Customer Reviews

The Supremes: A Saga of Motown Dreams, Success, and Betrayal

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

Mr.Ribowsky's deserves credit in his approach of reconstructing the very early days of The Supremes history and his ability to tie in all the persons and events that led to them becoming the most successful female vocal group in American musical history. In his original approach he sought the assistance of Florence Ballard's cousin Ray Gibson and other sources other biographers did not. Often he relies on and quotes from the other biographers and compares/disputes their findings. At times he allows his superb writing skills to soar, but often he is vulgar in his dishing the trio. Diana...spreading her legs,Mary...performs like a mannequin...Florence...had psychiatric problems. Other asperisons are credited to The Marvelettes, The Vandellas and The Velvelettes and one feels like this is tabloid fodder. Worse are the numerous editorial flaws including a word for word comment that at one point in both the Motortown Revue and Dick Clark Caravan of Stars Tour two police cars helped prevent a potential racially motivated attack on the stars. Others include:
1) The unrealeased There's A Place For Us album was never released; yet it was and he mentions so in the discography.
2) He refrers to biographer Tony Turner as Tony Tucker, then correctly in the Biblography; perhaps because he is confused as he refers to Turner as a flunky, a go-fer and even a drag queen.
3) Diana's incorporating part of the Miracles routine into the Supremes act was during the Motortown Revue, not after the first Ed Sullivan Show appearance.
4) Yes, Florence is in the picture with Hubert Humprhey however she had already left the group in 1968.
5) Diana was 21 years old in 1965, when the Motortown Revue was recorded in Paris.
6) The Copa album also includes Back In My Arms Again;The We Remember Sam Cooke album doesn't include Twisting The Night Away and Funny Girl is not on Live At London's Talk Of The Town. (Yet all the correct tracks are shown in the discography!)
7) The venue The Supremes played in D.C. was The Carter Barron Amphitheater; also the same venue Smokey Robinson and The Miracles performed and recorded their Farewell Concert for release on a 2 LP set.
8) Motown claimed Tammi Terrell wasn't related to Jean Terrell, therefore she could not have been married to Ernie Terrell.
9) Ribowsky refers to Jim Brown as Tim and Jim.
10) Touch Me In The Morning Wasn't the Oscar Nominated song, Theme From "Mahogany" (Do You Know Where You're Going To)was.
11)I'm Coming Out wasn't released as the follow up to Love Hangover.
12)Happy Is A Bumpy Road is the B side of Nathan Jones; Precious Little Things is the B side of Automatically Sunshine and This Is The Story is the B side of Floy Joy, but each is credited as the A side in the narrative.
13) The Young Folks is not showing in the discography as a charted song.
14) The Reflections album doesn't list Reflections as a cut.
If there are further editions of this novel, hopefully these errors can be corrected.The author also missed the irony of using Time Changes Things as the B side of Forever Came Today as it was also the B side of the first-Let Me Go The Right Way and (last) charting single with the original trio. This book is a must for fans of The Supremes and The Motown Sound. The author's epilogue will make you realize despite the ups and downs why the Supremes are still Supreme.

In the introduction of The Supremes: A Saga of Motown Dreams, Success and Betrayal, author Mark Ribowsky states his goal is to write the "first real biography of the group written from the perspective of an outsider with no personal investment in how events are told." Being the most recent chronologist to sort out the story of the Supremes, he has the advantage of being able to draw liberally from the many volumes written on the subject by the subjects, Diana Ross, Mary Wilson, and Berry Gordy themselves, plus the luxury of having the previously silent song writing team, Holland-Dozier-Holland as well as Florence Ballard's relatives add to the call and response chorus.
The story of the rise and fall of the Supremes is so old, and has been told in such minute detail in the past that it should, and in an indirect way as Dreamgirls on Broadway and on screen, have been set to music a long time ago. Ribowsky offers detailed new revelations on the fledging Primettes and their manager Milton Jenkins, who would eventually become Florence Ballard's brother in law. In short order, Jenkins is left behnd, the young quartet loses a member, and Berry Gordy's vision of a crossover act sets the stage for the morphing of the popular local group into what would become the world famous Supremes. All that remained to happen was getting that one evasive hit record. Gordy's maintained his faith in the appeal of Diana Ross through several lean years and when The Supremes finally hit the motherlode, everyone's wildest dreams were far exceeded.
Unfortunately, as the saga of the Supremes unfolds, factual errors, misspellings, and inconsistencies creep into Ribowsky's research, taking away from his masterful story telling. In an attempt to seduce the reader into thinking his investigative reporting is without peer, Ribowsky trots out every sexual indiscretion, groping and coupling that every occurred during the early days of the Motown Review and the endless sexual conquests grows tiresome quite quickly, with way too much intimate information smacking the reader in the face. In light of all the alleged hooking up that transpired among the Hitsville alumni, it's a wonder that "Love Child" wasn't conceived years earlier.
That Diana Ross is not a candidate to replace Mother Theresa for her charitable acts towards those in her firing range is no surprise, however Ribowsky's non stop accounts of Ross' misdeeds will make reader's head spin. Two thirds of the way through this biography a very dark and oppressive mood overcame this reviewer and though I knew the story could have no real happy ending for all involved, much like the lyrics of "My World Is Empty Without You" the walls came closing in and finishing the book proved to be challenging. According to Ribowsky many of the lyrics of the Supremes' biggest hits offered vague hints of the mistrust and reflected the growing angst that was seething behind the scenes.
In the sixties, Berry Gordy proudly proclaimed to reporters that the Motown Sound grew out of "Rats, Roaches and Love." A sense of humor, and pulling yourself up by your bootlaces was also an important aspect of this remarkable musical landscape. Unfortunately that aspect of collective pride and encouragement is sorely missing in Ribowsky's tome and his stellar research suffers for it.
Much of what is presented here has been rehashed several times before, and there may not be any further need of biographers to further document the rise and fall of the most popular female recording group of all time. The image of three beautiful young women capturing our collective imagination at a time we needed to believe in magic and love and unity may not have been entirely real, and no amount of begging on the part of fans will ever persuade the surviving members to regroup one more time for old times sake. As the Supremes once sang "Someday We'll Be Together" but in the reality of "Reflections," "Time Changes Things" and the memory, however tarnished, and based on fantasy, should be left alone. A solid three and a half stars, however with close attention to correcting numerous factual errors in a revised edition, this rating would be higher.

