Soul Strutter: R.I.P. Mary Wilson (06/03/1944

Tuesday 9 February 2021

R.I.P. Mary Wilson (06/03/1944 - 08/02/2021)

It was announced this morning that Mary Wilson died last night at her home in Henderson, Nevada aged 76.

This is particulary sad as it was so sudden and unexpected as this is a video she posted on her YouTube channel only 2 days before, on 6 Feb 2021, announcing the release of new material. She was clearly very excited about the future. She looks so healthy, vibrant and beautiful in this video. How fragile life is. Take care.

Mary Wilson was one of the original members of The Primettes when she was just 15. They were formed by Milton Jenkins as a sister group to The Primes (later The Temptations) in 1959 and included Diana Ross, Florence Ballard & Betty McGlown.

Ballard was instrumental in forming The Primettes, as the first member selected after auditions, she then recruited her school friend Mary Wilson (they were at school together at Northeastern High School). Wilson in turn recruited Diane (as he was known then) Ross. The final member, Betty McGlown joined the group. McGlown left in 1960 to get married and was replaced by Barbara Martin. As The Primettes they released two singles on LuPine in 1960 before signing with Motown on 15 Jan 1961.

A condition of signing with Motown was that they changed their name. Motown provided a list of names to choose from and Florence Ballard, being the only member present, chose the name The Supremes. In the early years they were used primarily as backing vocalists but did release 8 singles which failed to make much impact. In early 1962, just a month before the release of their debut album 'Meet The Supremes', Martin left the group to give birth leaving the group as the famous trio of well known names.

Ballard was 'removed' from the group in 1967, being replaced by Cindy Birdsong from Patti LaBelle & The Bluebelles.

Mary Wilson was the mainstay of the group, being the only surviving member from the original Primettes/Supremes after Diana Ross left in 1970 to be replaced by Jean Terrell. Cindy Birdsong left in 1972 to be replaced by Lynda Lawrence. Terrell and Lawrence both left in 1973 after two consecutive chart failures. Freda's sister, Scherrie Payne, was recruited from The Glass House and Cindy Birdsong rejoined the group in 1973 but left again in 1976, before the release of 'High Energy' album, being replaced by the final member to join the group Susaye Greene whose voice was dubbed over two of the songs on the album.

Wilson left the group in 1977, and despite efforts by the surviving members (Payne & Greene) to find a replacement The Supremes were officially disbanded. After a legal battle with Motown over the management of The Supremes name she signed a solo contact with Motown and released her debut solo album 'Red Hot' in 1979. She was recording another in 1980 when Motown released her.

She focused on musical theatre productions which included 'Beehive', 'Dancing In The Streets' and 'Supreme Soul' and wrote two best selling books 'Dreamgirl: My Life As A Supreme' in 1986 and 'Supreme Faith: Someday We'll Be Together' in 1990.

In 1992 she released her second solo album on CEO records 'Walk The Line', the day after it's release the company filed for bankruptcy.

She was involved in several wrangles over using The Supremes name with previous members of the group and in 1999 was in negotiation with Diana Ross and her associates over a reunion tour, which did finally go ahead but with Scherrie Payne & Lynda Lawrence instead of Mary Wilson & Cindy Birdsong who couldn't agree on a fee. The other former members, Susaye Green & Jean Terrell, refused to take part after being told that they needed to audition first.

She wrote a fourth book in 2019 'Supreme Glamour', the third being a composite of both previous books.

This is a 45 minute appearance on 'Donahue' TV show discussing the release of her first book 'Dreamgirl: My Life As A Supreme' in 1986 and gives a lot of history about the group with clips of The Supremes and Mary singing live on the show.

Singles Discography

Her total solo output included two albums and around 10 singles between 1979-2015.

I don't propose to post any Supremes tracks as a/ there are too many and b/ she didn't perform lead vocals on many, but here are all the solo singles that I am aware of that she has released, and where possible I've included video/live performances rather than just audio. Inevitably some are a bit grainy and sound quality is not great.