Artist:Diana Ross & The Supremes
Song:Someday We'll Be Together
Album:Anthology
The 1969 single Someday We'll Be Together was significant for two reasons. It was The Supremes final #1 hit and Diana Ross' final single with The Supremes before she went solo. Changes like this always drove Motown owner Berry Gordy nuts. The big problem with The Supremes was Florence Ballard wanted to sing lead and Gordy wouldn't allow it. Diana was the star. Florence suffered from depression and started drinking heavily and showing up inebriated. So who was going to replace her? Gordy ultimately went with Cindy Birdsong of Patti LaBelle & The Blue Belles. She was already used to being a backup singer. She was still under contract to The Blue Belles so Gordy eventually bought out her contract. Gordy tried to get Florence to quit voluntarily. But after a drunken incident at the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas, Cindy permanently replaced her and Florence was fired. By 1968, there were already plans in place for Diana to leave The Supremes. Gordy had even decided that Jean Terrell would replace her. While performing with The Supremes at night, Diana was recording solo during the day. Someday We'll Be Together was supposed to be Diana's first solo single. But Gordy wanted a final Supremes #1 hit. So he released it as a Diana Ross & The Supremes record. Of course it topped the charts. It was not a new song. Harvey Fuqua, Johnny Bristol and Jackey Beavers wrote it and she sang it with her brother Johnny in 1961. Bristol unearthed the song and produced this new version with Fuqua who was the leader of The Moonglows and a Motown house producer. On the record, you can hear Bristol singing along with Diana. Since it was supposed to be a Diana Ross record, the background vocals were by Julia Waters, Maxine Waters and Merry Clayton. After they performed it on The Ed Sullivan Show, that was it. Jean Terrell was introduced at the Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas on Jan. 14, 1970. Gordy was so jittery that he wanted to replace Jean with Syreeta Wright. But Mary Wilson put her foot down and wouldn't allow it. The new version of The Supremes probably would have been more successful if Gordy had liked them. But they had some success until they disbanded for good in 1976. You can get all of The Supremes' hits on this 2CD budget comp. Here's The Supremes performing Someday We'll Be Together on The Ed Sullivan Show Dec. 21, 1969.
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