Category: Supremes

. . . AND, SHE WAS OUR FELLOW WILSON JR. HIGH STUDENT! WHEN 13 YEAR-OLD CHRISTINE SCHUMACHER WON WKNR ‘RECORD WITH SUPREMES’ CONTEST: NOVEMBER 1966

Audio digitally remastered by Motor City Radio Flashbacks

WILSON JUNIOR HIGH ‘The Spotlight’ January 27, 1967

“This month’s personality is Christine Schumacher. She is a five foot, blue-eyed blond from Room 213, the Braille class.

I’m not going to tell you what she’s like but I’m going to tell you what she did! About a month and a half ago, she entered the WKNR Scott Regen‘s ‘Record A Record With The Supremes’ contest. Well, she won, went to Motown Studios, she recorded, “Mother You, Smother You.” It is a hit now and is it ever great.

If you haven’t heard it yet, tune to WKNR, 1300 on your radio, between 7 and 9 at night. What do you know, we’ve got a star in our school!”

Audio digitally remastered by Motor City Radio Flashbacks

In 2015, I was immediately captivated when I came across the second page of Wilson Junior High School’s student newsletter, *The Spotlight*, dated January 27, 1967. This brief article, penned by Debbie Tosoain, was shared by Marilyn V. Harris, a Wilson alumna, in a Facebook post on May 15 within the Wilson Jr. High School group, where I am also a member. The piece evoked a fond memory of a well-known student who was at our school during that time.

Wilson Junior High School’s Christine Schumacher, pictured here at 13 years of age in November 1966. (Photo credit: Keener13.com’s Scott Westerman, Steve Schram)

In September 1966, I was new to Woodrow Wilson Junior High, having transitioned from Bennett Elementary School. At just 13 years old, like many of us were then, I started my three-year journey at Wilson, located on Lane Street in Southwest Detroit. After reading the Spotlight article, I was instantly reminded of Christine Schumacher, a prominent student who was there during my time at the school, from 1966 to 1969.

Most of us who attended Wilson would probably agree that Christine’s kindness, intelligence, and infectious wit left a lasting impact on everyone at the school. She was always eager to engage in conversations and her smile had a special way of winning over both students and the entire faculty during her time there.

Seeing her at various school events during our school years at the time, this article rekindled a special memory about her from late-1966. Christine, who was also blind, made the long journey from her home in Northwest Detroit (Sussex St.) to attend Wilson’s specialized classes for students with special needs, as was highlighted in the January 27, 1967 Spotlight issue from that time.

[MCRFB Note: Mouse click over (PC) or tap and stretch (mobile screen) over all images for largest digitized read.]

Woodrow Wilson Jr. High, in Southwest Detroit, as photographed in 2012. (Credit: Susan Ellis Miles)

I vividly still recall the thrill that spread through the entire school when it was announced that it was Christine who had won the “Record A Record With The Supremes” contest, sponsored by WKNR and Motown Records. This contest was heavily promoted on Keener 13 for many weeks, late in the fall of 1966, most particularly during Scott Regen’s nightly show from 7 to 10 p.m. on WKNR.

During the course of our discussion about Christine and Motown (2015), a member of the Wilson group commened that she was 62 years old (then, she would be 71 today), and that she was alive and well, living in the east side of Dearborn, on Schaefer Rd., south of Michigan Ave. Post-Wilson, it was also mentioned she had pursued a career as a school teacher, focusing on working with impaired and special needs students throughout the years.

WKNR Scottie Regen.

After some time, and as the discussions about Christine Schumacher on the Wilson Junior High School Facebook page (from May 15, 2015) came to a close, I, as a fellow group member, posted my final thoughts on June 5:

“To my fellow Wilson Junior High friends . . . I’ll be sharing more–something very special about Christine, Scott Regen (WKNR), and her recording with Motown on my website, Motor City Radio Flashbacks, soon. It will relate the very moment she was told she was the winner of the WKNR ‘Record A Record With The Supremes’ contest back in November 1966.”

I hope you’ll enjoy this special memory. For this was her remarkable moment, 58-years ago. When, in November 1966, she received the call from WKNR’s Scott Regen, congratulating her as the winner who would record with Motown’s Supremes—the #1 female group in the world at that time.

