George HaffendenJust days after announcing she was working on new projects and looking forward to celebrating The Supremes’ 60th anniversary, Mary Wilson has died in Las Vegas, aged 76.
Her death was announced to news outlets by her publicist Jay Schwartz, who didn’t give a cause of death. But Wilson appeared in a YouTube video only days ago, looking remarkably well, talking about plans to release a “lost” album and her plans to celebrate The Supremes’ 60th anniversary this year.
Wilson’s death leaves Diana Ross as the last surviving original member of The Supremes; Florence Ballard died in 1976. Ross has tweeted that ‘my condolences to you Mary’s family, I am reminded that each day is a gift ,I have so many wonderful memories of our time together “The Supremes” will live on, in our hearts’.
Motown founder Berry Gordy also released a statement, in which he said: “I was always proud of Mary. She was quite a star in her own right and over the years continued to work hard to boost the legacy of the Supremes. Mary Wilson was extremely special to me. She was a trailblazer, a diva and will be deeply missed.”
Of course, The Supremes story is well known: the group were the biggest act on Motown in the sixties, having an unprecedented 12 Number One hits in America, and several Top 10 hits in the UK.
Florence Ballard was fired from the group in 1967, and Cindy Birdsong joined the newly-renamed group, Diana Ross & The Supremes. Eventually, Diana Ross would go solo in 1971, leaving Mary Wilson as the only original member in the group.
Whereas other singers might have taken the opportunity to step into the spot as lead singer, Mary didn’t after Diana’s departure from the group. Instead, Jean Terrell was brought in, along with Scherrie Payne, Lynda Lawrence and Susaye Green later on.
But Mary could sing: check out her take on the Frankie Valli classic ‘Can’t Take My Eyes Off You’, or ‘Floy Joy’.
And although the seventies Supremes had some decent hits, with ‘Stoned Love’, ‘Nathan Jones’ and ‘Up The Ladder To The Roof’, Motown’s interest in the group waned as Diana Ross became a superstar. Yet, Wilson persisted in keeping the group going through line-up changes, but in 1977 bowed out of the group with a farewell show in London.
Since then, Wilson had a moderate solo career but mostly spent her time on keeping the legacy of The Supremes alive. In the nineties, she wrote a bestselling autobiography Dreamgirl: My Life as a Supreme, and followed up with Supreme Faith. Both books gave a no-holds barred account of her time in the group, raising her profile while somewhat taking aim at Diana Ross for her behaviour in the group.
The book also detailed her love life, writing about her romances with Four Tops member Duke Fakir and Welshman Tom Jones. The second book devoted much to her lengthy, and ultimately unsuccessful, legal battle to regain control of “The Supremes” name from Motown.
A reunion was on the cards in the 2000s, as Diana signed on to the ‘Return To Love’ Tour. But disputes over money meant that Mary and Cindy didn’t take part, while Scherrie Payne and Lynda Lawrence, two of the seventies Supremes, joined Ross on tour. Thanks to poor ticket sales, the “reunion” was cancelled half way into the tour.
More recently, she appeared on Dancing With The Stars, released a coffee-table book ‘Supreme Glamour’, and continued to give interviews about her time as a Supreme.
In a recent interview with Billboard, Mary Wilson didn’t rule out a reunion with Diana Ross, but said that “it’s really up to Diana… And at 76 and a half years old I’m not going to sit around waiting for something. As my mother used to say, don’t cry over spilled milk. I have too much to live for now and be happy about.”
Sadly, Mary’s death leaves Diana as the only original Supreme left.
Thanks to COVID, the funeral is likely to be a private affair. But there’s likely to be a public event when COVID restrictions end.