Mary Wilson is now on Cameo

Wow...

Poor thing can't even get the gigs on the cruise ships anymore. I give her credit though... She's hustling for the money.

Stacey Dash does this for $50/pop

The only thing I’d buy from her is her panties circa 1969 if they had some fresh Tom Jones DNA left in them.

Poor dear must be needing the cash since she can’t tour constantly like she usually does.

This makes me sad.

She’s so cute. And she looks amazing!

That wig, tho

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

I want this.

WHO?

Apropos of nothing:

Mary looks great in this video and is really enjoying dancing. Jean Terrell has a great voice. Stoned Love.

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

Even if she were driving Uber, I never fault anyone for working for their living.

R11 EXACTLY. I hate that mentality that you should be shamed for WORKING “lower” jobs

She wouldn't have to be doing any of this if she didn't make such foolish business decisions.

I decided to Google. Diana's network is $250 million. Mary's is $8 million.

Mary isn’t poor folks. She has money. She is someone who seems to love to work though.

I met her as a kid. She’s a lovely woman.

if Mary swallowed her pride for The Supremes reunion she could have raised her profile considerably and it could have led to other Supremes tours. The Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, The Rolling Stones, all ‘oldies’ and all made mountains of money on their tours even as senior citizens. Her pride cost her, in the end. Diane has said the ship has sailed and there won’t be any more offers.

Marry Wilson is my friend 💋💄👜💍🤪🐈

Fleet wood Mac is beloved by today’s young adults

"Mary isn’t poor folks. She has money. She is someone who seems to love to work though."

8M in the bank would be plenty for most of us ordinary people. But Miss Wilson travels first class or she don't travel at all, and that first class shit costs $$$$$$.

The black blond at R18 is Claudette Robinson, original member of the Miracles, and Smokie's first wife. She's 78!

Diana is 76!

Some people can easily retire but don’t want to. I know a man named Jose in his 70s still working. He doesn’t need to.

[quote]She wouldn't have to be doing any of this if she didn't make such foolish business decisions. if Mary swallowed her pride for The Supremes reunion she could have raised her profile considerably and it could have led to other Supremes tours.

And, would have been $5M richer free and clear.

What a dumb ass....

[quote]"Mary isn’t poor folks. She has money. She is someone who seems to love to work though."

Maybe. But, Mary HAS to work because aside from loving fame and the limelight she LOVES to spend! Also, she supports like 20 something grandchildren in addition to her two children.

I’m pretty sure $8 million is enough to support people unless you’re buying them $500k a month worth of shit

Mary even said on DWTS she had grandchildren to support.

Has her daughter, Turducken, commented?

They should call it Brokeo. She's been working steady for 60 years- where did all the money go? Sounds like she can't retire.

I'll say it again: Party City is not a good place to get yo' wigs.

She downsized a few years ago, there was a Tasteful Friends post of her gated community home when it was put up for sale.

She supports 10 grandchildren.

She’s should sell her story to Netflix for a new series. I’d watch it, but I’m not sure who I would cast. Ryan Murphy could produce.

Ryan Murphy wouldn’t touch it for fear of offending Diane.

"She supports 10 grandchildren"

They'd be in their 20's and 30's- why do they need supported?

[quote]They'd be in their 20's and 30's- why do they need supported?

Because grandma/mom is rich and she did not rear them to be independent.

maybe she feels obligated to take care of them because her son was killed

Mary drinks too much and she is a nice lady. She played victim for too long. She is not very focused. Diane likes to knock back the booze, too. Her episodes with TSA at airports are noteworthy. Ross is growing old much more gracefully. Mary has really never recovered from the car accident where her son died. Must be difficult. She was driving, I think. Diane went on to be Miss Ross. Mary is still a Supreme. Jean Terrell was not a big fan of hers.

Mary does not deserve to have a thread being mocked by the OP , the fat bald troll .

I'll be damned if I'm supporting grown ass children in my seventies.

[quote]I'll be damned if I'm supporting grown ass children in my seventies.

Keep in mind that she hasn't been or isn't the only one. Gladys Knight, Smokey Robinson, and many more spoiled and ended up supporting their children. The children lived off of the fame of the parent.

"Jean Terrell was not a big fan of hers"

I had no idea there was bad blood between Mary and Jean. Spill, R37.

It’s very common for a millionaire to support their families always or... they start trust funds for them etc.

You may not realize it but that is still supporting your grown ass kids

African American families are usually matriarchies so it’s not surprising that they suck from her teet

R43 because whitey never lives off Daddy’s money? Give me a break.

From the looks of OP's pic, Mary is on Cameo to scrounge up the coin for a wig that wasn't snatched off a mannequin at Sears 40 years ago.

