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Kaaren Ragland is the founder of the group The Sounds of The Supremes.
Kaaren Ragland was born in Richmond, Virginia. She attended the Northfield School in Massachusetts, Brown University (BA) and studied acting at Boston University’s School of Fine Arts (MFA) where she also took classes in the Music Department. Ragland's later education included a JD from UCLA. She states that her mother, a well known Virginia educator, always stressed the importance of a well-rounded education.
Ragland appeared in the National Touring production of "Eubie" with Cab Calloway, and in productions of "Little Shop of Horrors" and "Balm in Gilead" in Los Angeles.
In 1977, last original and founding member Mary Wilson decided to disband The Supremes and forge a solo career. Wilson hired Ragland for concert tours in the United Kingdom, Europe, South East Asia and Australia.
Late in 1989, Ragland formed a group called "The Sounds of the Supremes" with whom she has appeared in over 70 countries around the world in both Concert and Charity events. Wilson attempted to prevent her using the name "The Sounds of the Supremes” in a court action in 1996. The lawsuit was filed against Lynda Laurence, Scherrie Payne, Ragland, and Hollis Paysuer, who were using the Supremes name. In 1999, Wilson lost the lawsuit against the group after suing Ragland, Laurence, Payne, and Paysuer for using the Supremes name. [1] [2] [3]
Live At The Highclere Castle (2007)
The Supremes were an American girl group and a premier act of Motown Records during the 1960s. Founded as the Primettes in Detroit, Michigan, in 1959, the Supremes were the most commercially successful of Motown's acts and the most successful American vocal band, with 12 number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100. Most of these hits were written and produced by Motown's main songwriting and production team, Holland–Dozier–Holland. It is said that their breakthrough made it possible for future African-American R&B and soul musicians to find mainstream success. Billboard ranked the Supremes as the 16th greatest Hot 100 artist of all time.
Diana Ross is an American singer and actress. She was the lead singer of the vocal group The Supremes, who became Motown's most successful act during the 1960s and one of the world's best-selling girl groups of all time. They remain the best-charting female group in history, with a total of 12 number-one pop singles on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, including "Where Did Our Love Go," "Baby Love," "Come See About Me," "Stop! In the Name of Love," "You Keep Me Hangin' On," and "Love Child."
Florence Glenda Chapman was an American singer and a founding member of the Motown vocal female group the Supremes. She sang on 16 top 40 singles with the group, including ten number-one hits. After being removed from the Supremes in 1967, Ballard tried an unsuccessful solo career with ABC Records before she was dropped from the label at the end of the decade.
Freda Charcilia Payne is an American singer and actress. Payne is best known for her career in music during the mid-1960s through the mid-1980s. Her most notable record is her 1970 hit single "Band of Gold". Payne was also an actress in musicals and film as well as the host of a TV talk show. Payne is the older sister of Scherrie Payne, a former singer with the American vocal group the Supremes.
Mary Wilson was an American singer. She gained worldwide recognition as a founding member of the Supremes, the most successful Motown act of the 1960s and the best-charting female group in U.S. chart history, as well as one of the best-selling girl groups of all-time. The trio reached number one on Billboard's Hot 100 with 12 of their singles, ten of which feature Wilson on backing vocals.
Scherrie Ann Payne is an American singer. Payne is best known as a member and the final lead singer of the R&B/Soul vocal group the Supremes from 1973 until 1977. Payne is the younger sister of singer Freda Payne. Payne continues to perform, both as a solo act and as a part of the "Former Ladies of the Supremes" (FLOS).
The Funk Brothers were a group of Detroit-based session musicians who performed the backing to most Motown recordings from 1959 until the company moved to Los Angeles in 1972.
Cynthia Ann Birdsong is an American singer who became famous as a member of The Supremes in 1967, when she replaced co-founding member Florence Ballard. Birdsong had previously been a member of Patti LaBelle & The Bluebelles.
Alan Charles Jardine is an American musician who co-founded the Beach Boys. He is best known as the band's rhythm guitarist, background vocalist, and for occasionally singing lead vocals on singles such as "Help Me, Rhonda" (1965), "Then I Kissed Her" (1965), "Cottonfields" (1970), and a cover of the Del-Vikings’ "Come Go with Me" (1981). His song "Lady Lynda" was also a UK top 10 hit for the group in 1978. Other Beach Boys songs that feature Jardine on lead include "I Know There's an Answer" (1966), “Vegetables" (1967), a cover of Buddy Holly’s “Peggy Sue” (1978), and "From There to Back Again" (2012).
Susaye Greene is an American singer and songwriter. She was the last official member to join the Motown girl group The Supremes, remaining in the group during its final year of existence from 1976 to 1977. She is a successful songwriter as well, having written hit records for Michael Jackson, Deniece Williams, and many others.
Velma Jean Terrell is an American R&B and jazz singer. She replaced Diana Ross as the lead singer of The Supremes in 1970.
Lynda Laurence is an American singer. The youngest daughter of Louise and Ira Tucker, a gospel songwriter, producer, and singer, Laurence's siblings are Sundray Tucker and Ira Tucker Jr.
Dreamgirl: My Life as a Supreme is a 1986 autobiography that features the memoirs of Mary Wilson, one of the founding members of Motown singing trio The Supremes. It was a New York Times Best Seller for months, and remains one of the best-selling rock-and-roll autobiographies of all time. The title of the book is a reference to Dreamgirls, a 1981 Broadway musical loosely based on the lives and careers of the Supremes. Dreamgirl covers the Diana Ross-led years of the group. In 1990 Wilson penned a follow-up entitled Supreme Faith: Someday We'll Be Together that covers Wilson's life since 1970. Both books and a new afterword were included in a combined volume titled Dreamgirl & Supreme Faith: My Life as a Supreme in 2000.
Dreamgirls is a Broadway musical, with music by Henry Krieger and lyrics and book by Tom Eyen. Based on the show business aspirations and successes of R&B acts such as The Shirelles, James Brown, Jackie Wilson, and others, but closely follows the story of The Supremes as the musical follows the story of a young Black female singing trio from Chicago, Illinois called "The Dreams", who become music superstars.
Former Ladies of the Supremes, or FLOS, is a female vocal group that was originally formed in 1986 by former Supremes members Jean Terrell, Cindy Birdsong and Scherrie Payne. It has also included former members Lynda Laurence and Susaye Greene. Though they were not Supremes members, singers Sundray Tucker, Freddi Poole and Joyce Vincent have also sung with the group following the departure of Terrell.
High Energy is the twenty-eighth studio album by American girl group the Supremes, released in 1976 on the Motown label. The album is the first to feature Susaye Greene; former member of Stevie Wonder's Wonderlove; and is notable for featuring the last Billboard Hot 100 Top 40 pop hit for the group, "I'm Gonna Let My Heart Do the Walking". Of their 1970s releases, High Energy is the second-highest charting album on the US Billboard 200, the first being Right On (1970). In Canada, High Energy is the highest-charting Supremes album since TCB (1968).
Joyce Vincent Wilson is an American singer, best known as part of the group Tony Orlando and Dawn.
On June 12, 1977, The Supremes performed their final concert together at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London, England.
"Bad Weather" is a song recorded and released as a single by Motown vocal group The Supremes in 1973. It was composed by Stevie Wonder and Lynda Laurence's brother Ira Tucker Jr., and produced by Wonder. The song was Jean Terrell's last charted single as lead singer of the Supremes and the second and last time Laurence was featured on a Supremes single.
The Return to Love Tour was a 2000 concert tour by American singing group Diana Ross and the Supremes.
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