Number 1 With A Bullet: The Supremes’ “The Happening”

The Supremes - "The Happening" (Motown, 1967)

The tenth Supremes single to hit #1 on the pop chart, “The Happening” marked a couple of “firsts” for the group as well as a couple of “lasts.”

Released in March 1967, “The Happening” was the first Supremes single to feature a fourth name in the line of writers beneath the song’s title. Along with the Motown Midases Holland, Dozier and Holland was the name Frank DeVol, music director for the movie for which “The Happening” was the title tune (marking the first time a Supremes cut was a headliner for a movie).

At the other end of the spectrum, “The Happening” was the last Holland/Dozier/Holland cut to go #1 for the trio and it was the last time a single was released as “The Supremes.” With the release of “Reflections” later that year, the group would become known as “Diana Ross and the Supremes.”

In the eyes of Mary Wilson, the name changed signaled what would come true in the not-too-distant future: Diana Ross would leave to be come a solo act. Ross would, indeed, leave in late 1969 but not before Florence Ballard would be fired from the group in July 1967, shortly after “The Happening” had reached #1 that May.

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