Maybe it's just for pocket money. Going out to eat, having a cocktail and relaxing cash, so she doesn't have to dip into the reserves. But she does look good for her age.

She’s so cute.

People who believe those "Celebrity Net Worth" numbers on the Internet, much less cite them as facts, are idiots.

There's bad blood between Mary and a couple of the girls

Lynda Lawrence didn't have many nice things to say about her either.

Scherrie Payne plays coy, but gets in some shade.

yep, Lynda Lawrence is right. Sometimes business is just business. If Mary let her pride go, she’d have pocketed money AND raised her exposure. They probably still be doing tours because there’s plenty of former Supremes that can rotate in and out. I didn’t know Cindy Birdsong was ailing, that’s unfortunate.

DAMN! Its been TWENTY YEARS since that failed tour????

So, let's assume that Mary took that FREE & CLEAR $5,000,000 back in 2000 and let it sit. In reality that would be impossible for her because Mary LOVES TO SPEND! It would be (in today's dollars) $7,634,402.85

Why didn't she take it? Was Diana gonna make more?

Of course Diana will be paid most plus a percentage of profits. She is THE STAR of them.

It was rumored at the time that Diana was paid between $20-25M. Which I guess is a possibility, but Ross herself said that is not how her money runs. She's paid in percentages and bonuses if certain milestones are reached by the promoters. Mary only heard $20-25M. The promoters offered Mary $3M (Birdsong even less) but Ross went to bat for Mary to get her $5M free & clear. No costs for sets, gowns, arrangements, room & board, and taxes.

Mary claims Diana is lying and was being paid between $25-$30 million PLUS percentage cuts etc.

Thanks for explaining what free & clear meant, because I wasn't sure. I thought maybe it was tax free or something.

As an original member, they should have at least offered Mary 10 million.

[quote]Mary claims Diana is lying and was being paid between $25-$30 million PLUS percentage cuts etc.

Well, SHIT! So what? $5,000,000 FREE & CLEAR is A LOT of money for a few days and a couple of hours of work! C'mon! All she had to do was "ooo, ahhh, and sing a baby, baby," here and there.

[quote]Thanks for explaining what free & clear meant, because I wasn't sure. I thought maybe it was tax free or something.

It was a sense tax free. Diana had negotiated that Mary pay nothing. Not even for her panty hose.

Diane said all Mary had to do was show up, everything else would be taken care of. Cindy Birdsong turned out to be the biggest loser in this as she was offered even less money and aligned herself with Mary and wound up with nothing.

I think, (if I remember correctly) that Cindy was only offered $1M

Cindy was offered $1 million. Rightfully so. She’s not an original and she could barely sing to begin with.

The one thing I think we don’t account for is that Cameo takes a smaller cut than a manager would. Less money, but less trouble, than an in person appearance with might not require a 10 or 20 percent cut to the manager and agents while also allowing for a revenue stream during a time in which few large crowds are allowed.

Even Snoop Dogg is doing Cameo now, so it’s not just B and C listers.

There are actual stars on Cameo now during this Pandemic

She's not doing Patreon. Cameo is like social media or the convention circuit.

People who shit on the toxic fandom of today's stars like Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande, should take a look at how the eldergay Supremes fans act online. Holy shit, the sheer bitchiness of the whole Diana vs. Mary vs. Flo drama...you'd think it was still 1967 (not talking so much about this thread, just what I've seen in comment sections and message boards over the years).

Having said that, that whole Return to Love fiasco was some delicious diva drama, with plenty to criticize on both sides. Super disrespectful of Diana to insist that Mary have zero creative input, and super stupid of Mary to wait until the deadline passed to accept the offer. And super stupid of Diana to go ahead with it anyway, and super cunty and thirsty of Mary to then go whining to the press, when she could and should have just wished her well and laughed as it all went to shit. And all to watch 3 over-the-hill 60-somethings sing a bunch of lightweight, teenybopper tunes pining for the boy who got away. Seriously.

[quote]Holy shit, the sheer bitchiness of the whole Diana vs. Mary vs. Flo drama...you'd think it was still 1967 (not talking so much about this thread, just what I've seen in comment sections and message boards over the years).

Right? And, here these women are ripe for the grave now...

I hate to read that Diana is only where she is because of Berry Gordy and these people never give her her rightful props. HECK! It's been over 50 years and Ross is still a BIG and top draw. Just maybe... just a shot in the dark... but, maybe she is talented?

Geez! How powerful do people think her pussy is???

