Post by FastNFancy on May 27, 2003 20:47:59 GMT -5
A Motown voice of experience
By SEAN DALY(New York Daily News)
Thursday, May 8th, 2003
HOLLYWOOD - In leather pants and a skintight black sweater, her hair a
custom-tinted shade of purple, Mary Wilson makes it hard to believe she's
just one birthday shy of the Big 6-0.
The former Supreme is one of the few from Motown's 1960s heyday who continue
to prosper. But, she says, survival comes with a price.
Pop's biggest-selling girl group, the Supremes officially broke up in 1977,
but Wilson still performs many of their hits up to 100 nights a year in
concert halls and casinos and on cruise ships.
Like many nostalgia acts, she relies on money from performing because she is
not entitled to publishing royalties shared by songwriters.
"I am touring because I have to," she confesses. "When you see a lot of these
groups onstage, all glammed up and in their shiny suits, you have to remember
that many of them are living gig to gig."
That's also the case for The Chi-Lites, Sam Moore (of Sam and Dave), Wilson
Pickett and Carla Thomas, a few of the artists whose stories are told in the
documentary "Only the Strong Survive," which opens
tomorrow.
Fox News' Roger Friedman teamed with directors Chris Hegedus and D.A.
Pennebaker in 1999 to find out what happened to the voices behind some
legendary hits.
"Most people don't realize what a hard worker Mary Wilson is," Friedman says.
"They only know her because of her public spats with Diana Ross."
Take the ill-fated Supremes "Return to Love" reunion tour in 2000. Ross
refused to share revenue equally with Wilson and Cindy Birdsong (who replaced
original Supreme Florence Ballard in 1967), and hit
the road with two unknown backup singers instead.
The plug was pulled after just six performances, and the two women have not
spoken since. In the movie, Wilson delivers a performance of "Someday We'll
Be
Together," recorded in 1999 at the Westbury Music Fair. Friedman says neither
Wilson nor Birdsong was featured on the original recording in 1969, which was
made behind their backs.
"The first time Mary heard the song was on the radio," he says.
As a member of Boston-based Friends Against Musical Exploitation (FAME),
Wilson campaigns against singing groups that perform with no
original members. To date, Wilson says, she has spent nearly $3 million
trying to win exclusive use of the "Supremes" name and block other groups
that bill themselves as "Former Ladies of the Supremes"
and "The Sound of the Supremes."
"The problem is those people can probably be bought a lot cheaper than Mary
Wilson," says Los Angeles-based concert producer Selwyn Miller of Worldwide
Entertainment Network. "And the general public, once they are not getting the
real thing, they don't often care who they see as long as it is a nostalgic
trip."
Wilson had three children from an abusive 16-year marriage to Pedro Ferrer
that ended in 1981. She has also had tragedy: In 1994, Wilson was behind the
wheel when a car accident killed her 14-year-old son,
Rafi.
"The death of my baby prompted me to take a stronger look at my life," she
says. "In many ways, the tragedy kick-started my life all over again."
A few months later, Wilson enrolled at New York University, where she earned
an associate's degree in 2001. She left Manhattan after graduation and has
since moved to Las Vegas to be near her daughter,
Turkessa, and grandchildren.
The move has given her a new goal. "I need to learn to play golf," she says.
"I bought a house on the 13th hole of a golf course, but I don't know how to
play."