Diana Ross & The (Faux) Supremes "Return to Love" Tour (2000)

I like Diana Ross but that was a cunt move. She needed to magnanimous and offer the same salaries to the two supremes.

I remember how badly it was rolled out. Idk why they couldn't just create a more equitable deal to get Wilson and Birdsong on board and everyone would've made a ton of money. Greed is just so stupid.

R1 Agree - but we all know Ross believed she was 'the star' and Wilson and Birdsong were nothing. It's all about ego.

R2 Again, I think it's more EGO than Greed. It would have been quite an ordeal managing three big egos on a tour, no matter how much they were all paid.

If she'd asked, I would have loaned her a couple of Pips.

I'd have done it for some food stamps and a half a pound of government cheese

This could have been a huge, huge money maker for all three of them, as well as promoters, if it had been handled correctly.

I envisioned an opening act of new Supreme (post Diana Ross) songs). i.e Stoned Love, Up the Ladder to the Roof, Floy Joy. Act II Diana Ross solo and her solo hits; than as a huge finale, Diana and the Supremes reunited to do their classic1960s hits, leading off with Someday *(We'll Be Together).

[quote]As a matter of fact, Cindy Birdsong and Mary Wilson were so insulted by the final offer from Fogel ($4M for Wilson, $2M for Birdsong while Ross was reportedly offered $15M), they dropped out a few months before the tour was to start.

They weren't insulted by the final offer. They were insulted by the initial offer ($1 million for Mary, and even less for Cindy). When they finally accepted the final offer of $4 million (including $2 million from Diana's personal acct), and $1 million respectively, TNA/SFX went to clear it with Diana, and reported back that "the train has left the station."

[quote]but we all know Ross believed she was 'the star' and Wilson and Birdsong were nothing.

What do you mean believed? Mary Wilson didn't sing lead on one Supremes song during their 60's hitmaking heyday. She had 0 hits and 0 charting albums as a solo artist since leaving the Supremes in 1977. Her one claim to fame was writing a book about Diana Ross. On what planet did people think she should have been paid 4 million dollars for a tour?

All of the members of The Beatles by contrast had hit solo albums with hit songs that charted in the Top 40.

Cindy actually wanted to take the offer, but Mary didn't tell them that while she was fighting for a bigger piece of the pie for HERSELF.

As Tony Turner said, there were two bitches in The Supremes.

And the other two women were Supremes. For Mary Wilson to call them faux Supremes was disingenuous, especially since she worked with them during the Ross-less years. She basically dismissed the post Ross years where she was the frontwoman of the group.

Don't forget and always remember that the group singing on "Someday, We'll Be Together" was actually just Miss Diane and some studio singers backing her up. Not a Supreme in sight.

Miss Diane would not have been happy sharing the stage with Jean Terrell and hearing the audience give Jean an ovation for her vocals on "Up The Ladder To the Roof."

Diana should’ve just toured herself at smaller venues and not brought any of the other former Supremes into it. What did she honestly think Mary’s and Cindy’s reaction would be to be so lowballed? I’ve never heard Cindy accepted the offer, and we all know Diana did all the singing, but the disparity in money is insulting.

If I were Mary or Cindy, I would have swallowed my pride and just taken the offer. I doubt they were getting similar offers on their own, and if the tour ended up being gangbusters, who knows what could have happened for them after that.

R13 according to the other poster, Cindy accepted the offer. I guess she really needed the money. But I think the entire thing with Mary was she knew it was going to be less, but that much LESS than Diana was getting?! Between Live Nation and Diana they could’ve easily paid the two more, considering how people felt about the three of them during their heyday. Plus, even with the three, it’s doubtful they could’ve sold out all of those venues.

I worked with Mary Wilson at the time, and Mary was pissed because she had heard that Diana was floating around the idea of a reunion all summer long, but hadn't heard a peep from Diana until late 1999. Mary's reaction was, "It took you long enough!" which probably didn't come across nice, but damn, Diana left the group in 1969-70, and Mary carried the Supremes torch through several iterations and even owned 50% of the Supremes name. You would think she'd be one of the first Diana would call.

Mary excitedly wanted to discuss with Diane tour plans, setlists, costuming, money, etc., but Diane said, "No, no, we can discuss this after negotiations (with TNA/SFX)."

Mary and Cindy were well aware of their worth compared to superstar Diana, so they weren't expecting equal pay. The $1 million initially offered to Mary was equal to what Mary had earned the previous year in performance fees, but she was no dummy. This reunion was an EVENT, so she expected and demanded more.

There was public animosity directed against Diana Ross and no one wanted to pay those prices to see Diana Ross' diva antics. People wanted to see The Supremes, or what was left of the group.

I think the tour still wouldn’t have been huge if Cindy and Mary did accept. Unless people bought tix on droves to see an onstage brawl between Diana and Mary—which probably would’ve happened at least once or twice. Even by 2000, I don’t believe enough general concerts-attending public would’ve been interested in paying to see former Supremes asking high prices to be seen in huge arena-sized venues where the original ‘60s lineups never appeared at.

Plus can you imagine what Wilson would’ve had to say if she’d have not been permitted to weigh in on the backing vocal and choreography arrangements, her and Cindy’s mic volumes, their costumes, the songs chosen, their solos, or Diana presenting the songs only as she’d been doing as a soloist for the previous 30 years, and then some distancing herself by almost a mile from the other two on the tour’s aircraft carrier sized-stages? Uhm…nope.

Mary gave up the rights to the Supremes name in the late 70's to Motown in return for an album deal. After her first album flopped, they dropped her from the label.

Did anyone here attend any of the concerts they did do between June 14 - July 6 ?