Berry Gordy isn’t what gave them many number ones. Diana and her voice did. When the other girls sang they flopped. Once Diana was made permanent lead, they shot to the top of mainstream pop stations and white people ran and bought their albums and singles.

That wouldn’t have happened with Mary or Flo as lead, where their voices sounded too “black” for white audiences

I don't think Mary thinks she is worth as much as Diana, but since the show was "The Supremes," she figured she had leverage over Ross to get equal money.

She was wrong. And got nothing.

I hope she doesn't play poker.

[quote]Berry Gordy isn’t what gave them many number ones. Diana and her voice did. When the other girls sang they flopped. Once Diana was made permanent lead, they shot to the top of mainstream pop stations and white people ran and bought their albums and singles.

That's only part of it. Even with Ross as the lead singer, they didn't have hits until Holland-Dozier-Holland started giving them great songs.

R69 they began having massive hits by 1962. Didn’t take long.

Which Dreamgirl is Mary?

R71 you really don’t know....

The husbear better arrange for a Mary birthday wish with a little Baby Love or there will be hell to pay in this house.

[quote]I don't think Mary thinks she is worth as much as Diana,

OH! YES, SHE SIS DID! At least at one time she did.

Mary believed that she deserved every accolade and every level of respect that Diana got and that even included appearing on Oprah! Mary was never a realist about her talent. Yes, she can hold a tune--barely, but she could never accept her limitations of being just a good back up singer. Oh, yes.... there were issues with all if the later Supremes because they were not a group but employees of Mary Wilson and her husband. The other girls can sing while Mary isn't even on their levels. Just consider the success of the "Former Ladies of the Supremes"

Mary could have chosen better song material that was suited to her voice (she's pretty good at jazz and singing the torch songs), improved her acting, etc. But, Mary always wanted the same level of fame and MONEY that Diane had simply because she was an original Supreme. While everyone wanted (wants) to be Diana Ross, Mary is not.

Probably her only real legitimate success and origination was the curation of the Supremes' stage clothing. There has even been a successful selling book of that collection. Mary's other books are successful because if who? Her nemesis, Diana Ross. No one cares two shits about Mary. People wanted to know about Diana Ross.

Here are two more questions

1) Can Diana Ross sing? Or is she just a good front person and was more marketable to a crossover audience?

2) Why do some of you refer to her as Diane and not Diana? Is it some in joke?

I'm really loving this thread.

[quote]1) Can Diana Ross sing? Or is she just a good front person and was more marketable to a crossover audience?

YES! Ross can sing! But, it's how one defines that. Now, many in the Black community feel that Ross can't sing and these are usually the ones that keep harping on that she reached her success because she fucked Berry Gordy and killed poor Flo. Also, they're usually the ones that go crazy over that thing with the wild hairdos, who has convulsions when she sings, rolls around all over the floor, and kicks her shoes off. "Now! That's sangin'" No one even knows who that bitch is except the chitlin' circuit and the gays...

Being a fan of Ross pretty much all of my life it wasn't until the clip in the link that I really realized that this gal can really sing! Her grand daddy was a Baptist Minister and so she is well acquainted with how a song is sang in the church! Ross works from that base.

The thing with Ross is that she has an image--which is probably her essence. That's one of class, glamour, and elegance. She doesn't stray far from that image. Her other vocal prowess is shown on the album "The Boss" where Nick & Val (Nick Ashford & Valerie Simpson) pushed her to hit notes that NO ONE ever thought Ross capable of.

[quote]2) Why do some of you refer to her as Diane and not Diana? Is it some in joke?

In a way yes. The story is that her parents named her DIANE ERNESTINE ROSS but the hospital made a mistake on her birth certificate and wrote DIANA. She was always known as Diane but as she became famous and noticed she started using Diana. So, people make the joke that Diane is the real person. (now, used derisively) and Diana is the bitch.

Her birth name is Diane. She used it all her life until The Supremes.

R65, Mary wasn't the one waiting until the deadline. Mary was overseas on tour, so her manager Richard was negotiating with Diana's lawyers on behalf of Mary and Cindy Birdsong. When Diana's team upped the offer to $4 million for Mary and $1 million for Cindy, Cindy took her time to respond. Cindy even said in an interview "I was excited about it but I waited too long. Diana had a certain time period and she got annoyed because (the money haggling) was stopping the tour."

R75, The girls, Mary, Florence, and Betty all knew Diana from school and the projects as Diane. She was always Diane. Then one day she announced to the press, "Call me Diana, it's my real name," and Mary and Flo were like "Huh? What?" Mary continues to call her "Diane," so whenever someone on DL mimics Mary Wilson, they always use "Diane."

[quote]Mary was overseas on tour, so her manager Richard was negotiating with Diana's lawyers on behalf of Mary and Cindy Birdsong.

