About the First Supremes

The Supremes was an all African-American girl-group created in 1959 by fellow Supreme Florence Ballard. This group seperated in 1977, but they split with different singers.

Although there were many different girls who were in the Supremes, the first of them are the ones who marked a special place in history.

In 1959, when the girls were merely 14 years old, "The Primettes" was formed by former Primette/Supreme Florence Ballard. In the group was Florence Ballard, Betty Travis, Diana Ross, and Mary Wilson. Eventually, Betty Travis was forced to drop out because her parents wanted her to focus on her school work. So Barbara Martin replaced her, but left not long after, as well as Ballard, due to the same reasons. But eventually, Ballard rejoined as soon as she improved her grades.

And even though Ballard's role as the lead singer was replaced by Ross in '61, Ballard's voice was still considered to be the strongest and the best out of the three.