I hear a symphony...

The Sweet, Sweet Sound of the Supremes

Last year, I went to see the Oscar-nominated "Dreamgirls" movie with a bunch of my Boomer friends. We had a great time, and there were some musical moments that were heart wretchingly beautiful and a few that were just plain finger-popping fun.

Still, I walked out with some sadness...where are the great girl groups of my past? Oh, how I miss the sweet sound of baby love, serious love, love lost and found.

As a young girl growing up, I think the Supremes were some of the first women to show me what glamour and class were all about. I didn't know at the time that the way they wore their hair, the beautiful gowns and the sweet sound were a product, a part of the big Motown sound, I just knew they were singing about things of one young girl's romantic fantasies.

The Supremes were founded in Detroit as the Primettes, a female counterparts to the Primes. The group started in 1959 with four teenagers, Florence Ballard, Diana Ross, Mary Wilson and Betty McGlown. McGlown left the next year and her replacement, Barbar Martin, left in 1961 soon after the group had become the Supremes. Later Cindy Birdsong replaced Flo and Diana Ross got top billing. After she went solo the group continued into the late 1970s with Lynda Laurence, Scherrie Paybe and Susaye Greene.

While we're naming names, it's hard to mention the Supremes without mentioning Berry Gordy, head of Motown who shaped them and Smokey Robinson and the team of Lamont Holland, Brian Dozier and Edward Holland who wrote much of their music.

A dozen number one hits!

Between the years 1959 and 1977, the Supremes had 12 number one hits and came to be none as one of the greatest girl groups—greatest groups—of all time.Yet, things didn't start out that way. Their first recordings didn't sell much and they were often relegated to background vocals and hand clapping for male Motown groups.

The Supremes first big hit was "When the Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes," which made 23 on the Billboard chart in 1963. The following year, "Where Did Our Love Go" soared to number one and they were on their way.

As the movie Dreamgirls, pulling very loosely from Supreme's legend, hints at, things got pretty rocky professionally and personally for the group along the way, yet those of us just listening on the radio thought their only troubles came from cheating men and broken hearts (of course, there was plenty of that in real life, too). Overall, we believed them when they sang "Someday We'll Be Together."

Singers still sing about love...perhaps they always will but it's the sweet, sweet love songs of the Supremes that still make me sigh.

—Betty

For more about the Supremes

Wikipedia is a good place to start.

There's so much out there about Motown.

See the Motown Timeline. on the Classic Motown site.

All about Berry Gordy and the history of Motown can be found on the History of Rock n Roll website.