Diana Ross: A Biography

by J. Randy Taraborrelli

  “Never a moment’s peace, even in here,” Diana said before turning to Berry. “Black,” she began, “I’m tired of carrying this group on my shoulders. This needs to be over.”

  “It is over,” Berry replied.

  “For now,” Diana said. “But how long before Mary starts in on me?”

  “Well, look. Let’s just see how it plays out,” Berry said, trying to calm her.

  She shook her head. “Face it, Berry,” she said. “The Supremes are finished. And not only that, they seem to dislike me so much. Both of them. And what did I ever do to them? What’s so wrong with me? It’s very hard on me, Berry. I wish you understood …” She was truly distraught.

  Berry looked at her with sympathetic eyes. “I understand that this is hard,” he began. “It’s hard on me, too.” His tone was purposely soothing and reassuring. “Look, you obviously don’t need two girls standing behind you to make you sound better,” he said. “You sound fine on your own. But I have a plan. And you promised to trust me.”

  She put her head on his shoulder and mulled over his words.

  “I will always take care of you,” he said, according to those present and listening to every word. “How many times have I told you that?” He looked at her lovingly.

  She took a deep breath and let it out with resignation. “Okay,” she said, finally.

  At that moment, Joe Schaffner had a good hand at the table and everyone applauded. The mood changed. Diana was happy again, and she and Berry spent the rest of the night gambling.

  The next morning, according to what Florence would later recall, Berry called her in her room. “I’m calling to tell you that you’re fired, Florence. I want you to go back to Detroit.”

  “I’m what?”

  “Fired,” Berry said.

  “No, I’m not,” Florence said, again as per her own recollection.

  “Well you’re not going onstage tonight,” Berry said.

  “Oh yes, I am,” Florence said. “Who’s gonna stop me?”

  “I will,” Berry said, now very upset. “In fact,” he continued, “if you go on, I’ll have you thrown off the stage.”

  He then hung up. Ten minutes later, Berry’s sister Gwen called Florence and actually seemed to side with her. She said that Berry couldn’t just forbid her to perform, that she had a contract and her brother would have to let her go on if she was willing to sing. What followed was a series of telephone calls back and forth between Florence and Gwen until, finally, Florence decided to give in and leave. “I wasn’t gonna stay in Las Vegas if Berry didn’t want me there,” she later explained. “I thought, ‘Oh, the hell with it. I’m just gonna be miserable here with this man hounding me, anyway. I’m going back to Detroit.’”

  Joe Schaffner remembered, “Florence packed her bags and, again, it was my job to drive her to the airport and arrange for her return trip to Detroit. This time I don’t recall any tears … just anger.”

  Joe drove Florence past Caesar’s Palace minutes before Cindy Birdsong checked out of that hotel and crossed the street to the Flamingo. She was on her way to an emergency rehearsal that had been called in Diana’s suite. When she got there, Diana hugged her warmly and told her that she had never before been so happy to see any one person. Berry, now also smiling, embraced her too. Mary sat in a corner with tears in her eyes being consoled by a few members of the Motown production staff. She nodded at her new partner halfheartedly.

  Berry set up a reel-to-reel tape recorder on the dresser. He flicked a switch and a tape began playing the upbeat orchestral track to “Put on a Happy Face.” The three singers lined up in front of a full-length mirror and took a collective deep breath. Then, they started singing their first number. It was tense. Mary’s disappointment with the situation led Cindy to feel as though she was filling the shoes of a discarded Supreme. Both were glum. When they finished the number, Diana looked at them and, clearly trying to force herself into an optimistic mood, said, “Gosh. Why does it seem like I’m the only one putting on a happy face? C’mon. Let’s sing it like we mean it, girls. We’re in Vegas! We love Vegas, right?”

  Berry smiled at her. She was really trying, and she was doing it for him. He could see it.

