[Reporter]
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From Hitsville, USA. Home of the world famous Detroit sound. We invite you to meet Motown Records' golden girls, the undisputed queens of popular music, The Supremes: Diana Ross, Florence Ballard, and Mary Wilson.
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Well, tell me, Diana. How did it all begin?
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[Diana Ross]
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Ohh... mm, boy. Long time, now. We start singing when we were about thirteen. We, uh, got together in the neighborhood because we all in the same neghborhood, and we went to the same church; and Mary and Florence went to the same school. But our group put us together, really. The group, now The Temptations. But after we came to Motown, we changed our name to a better name , you know, something that meant something.
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[Reporter]
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And that was "The Supremes".
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[Diana Ross]
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And that was "The Supremes'.
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[Reporter]
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Well, how did you get that name?
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[Diana Ross]
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Well, I really didn't pick the name because uh.. uh, Florence did most of the picking of the names. I didn't like the name "Supremes" at first, and She will tell you how she got that name.
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[Reporter]
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And Florence did well at it.
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[Florence Ballard]
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(Chuckles) Uh... (laughs) I was given a little, tiny piece of paper with ten names on it, and uh... I picked "Supremes" bcause it was different. And uh, I like it, and at that time we needed it 'cause we had a record company on our hands.
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[Reporter]
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I see. Well, i think everyone was raving with The Supremes now. Well, you girls must to travel like there's hundreds of thousands of miles all over the world, entertaining fans and... Florence, what's your most unusual experience while on tour?
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[Florence Ballard]
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Uh-hmmm....
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[Diana Ross]
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She doesn't have to think long than that, because we know two that were really great.
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[Mary Wilson]
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Remember the one in Germany?
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[Florence Ballard]
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Yes, I remember the one in Germany, man. (laughs) We were singing with a pre-recorded tape, and uh.. we're just standing and singing, and the tape broke.
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[Mary Wilson]
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Oh!
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[Florence Ballard]
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Yes. And uh.. you can imagine what we went through. But we kept going, and um.. the show went on.
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[Reporter]
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Right. What part of Germany is that?
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[Florence Ballard]
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Hamburg.
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[Reporter]
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Oh, I see. Well, I think we saw some newspaper headings which they praised you on the pages on your show...
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[Diana Ross]
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The next day
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[Florence Ballard]
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The very next day
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[Mary Wilson]
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The next day
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[Florence Ballard]
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Earlier next morning.
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[Mary Wilson]
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(laughs)
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[Reporter]
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What happens to the situation like that? Diana, how did you get your note to been, I mean, what are you singing about?
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[Diana Ross]
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Well, we... whenever we're singing, we just continue to sing or pop our fingers and get a feeling. But at that time or any time, we're sitting around to rehearse, we... whatever we're thinking about, we sing it. You know, just like right now.
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[Reporter]
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Anything that's on your mind.
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[Diana Ross]
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Anything that's on your mind.
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[Reporter]
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What's on your mind, now?
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[Diana Ross]
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We just rehearsing and then we just try to all harmonize, you know, to make it, like right now. (Singing) Boys...
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[Mary Wilson/singing]
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Boys..
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[Florence Ballard/singing]
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Boys...
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[Mary Wilson/singing]
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Men--
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[The Supremes]
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(laughs)
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[Diana Ross]
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More, more, more
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[Reporter]
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More, more... yeah. (laughs) Well, you girls got a more moment to relax. Um, what are your hobbies?
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[Mary Wilson]
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Well, we all have different hobbies, but mine is cooking. You wouldn't really say it was a copy, but it's mine. I love to cook for boys, and uh...
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(laughs) and like Florence, now, she likes to bowl. I guess she's energetic, I don't know. I guess she is; and Diane, she used to like to design dresses.
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[Diana Ross]
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Yeah, I did that in school. Mostly now, I think I would like to collect a lot of jewelry, and different odds and ends and... you know, real odd shoes.
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[Reporter]
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Little old diamonds and things like that.
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[Diana Ross]
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No. (laughs) Diamonds rings and jewelry.
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| [Reporter] |