Bull shit. Mary was probably in the other room listening in on the call on another phone.

Diana can sing and her vocals are very beautiful on certain songs, like Someday We’ll Be Together

wow R76, that’s the blackest i’ve ever seen her sing. That’s a revelation, thanks for posting that. She really could sing.

People love to bitch about Diana being made lead because they feel she only got it because she slept with the boss and they blame her for Flo’s demise. In reality, they wanted a group that could crossover from the “black” stations onto the mainstream pop stations so they can sell to white people because that is where the money was. The only singles that did that were ones where Diana sang lead.

They also had sound tests (or whatever they are called) where White people would hear songs where each one sang a solo verse or verses and Diana was the only one who white people ever liked.

Say what you will about Diana and her not being a belter or having a large voice, that is why whites connected with her voice and vocals and adored her.

Anyone who thinks Mary and Flo’s very R&B sounding voices would have brought them to mainstream white Americans in the 1960s are lying to themselves.

"Mary continues to call her "Diane,"

So does Martha Reeves, one-time rival of Ms. Ross at Motown.

[post redacted because independent.co.uk thinks that links to their ridiculous rag are a bad thing. Somebody might want to tell them how the internet works. Or not. We don't really care. They do suck though. Our advice is that you should not click on the link and whatever you do, don't read their truly terrible articles.]

We're good. Really.

“Can Diana Ross sing? Or is she just a good front person and was more marketable to a crossover audience?”

She was more than a front person. She sang the lead on 18 Number One songs—6 of those were as a solo artist. Only Whitney, Rihanna, Janet and Mariah hit those heights among black female artists. Surprised to see that Aretha, Gladys, Dionne had 2 #1 songs each.

This is one of my favorite songs Diana Ross performed that shows off her voice.

R88 that was absolutely beautiful!!!

I hate that Mariah is a “black” artist. Outside of the states she isn’t considered black. Only in America.

[quote]People love to bitch about Diana...

Because they are jealous. She's an international superstar and RICH! I'm pretty sure that she is worth more than $250M now. Ross is shrewd with her money BUT she's a spender too. That was one of the reasons for her divorce from her second husband. Anyway... many of these Motown artists wanted the position of Ross but were unwilling to do what was necessary to get it. That definitely includes Mary.

These people all want to sing and go to the park and have a barbecue. Ross really doesn't want to be around these folks. They've had their time and she's moved on. Oddly enough, Mary actually charted with her last record (which was eons ago) and you know what the title was? "Time To Move On"

MMPH... just look at this mess here...

Now, look how it's done right!

Diana and Beyonce are the exact same person. I wonder if they are friends. Who is the Mary Wilson of Destiny's Child? LaTavia?

Kelly would be the Mary. She’s the only original who was there until the end

^^^ Kelly

It’s funny you say Diana and Beyoncé are the same person, because Beyoncé played a version of Diana in Dreamgirls.

Funny.

Everything comes full circle.

The three original Supremes at the beginning were roughly equal in terms of their singing. Diana was picked as the sole lead singer because her voice was the one that was best suited for the material they were given. It was high-pitched, a little thin, and a little nasal, but it worked. I read somewhere once that it was the perfect voice to pierce through the lo-fi AM transistor radios that most people listened to music on at the time. And as they made more demands on her, she continually got better, as you can hear. By the time she got to her solo career, she really knew how to put a song across, especially a ballad.

Unfortunately, Flo and Mary weren't allowed the same opportunity to improve. I'm not saying Berry Gordy made the wrong decision, obviously it was the right choice. But as singers, they stagnated, and when they finally got their time to shine, it showed.

I'd always read that Flo was the REAL "sanger" in the Supremes. But when I actually heard her sing, I was a bit underwhelmed. She definitely had the power and the range, but there was something off-putting and harsh about her tone. Now, I'm not saying she was a bad singer...she was just undercooked. She needed to learn how to properly sing lead. On a couple of her obscure solo recordings, she sounds best when she's holding back and not belting.

Mary, on the other hand, has none of the power or range of Flo, but her tone is warm and velvety. Yet she seems to lack any sort of elasticity in her singing. On some of the ballads she sang lead on in the 70's Supremes later years, she sounds lovely. But her one solo album on Motown is hot garbage. The kind of album you listen to once, say to yourself "well, that's a shame", and put away at the back of your collection, never to be heard again. Instantly forgettable, formulaic disco, not well suited to her voice, and not sung particularly well. It's sad when you compare the shitty material she was given to the top-notch Ashford & Simpson compositions Diana got to record on her outstanding "The Boss" album that same year. Like with Flo, there was talent there that needed to be developed, but was left neglected. And that's nobody's fault; it's just the way history played out. I mean, in hindsight, Berry could have allowed Mary and Flo to sing lead on more of the album tracks and B-sides, so more people would be familiar with their voices and they would get more practice and confidence. But the man had an empire to run, and in the end, his job was to create hits for his acts, not to coddle those two bitches.

