Mary Wilson (March 6, 1944 – February 8, 2021) was an American singer who gained worldwide recognition as a founding member of The Supremes, along with Florence Ballard, Diana Ross, and Betty McGlown. The Supremes who were the most successful Motown act of the 1960s and the best-charting female group in U.S. chart history, as well as one of the best-selling girl groups of all-time.
Mary Wilson was born March 6, 1944, to Sam, a butcher, and Johnnie Mae Wilson in Greenville, Mississippi. She was the eldest of three children and the family moved to Chicago, and at age three, Mary Wilson was taken in by her aunt Ivory “I.V.” and uncle John L. Pippin in Detroit. Her parents eventually separated and Wilson’s mother and siblings later joined them in Detroit, although by then Wilson had come to believe I.V. was her real mother.
Mary Wilson first met Florence Ballard in the Brewster-Douglass Housing Projects, in Detroit. The duo became friends while singing in their school’s talent show. In 1959, Ballard asked Wilson to audition for Milton Jenkins, who was forming a sister group to his male vocal trio, the Primes (two members of which were later in The Temptations). Wilson was soon accepted into the group known as The Primettes, with Diana Ross and Betty McGlown, who lived in the same housing project with Wilson and Ballard. In this period, Mary Wilson also met Erma, Carolyn and Aretha Franklin, daughters of the pastor at her local Baptist church.
Barbara Martin replaced McGlown in 1960, and the group changed their name to the Supremes and signed with Motown the following year . Martin left the act in early 1962, and Ross, Ballard, and Wilson continued as a trio.
During the mid-1960s, the Supremes achieved mainstream success with Diana Ross as lead singer and Holland–Dozier–Holland as its songwriting and production team. In 1967, Motown president Berry Gordy renamed the group Diana Ross & the Supremes, and replaced Ballard with Cindy Birdsong. In 1970, Ross left to pursue a solo career and was replaced by Jean Terrell, and the group reverted the name to the Supremes again. During the mid-1970s, the lineup changed with Lynda Laurence, Scherrie Payne and Susaye Greene, joining until the group, after 18 years from its foundation, disbanded following Wilson’s own departure in 1977.
The Supremes were the most commercially successful of Motown’s acts and the most successful American vocal band, with 12 number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100. Most of these hits were written and produced by Motown’s main songwriting and production team, the legendary Holland–Dozier–Holland. Billboard ranked the Supremes as the 16th greatest Hot 100 artist of all time.
Mary Wilson signed with Motown as a solo artist, releasing a disco-heavy self-titled album in August 1979, and a single from the album, “Red Hot”, peaked at number 90 on the pop charts. Midway through production of a second solo album in 1980, Motown dropped her from their record label.
Throughout the mid-1980s, Mary Wilson focused on performances in musical theater productions, including Beehive, Dancing in the Streets, and Supreme Soul.
Mary Wilson later became a New York Times best-selling author with her memoir “Dreamgirl: My Life as a Supreme” in 1986, which remained on the national best-seller list for months and established a sales record for the genre. The book focused on the early career of the Supremes and its success during the 1960s. In 1990, Mary Wilson released her second memoir entitled “Supreme Faith: Someday We’ll Be Together” which also went on to be a best seller, and focused on the Supremes in the 1970s.
Mary Wilson was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988, along with Diana Ross and Florence Ballard, as members of the Supremes.
Mary Wilson died in her sleep from hypertensive atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease at her home in Henderson, Nevada, a suburb of Las Vegas, on February 8, 2021, at the age of 76.
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