成人快手

It's hard to imagine that The Supremes were once the least successful group on the Motown label. Before scoring their first UK or US Top 20 hit , Florence Ballard and Mary Wilson released eight singles, starting with the melancholy 鈥業 Want That Guy鈥� in 1961 鈥� only 鈥榃hen The Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes鈥� (1963) was even a minor hit. Eventually label boss Berry Gordy told them to record a song written by brothers . The Marvelettes had already rejected it, with lead singer Wanda Rogers tagging it "the most pitiful tune we'd ever heard." hated it too, but - with no hits - didn't have the Marvelettes' right of veto. Luckily for them the song was 鈥榃here Did Our Love Go鈥�, and it reached no.3 in Britain and no.1 in the US in 1964. The 'Dream Girls' would eventually score a dozen American number ones before the sixties were over.

It was Eddie Holland's idea to have the soft-voiced Mary Wilson sing lead on 鈥榃here Did Our Love Go鈥�. How different pop history might have been if that had happened. Berry Gordy had a soft spot for Diana Ross, though, which soon blossomed into an affair, and he insisted she sang it. Once their run of hits started, Gordy would send a bunch of roses to Diana whenever they were playing a show, but none to Flo or Mary, which must have done wonders for group spirit. And as Diana was dating the boss, Motown staff writers - notably Holland Dozier and Holland - worked doubly hard on the songs they gave the Supremes.

Brothers Brian & Eddie Holland with Lamont Dozier

This could be the reason why there aren't many 'deep cuts' in the catalogue of The Supremes - while there seem to be an endless supply of astonishing rare or even unreleased recordings by (Lonely Lover), (I Got It Bad), (Think It Over, Reconsider) and (Come Back My Love), Motown's writers seemed to concentrate fully on perfecting Supremes A-sides. That's certainly not to say it's a waste of time listening to Supremes B-sides or album tracks: 鈥榊ou're Gone (But Always In My Heart)鈥� is a tender ballad on the flip of 鈥楥ome See About Me鈥�; the dramatic 鈥楻emove This Doubt鈥� accompanied 鈥榊ou Keep Me Hangin' On鈥�; and 鈥楾here's No Stopping Us Now鈥�, hidden on the other side of 鈥楲ove Is Here And Now You're Gone鈥�, was certainly strong enough to be a hit in its own right.

As distinctive as Diana Ross was, few would argue that it was the blend of their three voices that made the Supremes click. had a husky breathy voice, which rather sadly never handled a Supremes lead, but was occasionally heard in isolation on their seventies recordings (most effectively on their 1972 hits 鈥楩loy Joy鈥� and 'Automatically Sunshine'). Florence 'Flo' Ballard, who was more of a belter, sang lead on several of their early recordings, notably the terrific 鈥楤uttered Popcorn鈥�.

Flo was also the lippiest of the three, which caused many run-ins with Berry Gordy, and in 1967 she was thrown out of the group, with a one-off severance payment of $160,000, and replaced by Cindy Birdsong. This coincided with a name-change to Diana Ross & the Supremes. The imbalance of the new name, and Cindy's notably different voice, spoilt the magic - singles like 鈥楩orever Came Today鈥� (1968) and the loopy 鈥楴o Matter What Sign You Are鈥� (1969) failed to reach the Top 20 in either Britain or America. The public sensed that the group was now little more than Diana Ross plus backing singers, and so it seemed inevitable when she left the group in late 1969, signing off with 鈥楽omeday We'll Be Together鈥� (their last US no.1) on which neither Mary Wilson or Cindy Birdsong appeared. Flo Ballard sadly died in 1976 of a heart attack; the Supremes officially disbanded a year later when Mary Wilson - by then the only original member - decided to leave. Diana Ross was named the "Female Entertainer of the Century" by Billboard magazine, and won the Grammy for Lifetime Achievement in 2012.