I'm not a Diana devotee, or a Mary stan, or a Flo fan...I have no dog in this hunt. I like the Supremes, and I think when the 3 of them were together onstage at their peak, they were fantastic, but they're nowhere near my favorite group. In fact, as music to sit and listen to, I think I prefer the 70's Supremes and Diana's solo stuff to the 60's Diana-Mary-Flo heyday.

Again, Flo and Mary’s voices were too “black” for that time. Diana had a voice that was thin, but good for pop music, like most white pop artists of that time

I don't see anything degrading about doing Cameo. Hardly any show biz stars are working and there's nothing coming up for them. There are no autograph conventions being held either.

Bills pile up.

What I imagine most of them do is to gather all the requests, then for two hours, do all of the shout-outs.

I have no idea how many requests they would get, but let's say there are 20 a week and each takes 5 minutes.

Mari is charging $80, so that's $1600 (minus probably a 25% Cameo fee), so $1200 for 2 hours of work.

I wish I could do that in my spare time. Plus it's a huge ego stroke for these celebs.

R88 She was awful! I couldn't even hear her,

R98 here - so I looked up some articles to see how much some stars make. The only one I can find is for Gilbert Gottfried.

He makes 6 figures a month. Here's a quote from last year:

‘Well, I worked about 30 minutes today, talking into a phone, made $4,500, and now I’m exhausted and need to take a nap.’” He charges $150 a pop.

Gilbert fricking Gottfried makes almost $5,000 a day doing this! Good for them!

[quote] I like the Supremes, and I think when the 3 of them were together onstage at their peak

The Supremes were polished. The image of them were of dainty ladies that made dainty little dance moves which were sexy. Black women had never been portrayed like that.

[quote][R88] She was awful! I couldn't even hear her,

I'm not R88, but here ya go. It's become one of her signature songs but she rarely sings it. When she does the audience always are ecstatic.

For anyone who may have never seen footage of the 'premes in their heyday

It's hard to remember now, but Diana was easily rivaling Streisand at her peak, which is where I think a lot of the animosity from her peers really stems from. LSTB put her on the map in movies, it got her an oscar nomination and she was one of the top ten moneymaking stars of the year. Her concerts were events on par with Judy Garland at her peak. She went to Broadway and broke house records with a Tony winning show. She did several highly rated TV specials. As talented as her peers were, they weren't getting the opportunities she was getting. Where it should have been the industries fault for not allowing more black women those opportunities, somehow it became Diana's fault. Thus the takedown in the 80's.

Interestingly, Aretha, who has had the most beef with her fellow female peers always sang Diana's praises. She went to Diana's shows and even to her Kennedy Center Honors, where she could be seen joining in the standing ovation to Ms. Ross.

That's Miss Ross to you. And don't you dare look me in the eye. I will have you fired, and you'll never work in another grocery store again, understand?

[quote]It's hard to remember now, but Diana was easily rivaling Streisand at her peak

The reason it's hard to remember is that it never happened.

I agree with you, R106. Barry and Diana desperately wanted to rival Streisand, but it never actually happened.

[quote]LSTB put her on the map in movies, it got her an oscar nomination and she was one of the top ten moneymaking stars of the year. Her concerts were events on par with Judy Garland at her peak. She went to Broadway and broke house records with a Tony winning show. She did several highly rated TV specials.

But, so did Ross. I vividly recall that Diana Ross at Radio City Music Hall in October was one of the season's events. Anyone who was anybody was there on on of the 3 nights. Ross won a Tony for her show there too. Also, Ross has several highly rated TV specials under her belt. She may have done more TV specials than Streisand.

The ticket stub sells on EBAY

someone can win a Tony for a Radio City Music Hall performance? How come???

I don't want to open up a can of worms here, but are those saying that Streisand is bigger that Diana just saying it because this is a gay board? Career for career, I would say that Diana and Streisand are on the same level... but I am not married to that opinion. I'm willing to be proven wrong.

Streisand was one of the biggest box office stars and multi-million dollar selling recording artists in the 1970s. Diana was a big star, as well, but not in the same magnitude as Barbra.

