| I always say because the Civil Rights Act was passed the same year we got our first record, 1964, we became divas and citizens in the same year. | | | | |  | Mary Wilson (left) with the Supremes in Detroit, 1965.
(Donaldson Collection/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images) | | | | | "I always say because the Civil Rights Act was passed the same year we got our first record, 1964, we became divas and citizens in the same year." | | | | Dreamgirl
In the end, rhythm sections make soloists better, backup singers make lead singers better, quarterbacks don't exist without offensive lines, and someone has to accompany DON CORNELIUS down the SOUL TRAIN line, else he'll never ever go. MARY WILSON, who died suddenly Monday night, was all that in the SUPREMES, the group she founded with DIANA ROSS and FLORENCE BALLARD as the PRIMETTES in 1959 and that she, and only she, stayed with until the end, long after Ballard was forced out and Ross walked out. She was the adhesive, as the New York Times once put it, that glued together the outsize personalities and voices around her. She'd be the first to tell you her soft, silky alto, which joined Ballard's gritty soprano on harmonies for nearly every recording in the initial trio's run, was the least immediately distinctive of the three Supremes' voices, but without it the Supremes wouldn't be the Supremes and "WHERE DID OUR LOVE GO" wouldn't be "Where Did Our Love Go" and "REFLECTIONS" wouldn't be "Reflections." It's all about the blend, and the mysteries therein. "My image," she once told the Los Angeles Times, "is like a shadow." After it was over, Wilson, ironically, was the one who unglued the Supremes' mystique, in a 1986 memoir, DREAMGIRL: MY LIFE AS A SUPREME, that, among other revelations, painted Ross as calculating and manipulative and opened the books on the predatory contracts the trio signed with MOTOWN. The three Supremes split a 3 percent royalty rate three ways. Wilson released only two studio albums in a hard-luck solo career repeatedly sidetracked by label problems, but she published two more books, toured frequently, fought Motown for the use of the Supremes' name, fought for artists' rights and, with her fellow Supremes, cast a long shadow over nearly every girl group that followed (the word "nearly" may not be necessary). Probably some boy groups, too. Attempts to reunite with Ross famously fell through over money issues, but Wilson was the one who loved being a Supreme, and having been a Supreme, to the end. "There was no downside," she once told the Detroit Free Press, "other than losing my individuality. I absolutely adored being a Supreme. If I die, I want to come back being Mary Wilson of the Supremes." Until then, RIP.
Dot Dot Dot
Dear Britain: Since you broke it, isn't it kind of on you to fix it? Stop blaming others... "We haven't just renewed a TIKTOK license here," UMG's MICHAEL NASH tells Billboard of a new deal that has the major-est major label going all-in with the app on "marketing, A&R, user data and more." UMG recently signed sea shanty star NATHAN EVANS, who came through TikTok's rather speedy, viral A&R process... A tour of CAROLE KING'S New York. Her landmark album TAPESTRY turns 50 Wednesday... Why you might not want perfect pitch... How to theoretically but not actually become a DIY millionaire by streaming your own music on SPOTIFY, because Spotify would bust you long before you made your first $500.
Rest in peace
Detroit underground radio pioneer JERRY LUBIN.
