An Interview with Mary Wilson of the Supremes

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• published: 08 Nov 2010
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Mary: I gotta change shoes. Mary: Okay, there we go. Now, that’s so much better. Stuart: Ladies and gentlemen, obviously, let’s begin at the beginning. Normally, the protocol is that we give people a round of applause at the end of the event. In this particular case, we’re going to break with all the protocols, because I know a lot of people that are in the audience, I’ve seen faces, I’ve seen people with reputations in the audience, and I think that all of us can say, unanimously that, Mary probably doesn’t really deeply understand how much impact her singing and her reputation has had in our lives, the way it’s shaped the love that we’ve got for the music. So, ladies and gentlemen, Mary Wilson of The Supremes, come on. [applause] Stuart: So, where to start? Let’s start with a quick question. Mary, I wanted to - Mary: Well, I need to explain something. Stuart: Yes, my dear. Mary: Okay, before we go any further. I’m not the founding - the only founding member of The Supremes, as most of you know. Florence, Diane and Betty McGlown, are the founding members of The Supremes, and I cannot take that credit all myself. So, the people here in the audience understand and know that, so, let’s make that very clear. Stuart: Well, let’s start with the first question, I was watching you last night in the opening of the exhibition, singing, and sung a couple of songs for us, it was great, and one of the things that struck me is, actually, without any hesitation, I’d forgotten how great a solo singer you are, how great a singer you are. And I wonder if that actually, when we go back to The Supremes, there’s been criticisms in the past, for example, that Diana was actually the least good singer of The Supremes, she had a very specific voice. And I just wanted to get your thoughts about - just describe the different voices that were in The Supremes. Mary: Well, I don’t think that you can - anyone said that Diane was the least good singer in The Supremes, that’s not true, and I’ve never ever said anything like that. My point was always to sort of bring forward the fact that Florence Ballard was a great singer, and I was also a good singer. So, I think people - and sometimes when we tried to explain or say things like that, people think that you’re saying that the other person is not that good. That was not my point, at all. My point was saying that Florence Ballad was a Gospel, strong singer, Diane was a pop singer and I was kind of, like, the ballad singer, so, we each had our own, you know, good points. Stuart: And at a time, and in a city, which probably, without any hesitation, you could say was probably, at its time, the greatest musical city in the world, bar none. I mean, if you actually compare and contrast it with the other great regional city of the time, Liverpool, many of the Liverpool acts moved down to London and whatever, but there you were, in Detroit, touring the world, phenomenal place. Just to get some grasp on this, simply your high school alone, who did you go to school with? Mary: Well, in Detroit, we all kind of grew up in the projects. Detroit was really a small - is, a small town. And Smokey Robinson, I guess, was in the same - lived in the neighbourhood as Diana Ross. I went to high school with some of The Miracles, which was Bobby Rogers. The person that did a lot of singing - or writing, with Smokey Robinson, was Al Gutierrez, Marvin Tarplin, and he and I went to high school together. Florence went to the same high school as some of The Temptations. So, we all came from pretty much the same neighbourhood, even though it was kind of large. Stuart: And when did you first remember the sense that Mary Wilson had the desire to be a singer? Where did the desire come from? Mary: Well, you know, people like Little Richard, you know, there was Jackie Wilson, there was Frankie Lyman and The Teenagers was one of my favourite ... Stuart: He was a bad boy, though, wasn’t he? Mary: He was a what? Stuart: He was a bad boy. Mary: I don’t know, I was too young. Stuart: No, he was a very bad boy, Mary. Mary: Well, you know, doctors don’t tell secrets on other doctors. But, we all kind of bad later on. But, yeah, you know, from just - oops, we don’t want to go there right now - but, anyway, when I was born, my mother said that when the doctors spanked me, I started singing. So, I mean, I did that, but I never ever thought that it was different, I thought that everybody woke up in the morning singing. You know, I thought that everyone did that. I didn’t realise, until I became one of the members of The Primettes, that that was something very special. Then I realised that that talent was special, but, prior to that, I would just, you know, woke up and start singing, " ooooooo," you know, whatever, and just ... Stuart: And say a little bit about that photograph, because it connects you back to, like, many Detroit people of your generation, to the Souther