Showing posts with label Florence Ballard. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Florence Ballard. Show all posts

December 27, 2024

The Supremes on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964

   ~     
     
On December 27, 1964, exactly sixty years ago today, three high-schoolers growing up in the Detroit projects appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show. 
 
Originally known as The Primettes, Diana Ross, Mary Wilson and Florence Ballard would go on to become the most successful “girl group” in history, The Supremes.

The Supremes first appeared on the Sullivan stage on December 27, 1964 to perform their smash single, Come See About Me which I wrote about earlier this year (link below). In the early black and white TV performance, the girls wore simple dresses and matching bouffant hair-dos, and the audience fell in love with their infectious charm and appeal. 
 
 
 
     
     
     
December 27, 1964

     
     
Viewfinder links:       
         
Florence Ballard           
Come See About Me            
Diana Ross         
Mary Wilson        
     
Net links:       
        
Ed Sullivan Show ~ The Supremes        
      
YouTube links:       
        
The Supremes ~ Come See About Me - 1964      
        
        
        
        
        
                        
        
Styrous® ~ Friday, December 27, 2024        
        















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Florence Ballard articles/mentions



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mentions:     
      
The Supremes     
     
     
Florence Ballard     
date & photographer unknown     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
 
 
 
 
 
 

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July 21, 2024

45 RPMs 83: The Supremes – Buttered Popcorn w/Florence Ballard lead

   ~   
45 RPM record  
photo by Styrous®
 
    
On Friday, July 21, 1961, Tamla records released Buttered Popcorn, a song written by Motown executives Berry Gordy and Barney Ales, produced by Gordy, and released as a Tamla label single by the Motown singing group The Supremes. 
 
Buttered Popcorn featured Florence Ballard on lead, rather than Diana Ross, but it is the only song with Ballard as the sole lead by The Supremes.            
       
Buttered Popcorn was considered by Motown's Quality Control department to be the best song to be issued as the Supremes' second Motown single. However, Berry Gordy was determined that Ross should be the group's main lead and wanted the group's cover of The Miracles song, Who's Lovin' You to be the single's A-side. In the end, Gordy and Quality Control compromised; the Ballard-led song would remain the single's A-side, but the single would be promoted as if it was a "double A-side" one.         
 
 
 
 
Stevie Chick of The Guardian, said that Ballard was 'A bold, big-voiced belter' and described the song as 'A piece of raw, ribald soul lacking the polish that gilded their [The Supremes'] later hits'. Also, 'Ballard growls salaciously on Popcorn that her boyfriend "likes it greasy, and sticky, and salty, and gooey", a knowingly saucy performance that somehow escaped the interference of Motown's infamous Quality Control department.' Bonnie Stiernberg of Paste wrote, 'the innuendo-laced track is not unlike buttered popcorn—salty, fluffy, and oh so good'      
 
Both sides of the single received a lot of airplay on local Detroit stations, but problems arose. The first version of the song was withdrawn because it was considered "too raw", and a smoother take was released. Gordy did little to promote the single's A-side, and, some time later, the label discovered that the song could be conceived to have a scandalous "double meaning", and switch to pushing the B-side alone before ceasing promotion of the single altogether.  (link to lyrics below). 
       
Buttered Popcorn was considered by Motown's Quality Control department to be the best song to be issued as the Supremes' second Motown single.         
      
Third Man Records, a new website, has started up and has announced an ongoing partnership with Universal Music to bring Tamla's classic early Motown records back to vinyl (link below).        


        
Tracklist:

Side 1:

A - Buttered Popcorn, written by Barney Ales, Berry Gordy Jr.* - 2:34

Side 2:

B - Who's Loving You, written by William Robinson* - 2:44

Companies, etc.

    Pressed By – American Record Pressing Co.

 Notes:
 
Disc Jockey Advance Sample
 
Supremes* – Buttered Popcorn / Who's Loving You
Label:    Tamla – T-54045
Format:    Vinyl, 7", 45 RPM, Promo
Country: US
Released: Jul 21, 1961
Genre:    Funk / Soul, Pop
Style:    Soul        
        
Viewfinder links:       
         
Nella Dodds          
Berry Gordy         
The Miracles            
The Supremes         
Temptations
     
Net links:       
         
Classic Motown ~ The Supremes – Buttered Popcorn        
Motown Junkies ~ The Supremes – Buttered Popcorn        
Third Man Records ~ The Supremes – Buttered Popcorn                 
     
YouTube links:      
                
The Supremes w/Florence Ballard ~ Buttered Popcorn        
The Supremes ~ Who's Loving You   
        
         
        
        

Styrous® ~ Monday, September 7, 2020






      

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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July 13, 2024

45 RPMs 82: The Supremes – Come See About Me

   ~   
45 RPM record  
photo by Styrous®
 
    
On Monday, July 13, 1964, Diana Ross, Florence Ballard and Mary Wilson (The Supremes), walked into the studios of Motown records and recorded one of their biggest hits, Come See About Me, written by the Motown main production team, Holland–Dozier–Holland.             
 
