USA: MOTOWN DIVA DIANA ROSS IS HITTING THE ROAD ON A U.S. TOUR WITH NEW MEMBERS OF THE SUPREMES

Record ID: 344573

  • Title: USA: MOTOWN DIVA DIANA ROSS IS HITTING THE ROAD ON A U.S. TOUR WITH NEW MEMBERS OF THE SUPREMES
  • Date: 13th April 2000
  • Summary: (REUTERS) SLV/MV ROSS WITH LYNDA LAURENCE AND SCHERRIE PAYNE WALKING ALONG CARPET SLV LARGE TELEVISION MONITOR SHOWING ROSS ARRIVING MV ROSS AND SUPREMES GETTING ON STAGE (2 SHOTS) CU CAMERA/SCU PHOTO OP OF ROSS AND THE SUPREMES (2 SHOTS) SCU PHOTOGRAPHERS TAKING PICTURES MV ROSS AND SUPREMES ON STAGE
  • Embargoed: 28th April 2000 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Entertainment
  • Reuters ID: LVA5YZ8VHI0M4F8BF5Z500F7OGVB
  • Story Text: Motown diva Diana Ross is hitting the road, announcing a new US tour with two other former members of The Supremes, although the other original members of the trio famous for 1960's hits like 'Baby Love' and 'Where Did Our Love Go' will not be going along.Ross, who left the group in 1970, faced questions at a New York presser about how a tour of Diana Ross and the Supremes could take place without Mary Wilson, a founding member, or Cindy Birdsong, who replaced Florence Ballard in 1967 at the height of the group's success.
    Diana Ross and The Supremes are going back on tour.But it won't be the original Supremes.
    The announcement was made at New York's Grand Central Station that 'The Return To Love' tour will take place without Mary Wilson, founding member, and Cindy Birdson, who replace Florence Ballard in 1967 at the height of the group's success.
    Lynda Laurence replaced Birdsong in 1971, while Scherrie Payne stepped in to fill the shoes of Jean Terrell, Ross' replacement, in 1973.
    "We're going to do full numbers of songs.And we're going to play around a lot.We're going to play with the audience.And I just think its going to be great.I wanted to have a list of the songs, Back in My Arms Again, Love Is Here And Now You're Gone, Itching In My Heart, Love Child, Baby Love, Stop In The Name of Love, Where Did Our Love Go, Can't Hurry Love, The Happening, just a few songs." Ross said.
    Promoters have in fact been careful to avoid the word "reunion" in either the tour's official name, "Diana Ross and the Supremes' Return to Love" tour, or its promotional material.Laurence and Payne are referred to as "former ladies of the Supremes."
    Not that a serious attempt hadn't been made to sign Wilson for the tour.Promoters negotiated with her for several weeks, but in the end no deal was struck.
    "Well Mary Wilson worked as Mary Wilson and The Supremes for years.And she didn't have a problem.I'm just reclaiming my legacy, what can I say.Those are my voices on those songs, everyone of those songs I listed to you - that's me singing.
    So I look forward to singing all those songs again" Ross said in an interview with Reuters Television.
    "I'm just reclaiming my legacy, what can I say? That's my voice on those songs, that's me singing, and I'm looking forward to singing them again," said Ross, who also has her own production company and has acted in films sporadically, including an Oscar-nominated turn as singer Billie Holiday in "Lady Sings the Blues" (1972).
    While Ross has always included Supremes songs in her solo act throughout the years, she said she has not performed them in their entirety in 30 years and "realized that I had to learn the songs all over again."
    The Supremes had six No.1 hit singles in 1964-65 alone, including "Come See About Me," "Stop! In the Name of Love,"
    "Back in My Arms Again" and "I Hear a Symphony," along with their first hits "Where Did Our Love Go" and "Baby Love.
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