Diana Ross and Florence Ballard

Eldergays and Music Queens, tell us more about the relationship between Florence Ballard and Diana Ross, both of The Supremes.

Evidently, although Florence was considered a stronger singer than Diana Ross, she was slowly pushed aside as the group was rebranded around Ross. She left the group soon after, endured poverty and failure, and died right as she was finally staging a comeback years later. Diana Ross attended her funeral in full "Mahogany" splendor, fake-sobbing and being carried up the aisle by two enormous bodyguards.

They left out this sad ending when they turned The Supremes' story into "Dreamgirls."

So does this prove Diana Ross' enduring reputation of cuntery? Was it her fault Florence was pushed out? Did she fuck her way to the top of the charts? How does her homosexual fanbase feel about it all?

I would say that a good part of the blame belongs to Berry Gordy. Diana wouldn't have become the star of the group if Berry wasn't down with that.

[quote]They left out this sad ending when they turned The Supremes' story into "Dreamgirls."

The character of Effie White was originally intended to die at the end of Act One - a sad demise like the Florence Ballard story. However, when Jennifer Holliday – who was playing the role – quit the project because she was upset her character died, playwright Tom Eyen and composer Henry Krieger rewrote the story.

R2 Kinda takes the punch out of the story, doesn't it?

I thought 'Effie' was written for recent Tony-winner Nell Carter, who left the project to do GIMME A BREAK!

While Flo had the better voice, Berry was going for a lighter sound. There were already black women who had a heavy “gospel/blues” sound. Diana had that very light, breezy sound and it made for a different type of music.

I think Diana was only interested in Diana. She wasn’t invested in seeing Flo fail, she was thinking about what she herself needed to do to climb the ladder of success.

I’m sure it was difficult on Flo because what other record company was going to hire a black singer that had failed at Motown?

Much of the blame lies with Berry. Mary had detailed how they were cheated out of money they should have earned. Berry could have been a bit more generous to Flo since The Supremes were one of the Crown Jewels of Motown.

It would have been interesting if Flo had been able to hold it together to see if she could have made a career out of being a “historian” of The Supremes, much like Michelle Phillips did with the Mamas & Papas. Flo could have made bank appearing on talk shows with the 1980s rise of MTV and VH1.

And I’m one who is glad the creators of Dreamgirls came to their senses and included the resurrection of Effie in Act 2. The dynamic between Effie and Deena when they meet in Act 2 is inspired. It’s too bad it was messed up in the movie. When Deena finds out Effie has a baby and she does the math, it really pushes Act 2 forward.