The Supremes and Motown were the first to record the song but not to release it; it was recorded after them but released earlier by Wand Record  and Nella Dodds. Her version started selling, climbing to No. 74 on the Billboard Hot 100, but Motown rushed to released the Supremes' version as a single, which killed the sales of Dodds's version. The Supreme's version fades in whereas the Dodds' version starts normally and is not as fast.          
 
In the gay bars of the pre-disco period, I loved to dance to See About Me with it's infectious beat but it was only decades later that I realized it's actually a sad song about a woman whose lost her lover.       
 
Before they became famous, the girls were in a group called The Primettes with none other than the Temptations and they appeared on the Ed Sullivan show on November 19, 1967 (YouTube link below).   



        
Tracklist:

Side 1:

A - Come See About Me - 2:39

Side 2:

B - Always In My Heart - 2:26

Companies, etc.

    Copyright © – Motown Record Corporation
    Published By – Jobete
    Mastered At – Nashville Matrix
    Pressed By – American Record Pressing Co.

 Credits:
 
    Producer [Produced By] – Holland & Dozier
    Written-By – Holland, Dozier, Holland*

 Personelle:

    •    Lead vocals by Diana Ross
    •    Background vocals by Florence Ballard and Mary Wilson
    •    All instruments by the Funk Brothers[10]
    ◦    Earl Van Dyke – piano
    ◦    Joe Messina – guitar
    ◦    James Jamerson – bass
    ◦    Uriel Jones – drums
    ◦    Jack Ashford – vibraphone
    ◦    Hank Cosby – tenor saxophone
    ◦    Andrew "Mike" Terry – baritone saxophone
    •    Footstomps by Mike Valvano
 
Notes:

Label / pressing plant variant: No bottom scroll text on labels.

© 1964
Jobete BMI

© 1964 Motown Record Corporation

Side A: Taken from Album "Where Did Our Love Go" MT 621

Barcode and Other Identifiers        
        
    Rights Society: BMI
    Pressing Plant ID (Stamped in runouts): ARP
    Matrix / Runout (Label Side A): DM HVV-097205
    Matrix / Runout (Label Side B): DM HVV-099202
    Matrix / Runout (Runout, Side A, Variant 1): RK4M-2604-1-S HVV - 097205 ARP Nashhville Matirx 10
    Matrix / Runout (Runout, Side B, Variant 1): RK4M -2686-1 G Nashville Matrix DMHVV-0922 D2 ARP
    Matrix / Runout (Runout, Side A, Variant 2): RK4M-2604-1-G HVV - 097205 Nashhville Matirx 10 ARP
    Matrix / Runout (Runout, Side B, Variant 2): RK4M -2686-1 G ARP Nashville Matrix DMHVV-0922 D2
        
The Supremes – Come See About Me
Label:    Motown – M-1068
Format:    Vinyl, 7", 45 RPM, Single, American Record Pressing
Country: US
Released: Oct 27, 1964
Genre:    Funk / Soul
Style:    Soul, Vocal        
        
        
Viewfinder links:       
         
Ed Sullivan            
The Supremes         
Temptations
     
Net links:       
         
         
         
        
     
YouTube links:      
        
Nella Dodds ~  Come See About Me        
The Supremes ~ Come See About Me        
        
        

Styrous® ~ Monday, September 7, 2020






      

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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January 18, 2015

101 Reel-to-Reel Tapes 87: Diana Ross & the Supremes ~ Stop! In the Name of Love












Diana Ross & the Supremes - Greatest Hits 
reel-to-reel tape box cover detail 
detail photo by Styrous®

In addition to my 20,000 Vinyl LP collection I'm selling, I have reel-to-reel, pre-recorded tapes for sale on eBay (see link below). If interested, contact me by email please, not by a comment. 

~ ~ ~

When I was in my mid twenties, I discovered Motown. The first of the songs I heard was by The Supremes. I heard them in bars in the Tenderloin where I would go after the other bars closed. It was where I learned to drink my Jack Daniels neat as it was served in a coffee mug. It is illegal to sell alcohol after 2 am, so they would put the drinks in mugs, (the assumption being, if the cops came in, all they would see were people drinking coffee, um, right!). The after hour bars had shows with performers in drag that would lip-sync to pop songs of the time. I don't think a night went by that one of them wouldn't mime to a song by The Supremes and the song would usually (but not always) be, Stop! In the Name of Love, done to the hilt with 3 inch long eye lashes and equally as exaggerated hand gestures imploring the offending paramour to, Stop!

