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The Supremes

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These days, some people do not like to listen to music performed by black artists because of stereotyping ideas about them and their culture; however, the success of their music has nothing to do with the color of the skin or the type of habits and traditions that they follow. As models of significant accomplishments into the music industry, The Supremes are the best example of a very successful Motown black female group from 1959 till 1977. The main music genres explored include soul, Broadway show tunes, doo-wop, disco, and psychedelic.

One of the most significant features about this group is the fact that they recorded twelve #1 hits between 1964 and 1969. Thanks to those hits, they were able to try in other genres such as black soul and R&B in order to reach more public in the United States and in other countries. In spite of the fact that the girls released eight singles, none of them were good enough or interesting enough to please the audience and to enter into the Top 40. In view of this situation, they included singing backing for Motown artists like The Temptations and Marvin Gaye as well as performing hand claps, as a way to recover what they did not get from their releases. It was 1963 that the Supremes topped their first hit, “When the Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes,” which is one of the number of songs written by the Motown songwriting and production team of Holland-Dozier-Holland. The main goal of the group was to cross over the whole audience.

Another surprise for this band was to reach #1 on the US pop charts with, “Where Did Our Love Go,” being also #3 in the UK pop charts. Indeed, some of their subsequent releases were nominated to important awards such as the 1965 Grammy Award for Best Rhythm & Blues Recording for “Baby Love,” the 1966 Grammy for Best Contemporary Rock & Roll Group Vocal Performance for “Stop! In the Name of Love.” The best of all their efforts is that they were well-known worldwide, allowing them to tour the globe, record songs for soundtracks, appear in the film Beach Ball, and had their own brand of bread. The Supremes’ greatest challenge was to reach white and black audiences, but, of course, they delighted with their music thousands of people no matter their race.

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