  Diana walked over to the tape player and re-cued the song. The music began to play, and the new Supremes started in, again: “Gray skies are gonna clear up …”

  Part Three

  DIANA ROSS AND THE SUPREMES

  Deconstruction

  Shortly after the Las Vegas engagement during which Florence Ballard was fired, Mary Wilson received a telegram while staying at the St. Moritz Hotel in New York. It was from one of the Temptations. “Stick by Florence,” it said. “It may happen to you. Think about it.” It was a chilling message, a reminder that with Florence out, Mary could be next if she didn’t watch herself.

  Over a period of a couple of days, the name went from The Supremes to The Supremes with Diana Ross, until Berry finally settled on “Diana Ross and the Supremes,” which is how it read on “Reflections” when that song was finally released on 24 July 1967.

  When one journalist asked Diana why her name was now featured in the billing, she replied with a poker face,

  Now, all of that was done through the offices at Motown. They met with Mary and Florence because contractually it’s easier and you can sell and get a bigger price for a lead singer and a group. Like Smokey and the Miracles and many other groups. But, I was really not aware of this change until Florence left the group. They had talked about it before with Mary and Florence, but it had never come to my attention because I was working so hard and doing a lot of sessions alone. I even took my vacation to do a whole Christmas album while the other girls went on vacation!”*

  Two days after “Reflections” was released, Florence was presented with her severance deal from Motown. Berry didn’t want to negotiate with her, so a new, white company executive took care of this last bit of business. His name was Michael Roshkind, a New Yorker in his late thirties who had the title of corporate vice president. He offered her $2,500 a year for the next six years, for a total of only $15,000. However, she would not receive future royalties on any of the hit records she had recorded at the company. He also offered her a recording contract at the company as a solo artist. After all that had happened, though, the idea of being with Motown wasn’t exactly appealing to her. It’s too bad she didn’t have a little more vision about the matter because a solo deal with Motown might have changed her entire life. But at the time she just couldn’t see it. Choked with resentment, the twenty-four-year-old took a deep breath, signed the document without an attorney present—it’s not known whether or not she was advised to take outside legal counsel. She then stood up proudly. With her eyes spilling over with tears, she studied the stranger on the other side of the table. “You can take this paper,” she told him, “and you can shove it right up your ass.” (“And that’s exactly what I said,” she recalled, years later, “and I meant it, too.”)

  At about this same time Holland-Dozier-Holland began expressing dissatisfaction with Motown, especially since Berry had—they claimed—promised to give them stock in the company in appreciation for their contributions. Instead H-D-H say he offered them $100,000 a year each in advance against their royalties—which came to about $2 million between 1965 and 1967—but they decided that wasn’t enough. After an acrimonious discussion H-D-H walked out of Berry’s office, never to return. The legal maneuverings by the songwriting trio against Berry Gordy would continue for the next thirty-plus years, sometimes with cases being thrown out of court, sometimes with settlements and payments being made … often being followed by more lawsuits. Finally, a few years ago, Berry sued Eddie Holland—whose unhappiness he believes to be the catalyst for most of the litigation—for “malicious prosecution.” That case is still pending.

  No matter the differences with Motown, Lamont Dozier recently looked back with nothing but praise and affection for “the girls” and the history they made together
. He told producer and Motown historian Andrew Skurow,

  Diana Ross is one of the most professional artists in the business. Her performance on all of those songs was unique in every sense of the word. She was the best, and she will go down in history as one of the best. Mary, she didn’t get a chance to really show some of her skills, but Mary was there adding to the spice, and so was Florence. This particular recipe called the Supremes came together because everybody had the right elements, the right seasonings, and the right flavors to make it happen.

  As a result of the defection of H-D-H, the Supremes and many other Motown artists were left without their valuable writing-producing team. This loss, combined with the Florence fiasco, would definitely compromise the Supremes’ consistency on the record charts in years to come. Still, by September the group had another number-one album with Diana Ross and the Supremes Greatest Hits, a deluxe double LP set. This classy package contained all of their H-D-H singles along with several B-sides. It also has the distinction of being the first album to bear the name Diana Ross and the Supremes and the last album jacket to feature the likeness of Florence. Broadway star Carol Channing wrote the liner notes. In 1967, this was Motown’s biggest-selling LP to date—five weeks at number one!—so it was clear that the Supremes were still, despite their personal backstage drama, a huge national recording act.