For all intents and purposes, R111, Miss Ross' recording career ended circa 1985, and her movie career ended with "The Wiz" circa 1980. She only performs in smaller venues and casinos now, her last arena tour 20 years ago being cancelled mid-stream because of lousy ticket sales. Her TV and stage appearances are few, if any.

Meanwhile, in that same time frame, 1980-present, la Streisand's recording, movie and performance career have continued to flourish (she's made a hell of a lot more movies in that time span than Ross, good, bad or indifferent). Streisand's most recent arena tour sold out all dates within minutes.

Their careers might have been neck and neck in the 1970's, but in the final stretch, Streisand pulled through and won.

R111 It was Diana Ross who wanted to be Barbra Streisand, never the other way around.

[quote]Their careers might have been neck and neck in the 1970's, but in the final stretch, Streisand pulled through and won.

I don't think that it's a fair comparison. First of all, I'm one of those that truly believe that Streisand and Cher both should be brought up on fraud charges. Both of them have been doing "Farewell" tours for the last 20 years. Streisand especially, because she ran that fraud and charged OUTRAGEOUS prices for those concerts.

The Ross film career hasn't developed more because she simply doesn't do them. It is not as if she's not in demand. She still receives a number of offers. Ross likes to perform on stage whereas Streisand really doesn't like to as much.

Regardless of the name of their tours or your opinion of them, R115, people spend big bucks to park their butts in arena seats where Cher and Streisand do their upteenth farewell tour. When people stop paying to see them in 20K seat venues, they'll stop performing in them. It's quite simple: supply and demand.

Ross was responsible for the death of her own movie career. Her behavior during her campaign for the role of Dorothy in The Wiz turned off a lot of people in Hollywood. Hell, even Barry thought it was way over the top. And the idea that a 35 year old women could play a teenager was laughable. Then, to top it off, the entire movie sucked wad and was critically panned. She didn't chose to end her movie career, Hollywood decided she was unbankable and that was the kiss of death.

I remember in 1994, Barbra was scheduled to perform at Madison Square Garden. I was working in the entertainment industry and my boss received a call from his sister in Long Island, asking him to pull some strings and get her tickets for her, her husband, and their friends. When all was said and done, I ended up placing the order for Streisand tickets for a total of $10,000, charged to boss sister's Mastercard. I thought, "WHY??? This money can be better spent elsewhere."

So, I'm going to throw this out there and say, Barbra seems to have fans that can readily or willingly drop $1,000 on a concert ticket, whereas Diana's fans perhaps are much more inclined to be frugal. Take that however you wish, but it could explain why Barbra's historical sales figures are so high.

Well... if it's billed as "goodbye;" "you'll never see me again;" etc of course one would spend that type of money because it is an historic event--regardless how I fell about Streisand. But, it was a sham. Streisand hasn't gone anywhere.

If only Miss Warwick was on Cameo!

[quote]She didn't chose to end her movie career, Hollywood decided she was unbankable and that was the kiss of death.

That really isn't true. Regardless of what you may think of Ross and her film career she still gets offers. In fact, I'm willing to bet that she has an easier time getting some type of acting role rather than a recording contract at this stage.

[quote]If only Miss Warwick was on Cameo!

HA! Does she know about it? I'm sure she would jump on it!

Weed is not an acceptable form of payment on Cameo. Otherwise Miss Warwick would have been there a long damn time ago.

Barbra's last truly great album was The Broadway Album. Since then, her work has largely been forgettable MOR mush. Her ticket prices are also outrageous. Her voice is a shell of its former self yet still has the brass balls to charge thousands of dollars so people can listen to her hoarse renditions of classics.

The reason Babs was able to do more movies was because she didn't perform for many years. Diana alternated between movies, TV specials and live shows. Thus she developed the reputation of being one of the best live acts in the business. Her Caesars palace show has been cited as an inspiration for many female artists. Barbra could never do what Diana did in that show. By the time Streisand decided to start performing live again, her voice was on the decline.

This thread is supposed to be about me. Not Diane. Not Barbra. And certainly not Dionne. ME. Mary Wilson, Original Supreme.

Touch.

^^^^

Personally, I regard Babs Striesand in the same vein as Patti LaBelle - always so, so, so. SO FUCKING PREDICTABLE! Here we go - building to that crescendo again - here it comes, damn it - same shit different song! I'm like "For fuck's sake Barbra! Gimme somethin' different for a change!"

R117 Part of the reason that Streisand was able to command such high prices in 1994 was that she literally had never toured, and had hardly ever appeared in concert at all. (She was also coming off a #1 album, "Back to Broadway", which helped)/

Her only other prior tour was in 1966, and she only did 4 shows before cancelling the rest of the dates, because she was pregnant.

