As big as The Beatles!
The Supremes are America’s most successful vocal group with 12 number-one singles. At their peak, The Supremes were as popular as The Beatles.
Most of their songs were written by Holland-Dozier-Holland, Motown’s main songwriting team. But it wasn’t an instant success for Diana Ross and her friends Florence Ballard and Mary Wilson.
During the first few years at Motown, nothing they released would chart. This made the other acts in Motown refer to them as the No-hit Supremes.
Berry Gordy was convinced The Supremes had something special, he just had to get it right, so in 1965 he named Diana the lead singer. Up until then, they had all taken turns, with each singer offering something different.
In 1967, he even renamed them The Supremes with Diana Ross, only to change his mind again to Diana Ross & The Supremes, six months later.
Clearly putting Diana first, the tensions in the band rose along with their chart success.
During The Supremes’ most successful years, they released hit tunes like Where Did Our Love Go, Baby Love, Stop! In the Name of Love, You Can’t Hurry Love, and You Keep Me Hangin’ On.
They also recorded many Beatles tunes, Christmas classics, and covers of Sam Cooke‘s Wonderful World and A Change Is Gonna Come.
In 1970, Diana Ross left the band to pursue an extremely successful solo career.
The Supremes continued, now with a completely new lineup. It didn’t have any substantial success and wasn’t backed much by the Motown label. Berry was now busy with Diana’s new direction and relocation from Detroit to Los Angeles.
The Supremes Tunes | Related Pages
A Change Is Gonna Come
You can learn how to play A Change Is Gonna Come by Sam Cooke using chords, lyrics, TAB, chord analysis, and Spytunes video guitar lessons.
| G | G | Am | Em |
I was born by the river, in a little tent, oh and just like that river I’ve been…
Baby Love
You can learn how to play Baby Love by The Supremes using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, and the original recording.
| C | C7/Bb | A7 | Dm |
Baby love, my baby love, I need you, oh how I need you…
Wonderful World
You can learn how to play Wonderful World by Sam Cooke using chords, lyrics, and the original recording.
| B | G#m |
Don’t know much about history…
You Can’t Hurry Love
You can learn to play You Can’t Hurry Love by The Supremes using chords, lyrics, TAB, backing track, and Spytunes video guitar lessons.
| Bb | Bb | Eb Bb | Bb |
I need love, love, to ease my mind…
The Supremes on the web
Artists & Bands
Behind every single tune you learn, there’s an artist or band with an entire catalogue of music, waiting to be discovered.
Find out more about these great Artists & Bands, and let their tunes guide you to success.
About me | Dan Lundholm
This was an article about The Supremes tunes, by Dan Lundholm. Discover more about him and learn guitar with Spytunes.
Most importantly, find out why you should learn guitar through playing tunes, not practising scales, and studying theory in isolation.
