Rock Flashback: The Tragic Life of Florence Ballard

Florence Ballard of the Supremes, From the Cover of the Album "Meet the Supremes"

The tale of Motown singer Florence Ballard was tailor-made for one of those Behind the Music shows, full of long odds, great songs, and soaring success, with a tragic ending.

As a teenager, Ballard made friends with a Detroit group called the Primes. At the suggestion of the Primes’ manager, she formed her own group, to be known as the Primettes. Two of the Primettes were Mary Wilson and Diane Earle, who would later become Diana Ross. When they signed a contract with Motown, the Primettes became the Supremes (just as the Primes became the Temptations).

The Supremes became the hottest female group in the country, but by 1967, Diana Ross was billed above the other two, and Ballard felt pushed out of the group she had created. She was medicating the aftermath of an early-’60s sexual assault with alcohol, and began showing up for sessions drunk. Motown replaced Ballard with Cindy Birdsong.

Ballard tried a solo career, and even sang at Richard Nixon’s inaugural in 1969, but her career quickly cratered. She sued Motown for money due her, but found out it was less than she expected — and then when she got it, it disappeared, some spent, some embezzled by her lawyers. She separated from her husband, lost their house, and had to move back into public housing. In 1975, a mysterious check arrived for $50,000. It was never clear whether it was part of a legal settlement, or whether it came from Diana Ross herself.

Not long after, on February 22, 1976, Ballard died of heart failure linked to a blood clot, exacerbated by her weight — although her mother said she died of a broken heart. Diana Ross attended her funeral — and was booed.

In 1968, Florence Ballard released her first solo single, “It Doesn’t Matter How I Say It.” Despite a good lyric and bouncy faux-Motown production, it went nowhere. Too bad.

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