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