During all the years when she was at the height of her career as a recording artist...from "Stoney End" and "The Way We Were" and "A Star is Born" and "You Don't Bring Me Flowers", to "Guilty" and "The Broadway Album"...an average fan could not see her in concert for any amount of money.

So when she finally toured in '93-'94, it was a huge deal, and nobody knew if it would ever happen again.

Diana Ross, on the other hand, has toured consistently throughout her entire career. If you miss her one year, you know she'll be back in a few years, if not sooner, so it isn't an "event".

I concur. Streisand never possessed the love stage performance ability of Diana Ross. This is where Ross outshines her. Streisand going out into the audience and singing with them for 10 - 20 minutes? Forget it! She'd rather song into a black Mic first!

Diana really likes that tour $$$$$. That's probably why she's always touring. She's been to my city twice in the last 4-5 years, so if you miss her you'll have another chance to see her in your city again soon.

And her shows are always jam packed with white people. They know they live Diana Ross in concert. Black people too, but whites are there like "gang busters" faithfully every time she's in town, LOL.

I don't blame her, get out there do those shows and collect those checks. Her family is better off for it.

Fuck Streisand. Fuck her right in the ass.

I think white audiences like Diana because they like the huge dresses and furs and the glamour. They don’t want to be hit over the head with urban hip hop culture, so they avoid Beyoncé and Rihanna.

true

White people have always liked Diana, hence her fame, career and status. This isn’t new news.

^^ You mean as in she had universal appeal, which is not the same thing you rancid shit-stirring troll.

All I know is that it's a big problem when she ain't been licked!

I don’t like holding hands with strangers so I think I’d have to leave the room during the “Reach Out and Touch” number. I don’t even want to join hands with people in my 12-step group, or shake hands in church. Fuck that.

Back to Mary Wilson, this thread got me thinking about a couple of things I remember reading in her books.

I remember she said that she found out, after she'd already fallen in love with him, that her husband-to-be, Pedro, had had one or more prior affairs with female celebrities. Does anybody know who? When she talked about meeting him, it seemed like he'd deliberately targeted her, like a male groupie.

And there was a section where she was talking about how she was deciding whether or not to marry him, and it always seemed really odd to me. She was quoting from her journals at the time, about the things she liked about him, and one of the things she said was "he has a large Afro". I mean, I know big Afros were a thing in the early 70's, but she was really talking about his dick, right? Like, in her journal at the time, she was talking about his big dick, but when she was quoting herself for the book, she didn't want to look like some slutty size queen, and just substituted the first thing that popped into her head, which was "Afro". Am I right? It seemed like such a weird thing to say.

And finally, she talked a little bit about her younger brother, Roosevelt, who went to the Vietnam war and apparently came back troubled. She alluded to him "briefly reappearing" in her life, but never said anything else about him. Does anybody know whatever happened to him?

[quote]And finally, she talked a little bit about her younger brother, Roosevelt, who went to the Vietnam war and apparently came back troubled. She alluded to him "briefly reappearing" in her life, but never said anything else about him. Does anybody know whatever happened to him?

Another mouth to feed. I actually found a picture for you R136. But, I can't link it here. It shows Mary, Pedro (her son), Turkessa (a porker), and Roosevelt, at Mary's acceptance ceremony for her star (OOPS! Not Mary, LOL!) rather The Supremes star on the Hollywood Blvd Walk of Fame,

Oh, and that image was from 1994, R136

HOLLYWOOD, CA - MARCH 11: Pedro Antonio Jr., Turkessa, Singer Mary Wilson of The Supremes and brother Roosevelt attend Hollywood Walk of Fame Ceremony for The Supremes on March 11, 1994 at 7050 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California. Photo by Barry King/Alamy Stock Photo

Thanks R138. I found the pic. He looks pretty well put together. I always got the feeling that he was one of those troubled Vietnam vets with severe PTSD that hit the skids, so it's nice to see he stayed in touch and wasn't a complete disaster.

Poor Turkessa, she's quite the chonk, isn't she?

Here's a more recent pic of her with the now-enormous Turkessa, her son (whose hairline seems to have completely disappeared, leaving him with a humongous forehead), and her ex husband, Pedro, who seems to have aged fairly well.

Mary should be ashamed of herself naming that child Turkessa.

Well, it's just an Anglicized spelling of "Turquesa", which is Spanish for Turquoise. Turquesa is used as a girl's name in Spanish speaking countries (though it's not a super common name), but in America people would have pronounced it "Terkweeza" or "Turkwessa" if she'd kept the original spelling.

No excuse for "Chudney", though.

Pedro Ferrer had a big afro.

[quote]Mary should be ashamed of herself naming that child Turkessa.