In yet another belated attempt to cash-in on the Dreamgirls phenomenon, Mark Ribowsky quickly proves himself a second-rate writer with this horrifically inaccurate, details-bare accounting of the legend of the Supremes.

As expected, Diana Ross comes across as a cruel, manipulative, heartless shrew of a woman, while Florence Ballard is portrayed as misunderstood, misrepresented and tragic. Mary Wilson, for a bit of a change, and for whatever reason, reads as being clueless, cold and co-dependant. This book draws heavily from previous books by J. Randy Taraborrelli, Tony Turner (whom Mr. Ribowsky continually refers to as "Tucker")and Miss Wilson herself. There is virtually nothing new here but one easily recognizes Ribowsky's lack of attention to detail when he can't even get the names of the authors he is plagiarizing correctly.

There are literally dozens of misrepresented facts throughout the book. The discographies are painfully wrong, details of confrontations are re-told with no source indicated and numerous other allegations are easily disproven in this National Enquirer-like retelling of a story. In one such instance, Ribowsky claims the husband-abused body of Florence Ballard was laid out in a casket with bruises on her legs. There are photos everywhere showing Miss Ballard lying in repose in a floor-length choir robe...only her shoes were showing therefore refuting this tabloid allegation.

That is only one of many inaccuracies in this book. It is a cheap attempt to make a few bucks at the expense of the tragedy of Florence Ballard and the legacy of the most successful female group of all time. Not worth even the bargain-basement price.

RICK BUECHE

Here we go again. Mark Ribowsky has written yet another biographical tale of the rise and fall of legendary girl group the Supremes. I've lost count on how many accounts have attempted to tell their story, with each one suggesting that its version is the definitive story. Ribowsky does a good job in synthesizing info from several sources and providing anecdotes from voices we don't often here from like Annette Beard, Rosalind Ashford, Cal Street and even Holland-Dozier-Holland. However, as interesting as their perspectives are, they aren't enough to detract from the weaknesses in Ribowsky's story which include a lack of thorough research and fact checking and an inconsistent writing style that wavers between academia and tabloid journalism.

Ribowsky's claim is that this particular biography is unique because "it's written from the perspective of an outsider, with no personal investment in how events are told" (p. xiii). The irony of this introductory statement is that much of the book relies on perspectives of people who AREN'T outsiders and who actually may have personal investments in how events are told, including Tony Turner (who Ribowsky erroneously calls Tucker), Maxine Ballard and even Mary Wilson to name a few. All three of their books are vested in scapegoating Diana Ross for the Supremes' demise so they're far from objective sources to be used in writing a biography of the group.

This book is fine for new fans interested in their story and for those who haven't read the other books. However, for those of us who have been fans for decades and have followed the Supremes' story ad nauseum, to quote the Scherrie Payne led song, "it's all been said before." There's very little here that adds to what we already know about the Supremes. Ribowsky simply doesn't move the story forward to another level and understandably so. The problem with writing a Supremes biography is that Florence is not alive to tell her OWN side of the story and Diana has provided only fragmented perspectives of her side of the story and doesn't seem to be willing to give any more than that.

With that in mind the question then is did we really need another largely repetitious bio of the Supremes? The answer is "yes" if you love tabloid styled gossip... "Mary Wilson turned her digs into a playpen that Hugh Hefner could have decorated.. Even Caligula himself, Berry Gordy, blushed when he heard that Mary wanted to mirror the ceiling over the bed" (p. 210). The answer is "no" if you rely on biographies for factual information. Other Amazon reviewers have already pointed out inexcusable errors that reflect a lack of thorough research and fact checking. One additional egregious error that made me cringe happens on page 101. When speaking of lyrics to a Smokey Robinson song, he credits "Although she may be cute, she's just a substitute because you're the permanent one" to "Ooh Baby Baby." Any Motown fan worth his music collection knows those lyrics are from "The Tracks of My Tears" not "Ooh Baby Baby."

