Arts & Entertainment

Mary Wilson, Longest-Reigning Member of The Supremes, Interested in Reunion

With 12 No. 1 hits and still the record holder for consecutive hits by a female vocal group, The Supremes helped launch Detroit's Motown sound.

‘You Can’t Hurry Love” – nor a reunion of The Supremes.

But the trio who had chart-topping hit after hit on Berry Gordy’s Detroit’s Motown label in the 1960s is talking about a possible reunion.

The longest-reigning member trio formed in the Brewster projects, Mary Wilson, said she’s open to a reunion with Diana Ross, according to an Associated Press story in the Detroit Free Press.

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The trio originally included Ross, Wilson and Florence Ballard, who was replaced by Cindy Birdsong in 1967. The Supremes still hold the record for the most consecutive No. 1 hits by a female band – five in a row

Ballard died in 1976 and Birdsong is in poor health, “and I think Diana is into her own stardom,” Wilson told the AP. “She is a diva, a superstar. Sometimes it’s hard to go back.”

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But not impossible.

Tell Us:

  • What's your favorite memory of or song by The Supremes?

The Supremes’ first No. 1, million-record hit was “Where Did Our Love Go,” released 50 years ago on June 17, 1964. The trio still holds the record among female vocal group for five consecutive No. 1 records, and had a dozen No. 1 records before Ross struck out on her own in 1970.

Ballard and Ross last saw each other in 2013 at the Broadway premiere of “Mowtown: The Musical.”  They talk, but not as often as Ballard would like.

“The hearts are there,” she said. “We’re like sisters. I love Flo and Diane (Ross’ name was misspelled Diana on her birth certificate, and she later started going by the name) to this day, almost as much as I love my own sister.”

Earlier plans for a Supremes reunion tour with Ross fell through when Wilson declined to sign on.

Now, she says, she’s open to reconsideration.

“I mean, I’d be happy,” she told the AP. “The situation would have to be really where I felt wanted and paid well. So, yeah, if the opportunity came and it was all done right and correctly, yes, I’d love it. Are you kidding? It would be the culmination of that dream. That’s what people are asking. But I’m only one part. We were a trio.”



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