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

Ribowsky, Mark

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0306818736 ISBN 13: 9780306818738

Publisher: Da Capo Press, 2010

Synopsis

The Supremes is a sprawling tale of unforgettable music, cutthroat ambition, and heartbreaking betrayal. Mark Ribowsky explodes Dreamgirl fantasies by taking the reader behind the closed doors of Motown to witness the rise of group leader Diana Ross, the creation of timeless classics like “Where Did Our Love Go? ,” and the dramatic power struggles within Detroit’s fabled music factory. Drawing on firsthand, intimate recollections from knowledgeable sources such as the Temptations’s Otis Williams and other Motown contemporaries—many never before interviewed—The Supremes is “a comprehensive look at the tumultuous relationships within the Supremes as well as among others at the Motown label” (Library Journal).

About this title

Review:

"(t)his beautifully written, harrowing tale ends with broken Ballard's death, Wilson's disempowerment and, until Ribowsky reveals her human side in the final paragraphs, further suggestions that if there are more unpleasant people than Ross, you haven't met them."

--Q Magazine, August 2009

"offers compelling, detailed accounts of life in the "snakepit" of the label's Studio A, and vividly conjures the joyous and exhilarating celebration of life that was the Motown sound."
--The Daily Telegraph, 8th August 2009

"(A)lthough there are plenty of newly revealed facts and perspectives for Motown nerds to geek out over, The Supremes is perhaps most interesting for its grasp of period minutiae - the pre-fame years of The Supremes' and Gordy's lives are told with a vivid attention to detail. It also capably lays bare the gulf between Florence Ballard's desire to be an artist and Ross's outright need to be a star and how the two evolved to become mutually incompatible. Ballard's cousin Ray Gibson in particular provides some heartbreaking testimony as to the emotional fallout of Gordy's homebrewed starmaking techniques."
--Time Out London, July 2009

"This well-sourced biography is the first attempt to synthesise the conflicting views of the various Supremes and their Svengali patron, Tamla boss Berry Gordy. Ribowsky is surprisingly sympathetic to Diana Ross -- the Detroit princess for whom the group was never more than a vehicle -- but is in no doubt that the tragic loser in the saga was the group's troubled founder, the late Florence Ballard." --The Sunday Times, December 6, 2009

About the Author:

Mark Ribowsky is the author of He's a Rebel: Phil Spector, Rock & Roll's Legendary Producer Don't Look Back and other books on music, sports, and popular culture. He lives in New York.

About this edition

• Publisher: Da Capo Press
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0306818736
• ISBN 13: 9780306818738
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 481