Judging from the amount of factual errors in the book I can only imagine two possible explanations. One, publishing industry jobs are not recession proof and therefore there were no fact checkers any longer on staff at Da Capo Press. Or two, Ribowsky was in a rush to get the book out in time to capitalize on Motown's 50th anniversary. In either case, not only can you not hurry love, but you also can't hurry putting out a book on a group as widely popular as the Supremes without proper editing.

Yes, die hard Motown fanbots are anal about these type of things but for a basic reading, the book is still informative. To his credit, the author does provide anecdotes about Diana to balance the view of "Diane the villain" with a "kind and gentle" Diana. Finally, the familiar stories and Motown folklore are still amusing to read, Diana's tantrums, bad driving and all.

I am struggling through what should be a good bio because the quality of the prose seems to be quite uneven. There is little rhythm to the sentences, and I can't get going on this. I've read a few Supremes bios before. It's not that the facts may be wrong - though some reviewers claim they are - it's just the hack-like writing. Where was an editor on this project? This needs a lot of smoothing out. The sentences jumble, the word choices stop the eye, and the flow is just missing.

a great read ....it pulled all the readings ive ever read into one text....it focused on all three girls and what happens when suddenly you make it big with astronomical sucess,,,,,,the focus on ross is well documented!!!how and why......its a shame that even after all these years ,rifts still run deep,that a reunion will never happen peacefully!!!!!sad for the fans!!!!!

I haven't read this book yet, however I have read other books by this author that were very informative. I am looking forward to reading about the Surpremes.

I think this book comes closest to the true Supremes story with one exception. And that is all the work by Randy T. on this subject. His encyclopedic knowledge and first-hand experiences with Motown had him ahead of the starting gate before he even joined the marathon. That said, this book does give details not given elsewhere and particularly insights of how difficult working at and for Motown was and how at bottom line Berry Gordy did not treat his talent with respect or care for their well-being. The book also treats Diana Ross straightforwardly, just telling what happened where other authors have shied away. What is confounding about this book, and so many others on the market today, is the unforgivable rate of factual error, mixed-up names and inscrutable confusion (where did the author ever find that "This Is The Story," an album track that was a B side single in some countries, was the Supremes' last top 20 hit?). How do these authors and their publishing companies get by with turning out such poorly researched, confused product? I also think no book so far has gotten into what accounts for Ross' terrible behavior at Motown over the years (so terrible most books ignore it). I think she was born knowing who she was, her talent and her destiny, and I think all the aggravating years of no one else knowing who she was, of being part of a group, of year after year getting no success at Motown, of still living in the Projects, of being lumped with other girl singers on tours, must have generated pure daily frustration. Once she achieved success on her own terms she by all accounts changed as a person into someone more rational who could be thoughtful and kind. There could be a whole book on that topic. I've also found it fascinating she has absolutely no insight to anything in her life beyond her vision of it, as demonstrated in her ridiculous biography where everything is everyone else's fault and she rewrites history again and again. Her leaving Motown and betraying Gordy, who had put so much money into her career, after telling him she would never leave, proved she was a great artist but not very bright about reality. It marked the end of her reign as a supreme star and began a decades-long desert of what should have been the most rewarding time of her life. And she did it to herself.

I found this biography not only fascinating because it told the real story of the Supremes, all viewpoints included, but also the story of the rise of Motown records. Very interesting. As a somewhat accomplished musician, I found the description of how the famous Holland-Dozier-Holland songs were written to be fascinating, as the Supremes evolved with the times. I also learned facts about some of their records where Supremes members Flo and Mary didn't even sing on, but instead a back-up group, the Andantes. One has to admire Berry Gordy's drive to accomplish his dreams. Very engaging book - I couldn't put it down.

I just finished Mark Ribowsky's 'The Supremes' and although I found him to be technically quite a good writer his personal feelings toward each of the three women in the group prevented him from digging deeper into the dynamic that was Motown and the dynamic that was the 60s. Ribowsky also needs a better editor. Any Motown fan will tell him that Tammi Terrell was not married to Ernie Terrell. He couldn't even name the post Diana Ross hits correctly. On page 210 he tells of Mary Wilson renting her basement to Cholly Atkins as a rehearsal space but on page 392 its suddenly Florence Ballard who rented her basement to Atkins. The funny thing is that all he needed was a Supremes fan to read his manuscript with a red pen and it would have easily improved his accuracy. I grew quite weary of his disdainful tone toward these women. He seems to miss the point that aside from being pioneers as black crossover performers that they were also forging the way for the superstars to come. They worked non stop for years, leaping from stage to stage and from hotel to hotel, rehearsing and performing constantly. Yet there was no connect to their sometimes not-so-nice behaviour. I think Ribowsky bit off way more than he could chew.