Hide Article Text (OCR)
The Supreme Sound Storiedin DetroToolBy ROBERT DUNDEESpecial lo TheLo* Angeles TimesTie pride is evident. And the candor. And the fact that these people like and appreciate eachtin, fell in love, chose marriage over a career. She is now the mother of four and the othersWhat die Beatles are to Liverpool the Supremos are to Detroif And what Brian Epstein is to the Beatles, Berry Gordy Jr. is to the Supremes If you don't know who the Supremes are, you either have nocontact with teen agers, no ra p()| dio or television set, or you live in a cocoon.other and themselves. There’s speak of her with great affec-no put - down for middle - aged tion.toTHE SUPREMESDianaDo they miss the life they might have had?Diana: “What I’m goingthrough is something priceless.” Mary: “This is our life, our livelihood. I want to go on, do everything in show business.”Florence: “We love it.” * Their success was a long time coming. Flight years of singingto keep singing.IN l%0. THEY auditioned for C.ordv, who advised them toWfinish high school and come backsquares like me. They want communicate their world.They discuss the performance.When the girls sang “Somewhere” from “West Side Story,”Diana ended the song in tears.the audience it was a moving and evocative performance.Gordy tells her, without ran-Ross, Mary Wilson and Florence cor “You oversang. You lost at church socials, school par-Ballard are what s happen control ” Diana accepts t h e ties They had something A ing, the number one female voc criticism without a loss of ego high school teacher told themal group in the world. They didj lt;;omY SAYS: “They a rethis in a year and a half of pro- growing now. This is the ex-digious singing. citing part of their developmentSix consecutive records reach- Maybe j m neglecting the othered the top spot in record sales artists. But I enjoy watching the to try again later Diana got a In the world of popular music, Supremes develop. In five secretarial job with Motown,it’s the equivalent of someone years, they’ll be polished.writing six best sellers. And even greater. But this timePygmalion to these fair ladies wj|) never be again ”is a 36 - year - old song - writer- k was Gordy who discovered turned - record tycoon, Berry them. His own success had alGordy .Jr., head of what maj ready begun, lie had been anbecome Detroit’s second largest mateur boxer, and written aindustry, the Motown Sound Mo- few songSt displayed a soundtown is a contraction ol Motor atic| acute judgment for talent I it as the Temptations) Gordytown, the name of the principal jn others. renamed them the Supremes,enterprise owned by Gordy brought Brian Holland and had to cajole Dick Clark intoLamont Dozier into the organi- taking them as part of a pack-zation, two talented songsmiths aged Motortown review with HIP YOUNGSTERS know who whose tunes Where Did Our Brenda HollowayLove Go,” “Baby Love,” “Come Halfway through that 30 - dayand See About Me,” “Stop In j tour, when they began to believe The Name of I/ve,” “You Can’t they would never make it, onewas fired within two weeks. She did manage, however, to get the girls some work with Motown in a background chorus.They came back after graduation, called themselves the Pri-mettes (after a male group called the primes, who later madeThe Supremes record for Mo town RecordsGordy is. For he is Motown, the catalyst who brought together lyric writers and song writers, vocalists and groups, built his Hurry Ixjvc♦ Iwere to pro- of their numbers, “I Want arecord company and artists vide the Supremes with their Guy.” began to receive over•»management company from a borrowed $700 stake into its present incarnationIn a business known for itsgold records, the symbol of j whelming applause,tunes which sell over a million, i The Supremes had touched But that was in the future. that mysterious button in audi-THE GIRI.S MET in high ences. The alchemy of successtemperament, competition and j school, at church, around the started, comercuttering. Motown’s peo crowded streets of the Brewster The man behind it. Gordy. pie remain unspoiled by success and Douglas projects Their calls it a combination of cir-Everybody from the recep- success did not come overnight cumstanees. They are originals, tionist to president Gordy gets The fourth girl, Barbara Mar not copiers, credit for the phenomenal accomplishments.From the original development of material to the finished record, through every phase of the creative and performing activities, Motown is a self contained unit, the general motors of popular music. ,. , . . .What is the Motown sound? !«n?r«l or 15 n,°‘ «etUn? acr08,e , in Cairo, one of the major capl-THERE S A TOl ( H of rhy tals with Ups t() ^th East and gue passionately that the Unitedthm and blues, a hint of soul nrestgospel singing, the beat of rock ‘n’ roll. And yet, this hardly de-Sjsypt Savs 1 hiUmI Stateslt;rlt;rressor inViolamCAIRO fAP) The American world that does not happen tomessage on Viet Nam Is being come up leftist.Some educated Egyptians ar-scribes it.Backstage in the Supremes' dressing room at Las Vegas Flamingo, everybody took a turn describing it. Diana Ross, the quietly intense lead singer, calls it love, talks about it in a line which echoes the lyric in one of the songs they have jusi finished singing: “Love is the answer Someone to really love is the answer.”Official statements on Nam and editorials in the government-controlled press invariably call on the UnitedwStates to withdraw. Thee is no mention of recipocal withdraw-States seeks to dominate theworld through economic andyjei military aid. which they claim is never given without strings attached.Talking about the lapse of the last U.S. food-for-peace grant in ja Is by North Vietnamese forces June — an agreement which has the United States claims have n°t been renewed despite Egyp-tian requests for a new, longterm deal — a qualified Egyptian source said “How can theinfiltrated the south.NormadeMary Wilson calls it “warmth analogous situationand s i n c e r i t y.” Florence Egypt finds itself Some 50.000Ballard just smiles — in a waywhich says, “I’m not even support the republican regimeis there any equation ... ...between the somewhat I ?J?tes £nktP(!I,ti“ w,thin which hread° When the United statesinvolves political pressure withof its troops are in Yemen to fwheat .1 have t0 think: This isguessing what it is.”Gordy is articulate, “It’s rats and roaches, love, guts andof President Abdullah al-Sallal.my bread about'. ”vou retalkingj Actually, the United States The apparent mistrust of U.S. has not closed the door on wheatprogram under which was supplied for 10soft-curreneywheatyearsagree-talent. It’s marry things. We motives seems to go beyond trap allocations. But new legislationhaven’t forgotten where we ditional resentment ot U S. poli- in Washington basically hascame from. We were like a thou- cy toward Israel and to rest on changed the old food-for-peacesand other kids on the streets | a basic suspicion, of the Brewster and Douglas!projects. Egyptians, many of them throughHE PAUSES. “Don’t misun young university graduates who nients.derstand rats and roaches. It’s-presumably will play majorriot just climbing up out of roles in shaping this country’s Future food grants are almost poverty. Escaping from it. It’s future, accuse the United States certain to be on a hard currencybeing young, creating, doing ot being behind virtually every basis but with provisions forthings with dignity. It’s pride.” government turnover in the long-term repayment.
Newspaper Details
Willoughby News Herald
Willoughby, Ohio, US
Wed, Nov 16, 1966
Page 20
Full Page
Clipped by
Anthony V.
USA 12 Apr 2018
Other Publications Near Willoughby, Ohio
Willoughby News Herald
