Mary Wilson, The Supremes co-founder, dies at Las Vegas Valley home
Friends of Mary Wilson say that the Motown legend was in characteristically high spirits just days before her death.
“I talked to her Friday, and she sounded amazing, she was in a good mood, laughing,” said veteran Las Vegas Strip headliner Frank Marino, a close friend of Wilson’s. “I said, ‘I’m feeling like jumping off the roof, and you’re in this great mood!’ She was really happy doing Cameo videos for her fans and being on YouTube. She loved that stuff.”
Wilson, co-founder of The Supremes, the 1960s group that helped define the Motown sound, died Monday at her home in Henderson. She was 76. According to published reports, Wilson’s cause of death is hypertensive atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, according to the Clark County coroner’s office. The condition is also known as hardening of the arteries, leading to high blood pressure.
The Supremes co-founder and superstar Diana Ross posted a tribute Tuesday on Twitter. “I just woke up to this news,” Ross tweeted, offering her condolences to Wilson’s family. “I am reminded that each day is a gift,” she added, writing “I have so many wonderful memories of our time together. The Supremes will live on, in our hearts.”
Motown founder Berry Gordy, who signed The Supremes to his record company in 1961, told Billboard magazine, “She was quite a star in her own right, and over the years continued to work hard to boost the legacy of the Supremes.” Wilson was “extremely special to me,” he continued. “She was a trailblazer, a diva and will be deeply missed.”
Wilson, along with Diana Ross and Florence Ballard, formed the Motown powerhouse trio that went on to become one of most successful female groups of all time. The group first hit No. 1 with “Where Did Our Love Go” in 1964, kicking off a string of 12 top-selling singles, including five in a row from 1964- ’65. Among the group’s No. 1 hits were “Baby Love,” “Come See About Me,” “Stop! In the Name of Love” and “Back in My Arms Again.”
The Supremes were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988. The group’s final performance with Ross in the group took place at the Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas on Jan. 14, 1970, and the show was released the following April as the double-live album called “Farewell.”
Jean Terrell replaced Ross, and The Supremes continued through 1977, with more personnel changes throughout that run. Wilson was consistently in the act. Ballard died in 1976.
Influential role
Wilson’s Motown contemporary Gladys Knight remembered Wilson’s influential role in contemporary music, and her personal charm.
“She was my girl. She was soft-hearted and loving and always trying to make it work regardless of anything that was happening personally,” Knight said in a statement. “Mary was amazing, and when their voices came together she helped them blend, I loved all of them. She was always kind and knew her own strength vocally and personally, she brought something wonderful to The Supremes.”
Knight, who fronted the legendary group Gladys Knight & The Pips, said The Supremes helped create the path for a series of Motown stars.
“Back then there weren’t a lot of places for African Americans to be and Mary made it work for her group and that was good for all of us,” Knight said. “She was a good friend and I will miss her smile, her voice and her heart.”
Vocalist Deborah Silver said she was collaborating and communicating with Wilson as recently as Saturday, when Wilson had e-mailed Silver about a single the two were working on on to be released in April. The two last spoke on the phone Friday night.
“She was telling me she had just finished doing a video, ‘I had to get into my makeup and do something in front of my fireplace!’ ” Silver said during a phone conversation Tuesday. “I talked to her right after that. She was so full of life. I can’t believe I am even having this conversation about her.”
Silver co-wrote a song with songwriter/producer Dennis Lambert for The Actors Fund and Jazz Foundation of America, titled “The COVID-19 Blues.” Wilson was ready to sing on that project, too.
“We were working together and sharing some suggestions, she was very involved,” Silver said. “The last thing she said to me was, ‘Don’t worry. I got this.’”
Marino said his last conversations with the Motown icon centered on a doctor’s visit he helped set up for her.
Just after noon on Monday, Marino texted Wilson asking if she had made her appointment. He heard nothing back. A couple of hours later, Marino and his partner, Alex Schechter, received a late Christmas gift from Wilson. She had attempted twice to mail it to the couple but had sent it to the wrong address.
The box contained a greeting card, a red-vinyl album, titled, “Time To Move On.”
“It’s so weird that we got that today, and that title is so sad to me,” Marino said. “I don’t know what to make of it all other than I’m in shock right now.”