  By the beginning of 1968, Diana, now twenty-four, and Berry, thirty-nine, had almost totally distanced themselves from Mary, Cindy and the rest of the Supremes entourage. Meanwhile, the new name for the group seemed to warrant an entirely new look as well. For Diana Ross and the Supremes, chiffons were replaced by extra sequins and beads. Hairstyles became even more flamboyant. The entire look was fashioned in a Broadway musical show style: pure glitz and excitement. While in England in February, Diana Ross and the Supremes recorded a live album at the popular Talk of the Town nightclub and garnered rave reviews for their performances. But the real focus of attention during this extended overseas tour was definitely Miss Ross, who by now had become an even bigger sensation than Twiggy, Mia Farrow or any of the other doe-eyed “innocents” of that era.

  “The great goddess of pop music is, without a doubt, Diana Ross,” wrote a reporter for Disc and Music Echo. “Mention her name and a thousand breathless men will fall at your feet. She has managed to remain untainted by the effects of power and success. If anything she is even nicer than before,” reported journalist Penny Valentine.

  It’s not likely that Mary and Cindy would have agreed with that assessment, especially since Diana was nothing if not full of surprises during this time. For instance, at the end of some performances on television programs—such as when the group performed a Funny Girl medley on The Ed Sullivan Show—she would throw her arms dramatically into the air with her head tilted back in high drama. It could be that she was just lost in the moment. However, according to Cindy, she was actually looking at the television monitors suspended overhead in the studio. By keeping her eye on them, she could apparently detect where her singing partners were standing behind her. Then, she could maneuver her arms so that her hands would be directly in front of their faces! “It took me a long time to catch on,” Cindy admits, “because it was so subtle. At first, I couldn’t believe it was intentional. I started maneuvering around her, thinking, ‘Well, she must not realize that her hand is in front of my face.’ But, as I moved to the left, her hand would move to the left. And as I moved to the right, her hand would move to the right. So … in my opinion she knew.”

  While in London, the group held a press conference at the Mayfair Hotel in January. The scene was typically chaotic. Cindy recalled, “We were practically crushed by the reporters, all of whom were yelling at us at one time. Flashcubes were going off from a hundred different angles. We ate this stuff up, though; we loved the attention, every minute of it.”

  When a reporter enquired as to the status of Diana’s relationship with Berry, she became annoyed. “Look, that’s all people want to know about,” she said. “Mr. Gordy this and Mr. Gordy that. My relationship with Berry Gordy is just nice and cool and going well. And that’s all I have to say on the subject.” A warm smile melted any edge from her answer.

  “Is that your own hair?” a reporter then asked Diana. She had on one of those Vidal Sassoon wigs she loved so much with a swoop of hair covering much of her left eye and cheek.

  “Of course it is,” she exclaimed with a twinkle in her voice. “I bought it myself!” Everyone laughed.

  Someone else then asked Cindy how she was adjusting to the group’s schedule. Cindy opened her mouth to answer. Just as she was about to speak, Diana cut in, “Well, Cindy thinks that a lot of sleep and regular meals are very important. It’s no good skipping food when you’re working until 2 a.m. every morning and traveling hundreds of miles a day.” Cindy was left with her mouth open. Casually, she leaned over to Diana and whispered in her ear, “Diane, I’d like to answer the questions that are directed at me if that’s all right with you.” Diana fixed her with a look. Then, turning to the gathered media, she forced a thin smile and said, “But, of course, Cindy has an answer to that question.”

  Later, Cindy would recall, “Diane didn’t like that at all. Usually at these press conferences Mary was very quiet, not saying anything. But I was the new girl and very excited about things. I wanted to talk as much as possible. I didn’t think it was fair that Diana did all of the talking. But I didn’t have the sense to realize that I would be cutting my own throat by speaking out.”

  Immediately after the press conference, Berry asked Mary and Cindy to meet him in the hotel’s lobby. It was there that he laid down the new law. “We were told that, from that moment on, Diane would answer all questions at all press conferences,” Cindy recalled. “I guess I really hit a nerve,” she added, laughing.

