A review by komet2020
The Lost Supreme: The Life of Dreamgirl Florence Ballard by Peter Benjaminson

5.0

Peter Benjaminson was a 29-year old journalist with the Detroit Free Press in 1975 when he was asked if he wanted to do a story on the ex-Supreme Florence Ballard (in light of the public disclosure that was made earlier that year, revealing that Ballard, a mother with 3 young daughters, was on welfare). It had come as a shock to the public (both in the U.S. and across the world) that someone who had been a founding member of the most successful girl singing group in the 1960s was living in poverty in Detroit. Benjaminson eagerly undertook this assignment and went to Ballard's house to interview her. He would go on, over a period of several weeks, to conduct a series of taped interviews with Ballard. These interviews help to vivify and enliven this biography considerably, giving the reader full, rich and often poignant views and perspectives on Florence Ballard's life. A life that emerged from poverty in Detroit during the 1940s and 1950s to dizzying fame and success with Motown (with the Supremes), and then, following Ballard's abrupt dismissal from the Supremes in July 1967, attempts at a solo music career, declining fortunes, depression, and death in February 1976.

Reading this biography was a deeply personal experience for me. I grew up in Michigan and was steeped in Motown's music from the late 1960s onward. I was a preteen when Florence Ballard died and I remember very well the news coverage of her funeral. For anyone interested in knowing more about what the Supremes were and what they meant to the world, read this biography. I highly recommend it.