No. She should be ashamed of herself for raising unproductive children. Turkey, Mary’s first born, was born in 1975. Just like her younger siblings, Turkessa has largely kept out of the spotlight. She has 3 children and "writes" for social media and is CEO of Mary Wilson Enterprises! ... She manages Mary's website...

SO! Guess who has the 7 other grandchildren?

Pedro Antonio Jr. Ferrer, 43 While not a lot is known about Mary’s eldest son, we do know that he (along with his other siblings) made a few public appearances with their mom — including attending the Hollywood Walk of Fame Ceremony for The Supremes on March 11, 1994. ...so, guess what that means...

To be fair, I believe she adopted one of her sister's children (or, somebody's child of her family) and there might be grandchildren from that scion.

R142 Yeah, I know he had a big Afro. But would that really be a thing a woman would list as a reason to marry him? I don't feel like digging through all my old books and then trying to find the passage, but in context, when I read it, it just jumped out as really weird. Like, "he's sweet, he's smart, he's passionate, and he has a large Afro."

Nice family picture at R139. I suppose Mary tried to recreate below.

But... let's be nice. Given that outfit Ross is wearing one might think that she's hitting the bottle again....

FYI

Florence Ballard's children

Lots of white folks in Ross' immediate family, eh? Honestly, no shade here - and no surprise. Her eldest daughter, Rhonda, has been married for about twenty years to Rodney Kendrick - he never makes an appearance with the rest of the Ross family. He's extremely pro black, and also very, very intelligent - as is Ross' daughter. Check out his FB page sometime - interesting.

Isn't Rhonda her only child with a black father?

Rodney Kendrick sho’ is ugleeeeeee! Ha HAAAAA!!!!!!

I was wondering who the adorable kid with the blue suit was in the big family pic standing to Berry. I see it's Rhonda's child.

who the little boy with the huge ‘fro?

R151, that little boy is Diana's first-born grandchild, Raif-Henok Emmanuel Kendrick; he speaks and reads English, Chinese, French and Spanish at his age.

R147 I was thinking the same thing. Lots of self hating going on in the ross family. They hate themselves, but black culture is why their all doing so well today.

I'm not surprised,bi tend to stay away from people like them. They only claim blackness when it's beneficial to them.

How are they self hating? Because they’re educated? Because they’re articulate? Because they’re hard working?

I don’t see how they are “self hating”.

Are you insane R153? Except for Rhonda all of Diana's kids are biracial.

[quote]Are you insane [R153]? Except for Rhonda all of Diana's kids are biracial.

That's true. But, keep in mind that Ross's first husband adopted Rhonda as his own child.

But, here's the thing that I would like to point out. Ross reared all of her children to be independent of her success and her money. All of her children have their own careers and made their own money which is unlike so many other progeny of the rich and famous. It's a shame that you have so many children (ex: James Brown) that are still arguing over estates (just paying money to the lawyers) for money which technically isn't their's. Not too many have made their own mark. I recall an interview with Smokey Robinson in reference to his own son; "Maybe I gave him too much."

You don't have to be rich. It comes from parenting. I also remember Ross's mother saying that her goal was raise good and upstanding citizens, Her parents believed in education and there is something to be said that Ross's father was even disappointed in her (when she was already fantastically successful) because she never attended college. Most of the Ross's siblings became successful in their own right, Her older sister was major, MAJOR, doctor.

There's some bad blood among this group. Flo's kids (and maybe it has some merit) feel that they have been cheated. One of her daughters is now on a mission to improve the kids' reputations so that they are not looked upon as "poor Flo's kids" who all ended up on welfare too.

Entertaining thread. I started listening to some of Mary's solo music while reading this thread and I actually really liked it. She has a much better voice than I thought she did and the solo album for Motown really isn't bad at all. It's unfortunate she never made it big as a solo star the way Diana did, but that's just the way the cookie crumbled. She still has a lot to be grateful for: she's an original member of a legendary group, she has a loving family and there are people willing to pay money to see her do what she loves. Kelly Rowland is definitely the Mary Wilson of Destiny's Child. If both she and Michelle Williams had been given more opportunities to hone their craft in DC, they would have had a more confident and successful transition to solo careers. This is why I've always preferred EN VOGUE. Now that is a true ensemble group in which every member got the chance to sing lead, hone her craft and shine. In fact, I believe every member of EN VOGUE sang lead on a hit song. This is how every singing group should be (assuming that every member has genuine talent).

Beyoncé has a natural presence Kelly and Michelle lack. Even when they are given solos they do nothing with it.

They were both given solo verses on almost every song on Destiny’s Child final album and they both would suck when they performed live.