Florence Ballard was one of the original three Supremes, = credited=20 as the group's founding member and perhaps its best singer. = Yet she=20 was undone professionally by Diana Ross and Motown Records = founder=20 Berry Gordy, who had her forced from the glamorous trio in = favor of=20 Cindy Birdsong in 1967.
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Afterward, she was undone financially by bad lawyering = that=20 deprived her of much of the riches she should have received = for her=20 early work with the group.
In the wake of the 2006 hit film "Dreamgirls," former = Free Press=20 reporter Peter Benjaminson, who chronicled the sad = post-Supremes=20 demise of Ballard for the paper in the mid-1970s, has = authored "The=20 Lost Supreme: The Life of Dreamgirl Florence Ballard = (Lawrence Hill=20 Books, $24.95). It is based on exclusive interviews = Benjaminson=20 conducted in the years before her death. The Free Press will = present=20 two excerpts from the 213-page opus.
Today's is about Ballard's separation from the group as = her=20 relationship with Gordy soured and his interest in Ross = soared.
On Monday in the Life section, there's the story of = Ballard's=20 funeral -- where she was upstaged one last time by the = not-so-divine=20 Ms. Ross.
From Chapter 11, "Trouble at the Top"
As Berry Gordy's attraction to and admiration of Florence = Ballard=20 waned, his criticism began. "He would say, 'Flo, you don't = know how=20 to be a star,' " she said, "and maybe I didn't because as = far as I=20 was concerned, I was a person and I had to be a person. I = couldn't=20 be anything else. It's frightening to go all the way to the = top, and=20 somebody says to you that you have to be a star, that you = can't=20 mingle with certain people.
"People, to me, has always meant people, and I've always = felt=20 that if I don't have people, then I don't have everything; = and I=20 still feel that way. I was supposed to carry myself like a = star. I=20 knew I was a big entertainer. I knew I was rich. I knew I = was making=20 lots of money; I knew this. I had beautiful clothes, = diamonds,=20 everything at my feet; but to me a star is something in the = sky, and=20 to me I was a human being."
Her friend Pat Cosby said: "Flo was always her own = person. She=20 realized we have to be dictated to in life. There has to be = a=20 leader. But she knew who she was. ... Flo never got lost in = the=20 fame, as far as her personality and as far as being herself. = You=20 have to be a strong individual not to get yourself lost in=20 that."
Flo was not only strong but also ahead of her times. She = tried=20 writing songs for the Supremes. "Yeah, I tried; I sure did = try, and=20 Berry Gordy said 'Hm, that ain't nothing.' The other girls = thought=20 it was pretty good ... for some reason, me and Berry didn't=20 click."
A few years later, the majority of the top-selling hits = would be=20 written by the artists performing them. The = singer-songwriter became=20 an icon. Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder began trying to = convince=20 Motown to allow them to write and produce their own songs. = Motown=20 refused at first, leading to major strains between the = company and=20 its creative artists.
Otis Williams wrote that when the Temptations formally = asked=20 Gordy for the publishing rights to songs they wrote, Gordy = replied:=20 " 'What are you going to do with publishing? Who's going to=20 administer it?' (Music publishing involves giving others = permission=20 to record or use your songs and collecting for that usage. = It can be=20 a very lucrative business and certainly has been for = Motown.) He=20 continued running down all the details" and as he did so, he = became=20 angrier and angrier. "We looked at one another as if to say, = 'Whew!=20 We really touched a nerve with this!' We'd never seen him so = angry."
Conflict with Ross
In spite of, or perhaps because of, Flo's attempts to = relate to=20 the fans and increase her contributions to the Supremes, = Diana Ross'=20 ambitions grew and according to Flo, her treatment of her = girlhood=20 friends became atrocious.
Ballard recalled: "We had a routine when performing = 'Stop! In the=20 Name of Love' where at the end of the tune we'd throw both = arms up=20 in the air. Well, people used to ask me. 'Why did Diana = always get=20 in front of Mary, right in front of her when she threw her = arms=20 up?," blocking Wilson completely from view.
Flo, by contrast, came to Diana's aid during a Boston = performance=20 in 1966. "We were singing the tune 'I Hear a Symphony' and=20 everything was fine with me and Mary; we were singing in the = background, just singing back, and all of a sudden Diana = began to=20 back up ... 'I feel so little ... Everything looks so tiny. = I feel=20 like I'm shrinking,' she said. Our road manager at the time, = George=20 McArthur, carried her into her dressing room.
"That's when I called Berry Gordy and told him Diana = couldn't=20 perform, she was ill. I had her head in my lap and I was = trying to=20 massage her head. And she was just moving her head from side = to side=20 and crying. ...
"Berry Gordy flew in, and we went back to Detroit and she = went=20 into Ford Hospital. The nurses, when I went in (in 1968) to = have my=20 twins, they were telling me how nasty she was when she was = in the=20 hospital. But Flo defended her longtime persecutor. "I said, = 'Well,=20 she was ill, though' and the nurses said, 'We were trying to = be nice=20 to her; we knew she was ill.' They said she slammed the door = in=20 their face and carried on ... they have never forgotten her = for=20 that."
