting the Supremes are all about Ms. Ross and who she decides are the Supremes. No wonder ticket sales are weak for these Dupe-premes. Fans will put up with all kinds of weird and bad behavior from stars, but no one likes being lied to. Diana Ross' ``Return to Love'' concert is scheduled July 13 at the FleetCenter. Tickets are available. A lot of them, in fact. |
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