Wilson had frequently joined in Marino’s “Divas Las Vegas” show in surprise performances, dancing with the cast and hamming up for the delighted audiences.
“She loved being Mary Wilson,” Marino said. “That’s what I loved about her.”
‘She paved the way’
Wilson was friends with many Vegas entertainers, among them Vegas jazz great Michelle Johnson and Skye Dee Miles, co-star at the Rose. Rabbit. Lie. supper club at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. Wilson was frequently spotted at their shows.
Johnson said she was “devastated” at the news, saying, “She paved the way for us and often said we should stand on her shoulders and learn from her ups and downs. I was always amazed at how she made time for us with advice and guidance and humor … She was an amazing role model for all entertainers, but especially for black female artists.”
Miles said, “We were friends. She had so much to share in regards to show business and life. She was gorgeous, talented, fun, classy, regal, tough and smart. She was simply Supreme.”
Wilson posted a video on her YouTube channel on Friday, trumpeting The Supremes’ 60th anniversary, which was Jan. 15, and to mark Black History Month. She said she planned to update her channel throughout February, and was also planning to issue unreleased solo material this year. “So much is happening,” she said, adding she hoped the new music would be out by her birthday on March 6.
In December, Wilson and her longtime friend and Las Vegas PR rep Norm Johnson met at the Italian American Club with a potential investor for a possible resident production at Caesars Palace’s Cleopatra’s Barge.
“We had dinner with the potential sponsor, and she looked in great shape,” Johnson said Monday night. The idea dated to early 2020, before the pandemic shut down entertainment in Las Vegas. The concept was revived near the end of the year.
“I was waiting for word, which never came,” Johnson said. He added that all he knew about Wilson’s health was that she head some heart problems.
Wilson had served as a guest instructor at UNLV’s College of Fine Arts History of Rock class with professor Timothy Jones. She related her experiences in growing up in the Motown culture, and even shared some vintage Supremes dance moves.
Wilson also attended the 2018 UNLV College of Fine Arts Hall of Fame gala when her friend Claudette Robinson was inducted.
“We all mourn the loss of Mary Wilson, whose work will continue to be celebrated as an enduring contribution to the arts and entertainment,” UNLV Dean of the College of Fine Arts Nancy Uscher said in a statement. Uscher said the university was “honored” to have The Supremes legend on campus.
In January, Wilson had taken part in the charity single and video for the song “You Are Not Alone,” benefiting the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). The video posted Jan. 29.
Wilson also hosted a show on the Siriusly Sinatra SiriusXM channel during Labor Day Weekend. She updated her YouTube page routinely, and was busy on Cameo, where fans paid $80 apiece for her personal messages.
Mary Wilson, Co-Founder of the Supremes, Dies at 76 https://t.co/Eh5VMxTJWu
— Variety (@Variety) February 9, 2021
A native of Greenville, Mississippi, Wilson had lived in Las Vegas since the 1980s. In a 2015 interview with the Review-Journal, Wilson said she had planned to move to Los Angeles because she had been unable to secure a regular Vegas residency. But she continued to pursue options in town, and maintained a residence in the Anthem master-planned community in Henderson.
In a 2011 interview, Wilson talked of being a background singer to Ross (whom she always referred to by her original name, “Diane”) instead of expanding her vocal identity during her years with The Supremes. “If someone takes away something that you do beautifully, as a gift, and you can’t use it, yeah, it does hurt a bit. It just caused a lot of dissatisfaction … I was fortunate to have patience in my makeup as a human being. I’m a bonafide singer.”
Though she was an R&B star, Wilson was especially fond of jazz and headlined Myron’s Cabaret Jazz at the Smith Center in February 2017, while continually pursuing her own show on the Strip. “Sometimes a person doesn’t have a chance to come back and make it,” she said. “I have been very fortunate that I have been able to do that.”
Wilson is survived by her daughter Turkessa, her son, Pedro Antonio Jr., along with 10 grandchildren and one great-granddaughter. Because of COVID-19 restrictions, services reportedly will be private. Wilson’s family is planning to hold a celebration of her life this year.
John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His “PodKats!” podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.