  As Berry spoke to the ladies, Diana waited in the hotel’s gift shop. After the meeting was finished and the Supremes went on their chagrined way, Diana came out of the store wearing new pink sunglasses. She also had on a white, silver and pink striped minidress and silver go-go boots—her hair in a big curly bouffant. She was quite a sight. A busy and determined little entourage of Motown employees led the way as Diana and Berry left the hotel lobby, hand in hand. As the entourage cleared a path through fans and gawkers, they couldn’t help but listen in on the conversation.

  “I told them both. You speak, they don’t,” he said. “You’re the leader, Diane. These press guys only care about what you have to say anyway.” The two approached a black stretch limousine parked at the curb outside the hotel’s entrance. The British chauffeur got out of the driver’s seat and walked around to the passenger door to open it for them. However, before he could get there Berry held out the palm of his hand. “No, let me,” he insisted as he opened the door for Diana. She gazed at him for a moment, a confused look on her face. “After you,” he told her with a grin.

  Echoing Martin Luther King’s words

  Diana Ross and the Supremes were again starring at the Copacabana in New York on 4 April 1968 when the great civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. was shot on the balcony of his second-floor room in the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis. That night, eighty riots broke out. Federal troops were sent to Baltimore, Chicago, Washington and Wilmington. Forty-six people were killed, 3,500 injured, 20,000 arrested. Chicago’s mayor, Richard J. Daley—who had criticized Dr. King and his civil rights movement when King went to his city in 1966—ordered police to shoot to kill arsonists and to maim looters. Of course, everyone at Motown was deeply saddened by the tragedy. Dr. King had once visited Hitsville and had been impressed. “What you are doing here is important,” he told Berry Gordy. “History will show just how important.”

  Some of their critics felt that the Supremes should have been more directly involved in civil rights. In fact, what better representation did the movement have than three powerful, self-reliant, proud black women not only making money but generating it for the economy, and influencing 1960s pop
culture in the process? If anything, what they had achieved as black women from impoverished backgrounds was nothing if not absolutely inspirational. They were on stage at the Copacabana, weren’t they? If that didn’t say it all in terms of their barrier-breaking career, nothing ever would. Obviously, they also had great admiration for Dr. King. Had it not been for his work, which culminated in the 1965 Voting Rights Act (allowing blacks equal importance with whites in the United States, the triumph of his Selma campaign), certainly the story of Motown and its artists would have been a very different one. The movement saw to it that blacks gained the equality they always deserved, an ideology that most certainly had helped Berry Gordy’s cause.

  On the night of Dr. King’s murder, Berry cancelled the Supremes’ performances at the Copacabana out of respect. The next day, he received a call from The Tonight Show asking for the group to appear with Johnny Carson in a special program honoring the slain civil rights leader. Berry agreed to the booking and decided that the group would perform the thought-provoking Leonard Bernstein composition “Somewhere,” which was, of course, a number from their nightclub act. Usually, in the middle of that song, Diana delivered a spoken interlude about romance, always a crowd-pleaser despite its admittedly trite nature. “Let our efforts be as determined as that of a little stream which saunters down a hillside,” she would intone, “seeking its level, only to become a huge river destined for the sea.” It couldn’t have been sillier, but people seemed to love it, anyway.

  Right before The Tonight Show performance, Berry and one of the Supremes’ managers, Shelly Berger, decided to rewrite the speech to pay tribute to Dr. King. The new version would now have Diana saying, “Let our efforts be as determined as that of Dr. Martin Luther King, who had a dream …” She would then go into a reading that had to do with “all God’s children, black men, white men, Jews, Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics” and then close with the line, “Free at last, free at last, great God almighty, free at last!” The text was taken almost directly from the historic “I Have a Dream” speech delivered on 28 August 1963 by Martin Luther King on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. To have Diana echo King’s triumphant words was a dicey proposition. It was far too important a message to do haphazardly. After all, she would not only be speaking for herself and the Supremes, but also for Motown—it would actually be the company’s only public statement about the tragedy—and, in a sense, even the black community.