| | | | Matty Karas (@troubledoll), curator |
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|  | | The New York Times |
| | RETRO READ: The Untold Story of Supreme Style | | by Christopher Petkanas | | Mary Wilson, a founding member of the sensational vocal group, is ready for her fashion close-up. | |  | | Variety |
| | Mary Wilson, Co-Founder of the Supremes, Dies at 76 | | by Chris Morris | | If Diana Ross was the Supremes' international superstar and Florence Ballard, who died prematurely at the age of 32 in 1976, came to be memorialized as its tragic figure, Wilson was the group's steady, omnipresent and outspoken driving force. | |  | | Music Business Worldwide |
| | Triller is singing a dangerous song | | by Tim Ingham | | The TikTok rival's latest words are strong -- but are they true? | |  | | Level |
| | How a Few Great Hip-Hop Journalists Won In Hollywood | | by Aliya S. King | | Some of the genre's best and brightest come together to talk about why they made the transition from rap magazines to TV and movies -- and how. | |  | | Reasons to Be Cheerful |
| | Norway's Electric Car Triumph Started With an '80s Pop Star | | by Will Doig | | How a rule-breaking joyride by an MTV icon helped make Norway the world's EV capital. | |  | | Medium |
| | A brief, sordid history of why country music can't use rap music's "n-word." | | by Marcus K. Dowling | | It's been quite the trip from N.W.A's name to Morgan Wallen's lips…but that trip's over now. | |  | | gal-dem |
| | Inequity, performativity and white 'provocateurs': what it's like being Black in alternative music spaces | | by Michelle Kambasha | | With a cultural history that sees anti-racism and fascism live side by side, what are the realities for Black people in alternative music? | |  | | Money 4 Nothing |
| | Liz Pelly on Alternative Platforms and Possible Futures | | by Saxon Baird, Sam Backer and Liz Pelly | | We talk to writer and critic Liz Pelly who has long been one of the most astute critics of the modern musical economy. But while we all know that streaming is broken—what comes next? Liz has recently been exploring a set of new platforms that are seeking to create alternatives to existing industry structures. | |  | | Music x |
| | NFTs are blockchain's hottest new use case for music. They should not come as a surprise | | by Bas Grasmayer | | With the emerging metaverse, some are expecting non-fungible tokens to become its property rights. | |  | | The Seattle Times |
| | Seattle music venues can finally reopen. So why are many staying closed? | | by Michael Rietmulder | | On Jan. 28, Gov. Jay Inslee announced that live-entertainment venues in King, Pierce and Snohomish counties can now reopen, albeit with caveats, as COVID-19 restrictions were eased. Yet even after a year of bleeding cash while stage lights stayed dark, the news wasn't greeted with the universal applause you might expect. | | | | | Variety |
| | For Black People, Sam Cooke's 'A Change Is Gonna Come' Was the 'Imagine' of its Time -- and of Today | | by Jeremy Helligar | | It's a 20th-century Black spiritual that distinguishes itself from the previous century's "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen" and "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" (and even Curtis Mayfield's "People Get Ready," which would come out the following year) by offering hope in life rather than after death. | |  | | The Tennessean |
| | The roaring nights that shaped American music | | by Matthew Leimkuehler | | In cities where Black musicians were forcibly told where they could and could not play, artists perfected songs that stand today among the most important contributions to American musical canon. | |  | | BBC News |
| | How Covid is 'creating a new genre' for live music | | by Alex Taylor | | From a DJ in a hot air balloon to stars singing in streets, Covid has forced artists to be creative. | |  | | Pollstar |
| | Money Matters: Making Sense Of The SOS/SBA/PPP/SVOG Alphabet Soup | | by Ryan Borba | | The passage of the $900 billion COVID stimulus package in December will surely lead to some relief for the live events industry, but there is much to figure out, including how to go about getting relief, what different operators may qualify for, and when to expect it. | | | | The New York Times |
| | The Irreducible William Parker | | by Alan Scherstuhl | | The bassist, bandleader and composer's 10-disc "Migration of Silence Into and Out of the Tone World" invites you to listen, and let the music do its work. | |  | | The Guardian |
| | The betrayal of Britney Spears: how pop culture failed a superstar | | by Adrian Horton | | In an effective new documentary, the difficult life of a pop star is examined from family struggles to the toll of being at the mercy of the media. | |  | | NME |
| | 'I don't know if I can afford it' -- artists speak out on the future of European touring post-Brexit | | by Andrew Trendell | | A number of artists have spoken to NME about their doubts of being able to tour Europe again thanks to the ongoing Brexit visa fiasco and its on musicians. | |  | | Nashville Scene |
| | NMAAM's Celebration of Black Art Should Be a Call to Action for Country Music | | by Andrea Williams | | The stories of co-opted Black musicians show everyone what needs to change with Music City's biggest cultural export. | |  | | Passion of the Weiss |
| | 'There's No Point in Having the Platform If You Have Nothing to Say': An Interview with Sleaford Mods | | by Robert Ham | | Robert Ham speaks to Jason Williamson of the UK electronic duo about trying to come up in a music game full of "tasteless gatekeepers" and more. | |  | | Detroit Free Press |
| | Soulful sounds from the South were polished for the masses in Motown | | by Brian McCollum | | It wasn't a fluke that Motown Records took flight in Detroit, part of a surge of creative energy that transformed the city into one of the world's music capitals. | | | | | Music | Media | Sports | Fashion | Tech | | "REDEF is dedicated to my mother, who nurtured and encouraged my interest in
everything and slightly regrets the day she taught me to always ask 'why?'" | | |  | | | Jason Hirschhorn | | CEO & Chief Curator | | |  |
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