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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 10, 2021)
February 10, 2021 Page 2 Supremes Co-Founder Mary Wilson Remembered Music legend helped establish Motown sound (AP) -- Mary Wilson, one of the original members of the Su- premes, the 1960s group that helped establish the Motown sound and propelled Diana Ross to superstardom, died Monday. The cause was not immediately clear. She was 76. Wilsn died Monday night at her home in Nevada and the cause was not immediately clear, said publicist Jay Schwartz. Wilson, Diana Ross and Flor- ence Ballard made up the first successful configuration of The Supremes, Motown’s first and most commercially successful girl group. Ballard was replaced by Cindy Birdsong in 1967, and Wil- son stayed with the group until it was officially disbanded in 1977. The group’s first No. 1, mil- lion-selling song, “Where Did Our Love Go,” was released June 17, 1964. Touring at the time, Wilson said there was a moment when she realized they had a hit song. “I remember that instead of go- ing home on the bus, we flew,” she told The Associated Press in 2014. Mary Wilson, founding member of The Supremes, Motown’s first and most influential girls group, is “That was our first plane ride. We pictured during a 2014 portrait session at Capitol Records in Los Angeles. Wilson died Monday at 76 flew home. We had really hit big.” years old. (AP photo). It would be the first of five consecutive No. 1s, with “Baby Love,” “Come See About Me,” “Stop! In the Name of Love” and “Back in My Arms Again” follow- ing in quick succession. The Su- premes also recorded the hit songs “You Can’t Hurry Love,” “Up the Ladder to the Roof” and “Love Child.” Ross tweeted on Tuesday, of- fering her condolences to Wilson’s family. “I am reminded that each day is a gift,” she said, writing “I have so many wonderful memo- ries of our time together.” Berry Gordy, who founded the Detroit-based Motown Records, said he was “extremely shocked and saddened to hear of the pass- ing of a major member of the Mo- town family, Mary Wilson of the Supremes.” His statement Mon- day night, according to Variety, said “The Supremes were always known as the ‘sweethearts of Mo- town.’” Wilson, Ross and Ballard were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988. Wilson, in a recent YouTube video posted Saturday, said she was excited to celebrate Black his- tory month, her upcoming birth- day (March 6) and teased fans with the announcement that Uni- versal Music had plans to release some of her music. Rosa Parks is arrested in 1955 in Montgomery, Ala., after she refused to give up a seat on a bus reserved for white people. A year later,city officials were ordered to desegregate Montgomery’s buses and Rosa Parks sealed her place in U.S. history. TriMet Honors Rosa Parks Transit agency ushers in first annual Equity Day TriMet held its first annual Rosa Parks Transit Equity Day last Thursday to honor the late civil rights leader’s birthday and the agency’s commitment to so- cial justice. No fares were collected on the date for all buses, MAX, WES or LIFT. Transit partners Port- land Streetcar and C-TRAN also did not collect fares to honor the woman who sealed her place in history in 1955 by refusing to give up a seat on a bus reserved for white people. Rosa Parks was born on Feb. 4, 1913 in Tuskegee, Ala. Her demonstration in segregated Montgomery, Ala., gave way to the Montgomery Bus Boycott C onTinued on P age 4