On This Day In History: The Supremes hit #1

The Supremes become the first all-female group to score a No. 1 album, with Supremes a Go-Go.

Members Diana Ross, Mary Wilson, and Florence Ballard met as teenagers in the housing projects of Detroit. When several male friends, including future Temptations members Eddie Kendricks and Paul Williams, formed a singing group called the Primes, the girls dubbed their own group the Primettes. The Primettes signed with Motown records in 1961. The label immediately changed the group's name to the Supremes.

After several years of releasing flops, the Supremes scored their first hit in 1964 with "Where Did Our Love Go," which sold two million copies. They followed up with numerous other hits, including "Stop! In the Name of Love!" and "Back in My Arms Again." Their growing popularity corresponded with the rise of the civil rights movement, and the group came to symbolize strong, independent black women. They appeared regularly on major national TV shows such as The Ed Sullivan Show and The Tonight Show.

In 1967, Motown began billing the group as Diana Ross and the Supremes, apparently grooming Ross for a solo career. Florence Ballard, the band's original lead singer, left the group. She subsequently struggled with depression and alcohol and died of a heart attack at the age of 32. Ross left the group in 1969. With Wilson as the only original member of the band, the Supremes--with various other singers replacing Ballard and Ross--continued to release albums until 1977 but never regained the popularity they enjoyed in the 1960s.