In 1958 Florence Ballard of Detroit’s Brewster-Douglass projects formed the Primettes as a sister act to the Primes, recruiting Mary Wilson, Diana Ross and Betty McGlown and using guitarist Marv Tarplin to play live. Smokey Robinson got them a Motown audition, then hired Tarplin for the Miracles, while Berry Gordy told the girls to finish high school. They kept hanging around Hitsville USA doing handclaps and backing vocals until Gordy signed them in January 1961, and Ballard picked the name the Supremes.
Six straight singles missed the Top 40, earning them the nickname the No-Hit Supremes, until Gordy made Ross the sole lead and Holland-Dozier-Holland gave them Where Did Our Love Go, a song rejected by the Marvelettes. It hit No. 1 in August 1964 and began a run of five straight No. 1 hits. By 1967 the act was billed as Diana Ross and the Supremes, and that summer at the Flamingo in Las Vegas Ballard found costumes made for Cindy Birdsong, performed drunk, and was fired the same night.
- By January 1965 each member received a $100,000 check, and they bought family homes on the same Detroit street.
- Maxine Powell trained them in posture and poise, Cholly Atkins handled choreography, and they made 17 Ed Sullivan Show appearances.
- Ballard lost her lawsuit against Motown, fell into poverty and died of cardiac arrest in 1976 at 32.
- Their last No. 1 with Ross, Someday We’ll Be Together, featured session singers instead of Wilson and Birdsong.
- For the 2000 Return to Love tour, Ross was offered $15 million and Wilson $4 million; Wilson refused and the tour was canceled midway.
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