From 1964 to at least 1967, the Supremes helped define the Motown sound and, by extension, the sound of mainstream American pop. The trio worked closely with the team of songwriters and producers from Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier and Eddie Holland to perfect a musical project; an ideal mix of hard and soft – drums like jackhammers, dishes like sword fights and harmonies like whipped cream. Diana Ross sang led, of course, while Mary Wilson and Florence Ballard took care of the support, taking advantage of a formidable and ever-changing arsenal of “wow-ohs”, “uuu-oohs”, “yeah-yeahs”, “baby- baby “, and” help, help me’s “to accentuate the pearly melodies of your singles and soften all that strong percussion.
After Wilson’s death on Monday at the age of 76, Dozier spoke to Rolling Stone about meeting the Supremes, discussing with Wilson about “Where our love went” and their role as “glue” in the group.
I got a call this morning about Mary Wilson. It shocked me, of course. Mary has always been one of those guys who work and thrive; she is always going up and going towards them, looking for the next hill to climb.
She was the glue that kept the Supremes together when we had problems in the studio. We had moments when we used to argue about the songs or any parts that we were supposed to sing. She always looked at the big picture and tried to get everyone to settle in and do the job; thinking about our careers more than all the noise you’re making. She was good at that, bringing everyone together. And she had a voice that sounded good; a sound of its own. She was the sexy of the group, you might say. I recorded her voice on some songs. She was at the bottom, holding on; holding any background we invented.
When I first heard about the Supremes, they were like 16 or 17 year old girls who used to stay in the studio all the time trying to get someone to record them. As soon as they got the deal, some of the producers recorded songs with them. Little or nothing happened until the Holland brothers and I got together and started working with them. “When the Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes” was one of the 25 most popular songs.
I came up with the song and some of the lyrics. Brian [Holland] was the recording engineer and he created some songs too. Eddie [Holland] write the lyrics; we would give him any letter that i had started. Brian and I went back to the piano trying to think of something while he recorded the voices. The songs were all about unrequited love, people having their hearts broken, dealing with terrible guys and playboys. Love songs, basically.
I remember Mary and I having a little discussion about a song I created called “Where Did Our Love Go”. She thought it sucked. She got it from Gladys Horton, from Marvelettes. I tried to get them to do that. After that didn’t work, I said to Mary, “You know, I have a song that I wrote especially for you.” She said, “You liar! Gladys told me that this sucks that you’re trying to spread. But we talked to her, Flo and Diana.
That night we were in the studio and it was crazy. They were arguing, Diana was crying, she didn’t like the song. The key was not right, it was not right. I had worked on some plush bottom parts and they didn’t like it, so I said we would do something simple: “Baby baby.” After we recorded the song, Diana ran out and went to Berry in her office. He came down and listened and said, “Wait a minute, it looks like it might be a hit.” In fact, we are going to get ready to launch this next week. We launched next week and shot the charts. It was shocking how fast it happened around the world. This made the Supremes a household name.
So it was hit after hit: Number One, Number One, Number One. Once we hit that magic formula, we hit the top every time. We couldn’t lose. It was very late at night, working until three or four in the morning, trying to hurry up a song or make an album before they had to leave for another tour. And it went on like that for a few years, never missing a beat.
[Holland, Holland and I] left Motown [in 1968] and we founded our own company, Invictus, distributed by Capitol. We had a lot of successes on this label with Freda Payne and Chairmen of the Board; successes kept coming. Finally, the three of us decided to go our separate ways. I wanted to continue my singing career. I signed up for ABC-Dunhill; they gave me an agreement that I couldn’t refuse. I took it and moved to California, started making records for me.
[Mary and I] they still crossed paths from time to time, met at a dinner party or at a club that everyone went to. We didn’t keep in much contact. Once in a while, I would go to her Detroit home and sit and talk about what everyone is talking about: finding out what our next step in our career would be. Before the pandemic came, she had a new group of Supremes that would perform in various places, in England or Japan. She always worked. She was always pushing to keep her brand, to keep the Supremes running.
Everyone loved Mary and everyone appreciated her optimism and her determination. If you had a problem, it would dissuade you, make you feel like you should keep your head up and stop feeling sorry for yourself. That was why it was a shock to me that she was leaving so soon. I thought she would live to be 100 years old.