It was a hell of a lot of fun!



Diana Ross & the Supremes - Greatest Hits 
reel-to-reel tape box cover  
photo by Styrous®


Diana Ross & the Supremes: Greatest Hits (also released as The Supremes: Greatest Hits) is a two-LP collection of singles and b-sides recorded by The Supremes, released by Motown in August 1967 (see 1967 in music). The reel-to-reel tape contained the material on one "Double Play" tape. The collection was the first LP to credit the group under the new billing Diana Ross & the Supremes. Although founding member Florence Ballard is pictured on all album artwork and sings on all the tracks, by the time the set was released, she had been fired from the group and replaced by Cindy Birdsong.



Diana Ross & the Supremes - Greatest Hits 
reel-to-reel tape box cover back 
photo by Styrous®




Greatest Hits would rank as their second #1 album holding a distinction that it would take decades for another female group to achieve. According to Motown data the album eventually sold over 6,200,000 copies.



 
 Diana Ross & the Supremes - Greatest Hits 
reel-to-reel tape box back detail  
detail photo by Styrous®


Greatest Hits includes fifteen Supremes singles, 10 of which went to number-one, among them were Where Did Our Love Go, Stop! In the Name of Love, You Can't Hurry Love, and the most recent Supremes number-one, The Happening (a non-album track from the 1967 film of the same name). Also included are five popular Supremes B-sides: Standing at the Crossroads of Love, Ask Any Girl, There's No Stopping Us Now, Everything is Good About You, and Whisper You Love Me Boy.

Diana Ross & the Supremes - Greatest Hits 
reel-to-reel tape box spine 
detail photos by Styrous®




The packaging for the set includes liner notes by actress Carol Channing (which were originally written for an unreleased album "The Supremes and The Motown Sound: From Broadway To Hollywood") and paintings by Robert Taylor, including collectable 12 inch by 12 inch pin-up portraits of Diana Ross, Florence Ballard, and Mary Wilson. Greatest Hits was their second number-one album on both the Billboard 200 and the Billboard R&B Albums charts in the United States, and also reached the top of the pop album chart in the United Kingdom as well. The album sold over six million copies, world-wide as of 1988. However, it was never accorded Platinum Status as Motown did not submit to RIAA Certification until years later. Although not nominally credited because of their increasingly estranged relationship with Motown, all of the songs included were produced by the songwriting/production team of Holland–Dozier–Holland.



Diana Ross & the Supremes - Greatest Hits 
reel-to-reel tape box back detail  
detail photo by Styrous®





Diana Ross & the Supremes - Greatest Hits 
reel-to-reel tape label detail  
detail photo by Styrous®



Track listing:

All songs produced by Brian Holland and Lamont Dozier. All songs written by Holland–Dozier–Holland unless otherwise noted. Superscripts denote original album sources, referenced below.

Side 1:

  1. "When the Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes" a – 2:38
  2. "Where Did Our Love Go" a – 2:30
  3. "Ask Any Girl" a, b – 2:44
  4. "Baby Love" a – 2:37
  5. "Run, Run, Run" a – 2:30
  6. "Stop! In the Name of Love" b – 2:53
  7. "Back in My Arms Again" b – 2:52
  8. "Come See About Me" a – 2:42
  9. "Nothing but Heartaches" b – 2:57
  10. "Everything is Good About You" (James Dean, Edward Holland, Jr.) c – 2:57

    Side 2:

    1. "I Hear a Symphony" c – 2:38
    2. "Love Is Here and Now You're Gone" e – 2:46
    3. "My World Is Empty Without You" c – 2:33
    4. "Whisper You Love Me Boy" b – 2:40
    5. "The Happening" (Holland-Dozier-Holland, Frank De Vol) – 2:49
    6. "You Keep Me Hangin' On" e – 2:40
    7. "You Can't Hurry Love" d – 2:45
    8. "Standing at the Crossroads of Love" a – 2:27
    9. "Love Is Like an Itching in My Heart" d – 2:55
    10. "There's No Stopping Us Now" e – 2:55

    Personnel:
      My favorite Supremes songs on YouTube:
       
      other songs by the Supremes on YouTube 


      Diana Ross & The Supremes, Greatest Hits, reel-to-reel tape on eBay
       
      Other reel-to-reel tapes on eBay  



      Styrous® ~ Sunday, January 18, 2015 

      ~

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