Mary Wilson dishes about Motown, Dreamgirls, Diana Ross and the long-lost fourth original Supreme...

My siblings still cannot believe that I interviewed Mary Wilson this week. It's a big deal because The Supremes are a big part of the soundtrack of our childhoods and even though Diana Ross is the most famous Supreme, Mary was in the group from the very beginning until the very end.

Wilson, who still performs live in venues around the world, has been helping promote a year-long celebration marking the 50th anniversary of Motown Records, the Detroit label founded by Berry Gordy that spawned such acts as The Temptations, The Four Tops, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, Stevie Wonder, Mary Wells and The Jackson Five.

"It's also the 50th anniversary of The Supremes - or the Primettes as we were originally called," Wilson points out. "Who knew it would last so long? That's what's so phenomenal about the Motown sound - it was the sound of young America, the sound of the time."
I've often wondered what happened to the fourth young woman, Barbara Martin, who was a member of the group along with Mary, Diana and Florence Ballard when they first signed a recording contract with Motown. Martin, who left the group in 1962, had replaced the original fourth member Betty McGlown.

"Barbara was on that first album 'Meet the Supremes,'" said Wilson, who is still in touch with Martin. "She had met the love of her life and when we signed, she left. And she's still with the same guy all these years later, the only one who's had the (same) man the entire time."

While Martin found personal happiness, Wilson admits: "She regrets (leaving the group) sometimes."

The Supremes took a few years to reach number one with 1964's "Where Did Our Love Go" but once they were on top, they stayed there with an astounding twelve number one hits including "Reflections," "Stop! In the Name of Love," and "You Can't Hurry Love" - most written by the phenomenal writing team of Holland-Dozier-Holland.

"Holland-Dozier-Holland did such a good job of producing us and picking the right songs," Wilson said. "I still sing them every night (in concert). Songs like "Reflections" and "Love Child," they are all wonderful lyrics that are lasting and still have special meaning."
With worldwide fame, the three childhood friends from the Brewster Housing Projects in Detroit had come a long way and adjusted to early growing pains such as Ballard being replaced by Ross as lead singer. The arrangement, publicly at least, seemed to work well for a good five years before Ballard - depending on who you believe - either quit or was pushed out of the group for unprofessional behavior. She was replaced by Cindy Birdsong and the group re-christened Diana Ross and the Supremes.

From 1967-70, Ross, Wilson and Birdsong were a dazzling trio with their sensational gowns and many appearances on "The Ed Sullivan Show." The hits continued with "Love Child" and "Someday We'll Be Together" but Ross was being groomed for the solo superstardom she would so sensationally enjoy throughout the 70s and most of the 80s.

So this all kind of sounds like a movie called "Dreamgirls" doesn't it? A troubled Ballard, like Effie, dropped from the group and Deena, like Diana, becoming the main focus of the group. The Broadway show of "Dreamgirls" won Jennifer Holliday the Tony Award for her portrayal of Effie and Jennifer Hudson won the Oscar decades later for portrayal in the film version.

Wilson, who called her best-selling memior, "Dreamgirl: My Life as a Supreme," has in the past been quoted as saying it was the story of The Supremes. But she seems to have changed her opinion over the years.

"It's a piece of work, a piece of art," she said. "Anytime you have art and it's good, you have to acknowledge it. However, it was not the Supremes story. Whoever wrote it was inspired by The Supremes, they used our images. That's okay, but if you're going to write about someone, you should say it's them. It's not plagarism and yet, it is. I've always been on the fence. If anything was closest to reality, if would be the (Effie) character - a singer so good who didn't fit the image. It was kind of eerie. And yet, it wasn't really Florence."

Still, Wilson has been supportive of the film's stars, Hudson, Beyonce Knowles and Anika Noni Rose and is seen above interviewing Beyonce at the film's Los Angeles premiere a few years back.

"Dreamgirls" has resulted in continued heightened interest in The Supremes and fans are desperate for a reunion of Ross, Wilson and Birdsong who have not been onstage together in 25 years. There were plans for a reunion tour called "Return to Love" in the summer of 2000 but negotiations famously fell apart over money. Ross was reportedly to be paid four times as much as Birdsong and Wilson. Ross carried on with the tour anyway with two replacement Supremes, Linda Lawrence and Scherrie Payne who had stints as members of the group with Wilson in the 70s - years after Ross left.

The trio of Ross, Lawrence and Payne looked and sounded terrific but fans wanted the real deal and ticket sales were so poor that the tour was cancelled shortly into its run.

Wilson tells me she is still open to a reunion: "I've always been open to it - it just has to be negotiated again. It's if Diane is open to it, if she's ready. I sincereley hope she is."

Mary and Diane (as she still calls Ross), famously fell out after the publication of Wilson's 1986 book which led off with an incident at the 25th Motown Anniversary show and, according to Wilson and witnesses, Ross pushed her former singing partner on stage.

But relations seemed to have thawed a bit and Wilson says: "There's a card here and there and she gave me a shout-out at the BET (Awards). Even if there's never a (reunion) tour, I still believe we are friends and sisters and will one day sit down and have Starbucks."

Oh, I hope I'm in the next booth!

** Yesterday's post: Catching up with Mary Wilson of "The Supremes"