Occasionally, Diana broke the pattern by supporting Flo = against=20 Gordy. "We were going to take some pictures in front of one = of the=20 Detroit high schools and Mary and I were deciding which = school to=20 use -- Cass, Northeastern or Northwestern -- and I said it = really=20 didn't make any difference. So Berry Gordy said something = I'll never=20 forget. 'I can see why it doesn't make any difference to = you, Flo,=20 since you never finished high school.' So Diana looked at = him and=20 said 'Well, you didn't finish high school either, Berry.' It = was the=20 one time she stood up for me."
In general, though, Diana attacked Flo and Flo responded. = "I=20 didn't take no stuff off Diana. If she said something to me, = I'll=20 say it back to her."
Ballard said Mary Wilson "would always tell me, 'Whatever = she=20 says to you, don't say anything back to her, because you = know what=20 they want you to do -- they want you to keep arguing back = and forth=20 so they can get you out of the group.'
"This was the first I'd heard of that. I told Mary that = if Diana=20 said something mean to me ... I would tell her to go to hell = -- and=20 a lot of other things. I couldn't understand exactly what = was going=20 on. The three of us didn't do anything together anymore. The = only=20 time we'd see each other would be in a dressing room or = onstage. And=20 our rooms were all on different floors and miles apart."
Rumors of a split
By 1967, rumors were circulating feverishly that Diana = would be=20 leaving the group to perform on her own. Mary Wilson, in a = tribute=20 to Florence's voice and performing ability, claimed, "I = still=20 retained the smallest hope that when and if Diana left, Flo = would be=20 made the lead singer."
Diana remained a queen to Gordy, however, and Flo sank = further=20 and further in his estimation. "It seemed like I was always = under=20 pressure from Berry," she said. "I remember we were in = Canada ...=20 and just out of the clear blue he walks up to me and says, = 'You=20 know, you told me you wouldn't try to stand in Diana's way = if she=20 wanted to be a single artist.' And I told him, "That's right = ... but=20 by the same token, I didn't say I would leave the group = either.'=20 "
Flo's increasingly precarious position became vividly = clear to=20 her in May 1967. She recalled: "We got to the Copacabana (in = New=20 York) and Cindy Birdsong (a singer who had substituted for = Flo on=20 one occasion) was there. They had been grooming her with = tapes for a=20 whole year and I didn't have any knowledge of it. They had a = whole=20 tape of the show we were doing. ... Having Cindy at the Copa = caused=20 me to feel more pressure because it was as if they were = saying,=20 'We're getting ready to put you out now.' I was thinking 'I = may be=20 out, I may be in,' that sort of thing. But I was trying to = keep calm=20 about it and not worry about it."
When the limousine pulled up in front of the hotel to = take the=20 women to the Copa, "Instead of me getting in the limousine, = Cindy=20 Birdsong was asked to get in the limousine."
"So I rode to the Copa in a Lincoln that Tommy (later her = husband, Tommy Chapman) was driving. Cindy was there mainly = to study=20 me, to study my performance. We finished the engagement at = the Copa=20 and I don't know which way Cindy Birdsong went after = that."
A Supreme for the last time
Then in July 1967 at the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas, "I = made my=20 last performance with the Supremes," Ballard recalled.
Gordy had also been thickening the steady stream of = criticism he=20 directed at her. "Berry ... knew how to get to me," she = said,=20 "because he always said he wanted to control me and if he = couldn't=20 control me, he didn't want me around."
The contrast could not have been clearer between Flo and = Mary=20 Wilson, who did everything she was told until the original = Supremes=20 broke up, and Diana Ross, who almost always made sure well = in=20 advance that Gordy would give her only the directions she = wanted to=20 hear.
On Flo's last night performing as a Supreme, she = recalled: "At=20 this particular incident at the Flamingo, I had me a few = drinks. ...=20 And they kept calling me fat so much until I went on stage = and I=20 poked my stomach out as far as I could" -- giving Gordy the = excuse=20 he'd been looking for.
Gordy "called me up the next morning and he said 'You're = fired.'=20 And I said, 'I'm what?' And he said 'You're fired.' I said, = "I'm=20 not' And he said, 'Well you're not going on stage tonight.' = I said=20 'Yes, I am; who's going to stop me?' He said: 'I will. I'll = have you=20 thrown off if you go on.' And so it went on and on.
"And then his sister Gwen called and said, 'I guess you = know that=20 my brother can't make you leave the group because you have a = contract ... finally I said to myself, 'Oh well ... I'll be=20 miserable as hell out here anyways as long as he's around so = I just=20 might as well leave.' So I left. They already had Cindy = there."
Flo's expulsion from the Supremes in the summer of 1967 = was=20 immediately followed by the renaming of the group "Diana = Ross and=20 the Supremes." The meaning and the symbolism were obvious. = With her=20 major rival for lead singer finally out of the way, Ross = could take=20 over. It was the first step toward Gordy's ultimate goal of = moving=20 Ross out of the group and into solo stardom.
Motown's official announcement said that Flo had left the = group=20 owing to exhaustion and a desire to settle down. A story in = the Free=20 Press in August '67 said that Flo was leaving the group for = only a=20 month. A story in yet another publication said Flo was = leaving the=20 group to go into the antiques business. This cloud of = deception=20 would not be dispersed until Flo sued Motown three years = later.
Excerpted with permission of Lawrence Hill Books.
Tomorrow: The final act -- Diana Ross grabs the = spotlight at=20 Ballard's=20 = funeral.
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