Wow. Christine Schumacher! While that event may have been a brief but memorable highlight for her (and for us at Wilson) at the time, she is fondly remembered, yet still today . . . our school’s very own Motown star. 🙂

MCRFB Update: We recently reached out to Scottie Regen and he kindly provided some personal recollections about Christine and the ‘Record with the Supremes’ contest which he launched, in conjuction with Motown Records and Barney Ales, while at WKNR in October 1966 . . . from September 24, 2024, Scottie Regen, he writes:

As for Christine being the winner, what happened was the idea struck me one night, and so I reached out to my friend, Barney Ales, the head of promotions at Motown at the time, to see what he thought about it, about the possibilities a contest with Motown records could take place for a lucky WKNR listener to record with the Supremes. He listened to my idea, he thought about it . . .and, he loved it!

I had a great time being present in the studio for that promotion. All the contest finalists (including Christine) were recorded at Golden World on Davison (in early-1966 G.W. became Motown Studio B), and Brian Holland—who produced hits for the Four Tops, the Supremes, and Martha and the Vandellas—managed everything for the contest. I really enjoyed collaborating with him. In hindsight, I think Motown viewed it as a talent search, and I wish they had taken it a bit further. Christine brought a sweet, innocent vibe, and she was truly amazed to have won the contest! –Robert Bernstein (Scottie Regen, WKNR)

Loading

MOTOWN MONDAY! A Detroit Free Press NEWSPRINT BACK-PAGE . . . SPOTLIGHT ON THE SUPREMES!

DETROIT FREE PRESS Sunday, January 30, 1966 [A]

DETROIT FREE PRESS Sunday, January 30, 1966 [B]

DETROIT FREE PRESS Sunday, January 30, 1966 [C]

_____________________

Above article is courtesy freep.com newspaper archive. Copyright 2024. Newspapers.com.

The above featured ‘Motown’ newspaper article (Detroit Free Press) was clipped, saved, and was digitally re-imaged from the credited source by Motor City Radio Flashbacks.

_____________________

DETROIT FREE PRESS Sunday, January 30, 1966 [D]

ON YOUR MOBILE DEVICE? Tap over above newsprint images. Open to second window. “Stretch” print image across your device screen to magnify for largest print view.

ON YOUR PC? Click on all images 2x for largest print view.

Loading

MUSIC BUSINESS | MOTOWN MONDAY! THE SUPREMES: ARTIST OF THE MONTH

_______________

The above Music Business featured page was digitally re-imaged and completely restored by Motor City Radio Flashbacks

ON YOUR MOBILE DEVICE? Tap over featured image. Open to second window. “Stretch” across your device screen to magnify for larger print view.

ON YOUR PC? Click on ad image 2x for largest detailed view.

Loading

AS AN ACT FOR ALL AGES, SUPREMES BLOSSOM OUT . . . AUGUST 7, 1965

‘COPA Proving Ground for Detroit’s Own Supremes

 

 

Released November 1, 1965

NEW YORK — Any doubts that the Supremes will be around a long time as a top adult act were erased at the Copacabana Thursday night (July 29) as the three Detroit girls put on a performance the likes of which the famed bistro has
seldom experienced.

The Motown beat was polished, refined and arranged to a fare-thee-well, particularly in “Come See About Me,” the group’s first chart topper.

But more important, Diana, the lead singer, emerged as a solo talent to be reckoned with, and the group’s treatment of pop material like “Queen Of The House” demonstrated that the girls have a sharp comic sense and a repertorial range worthy of a veteran group.

Opening number was a sprightly “From This Moment On,” followed by a song more generally associated with the group – “Baby Love.” Another of the Supremes’ stand-bys – “Stop in the Name of Love” – was delivered in typical Motown style.

“The Girl From Ipanema” was delivered in a cool, subdued style and provided a suitable change of pace after the two beat numbers. “Make Someone Happy” was the showcase for Diana’s solo talent. Her distinctive phrasing and amazing vocal range stamps her as one of the best in the business.

The girls can handle the old music hall song-and-dance bit. On “Rock-a-bye Your Rock-a-bye Baby” they came equipped with straw hats and canes and performed in typical vaudeville style.

Released April 12, 1965

A bit of nostalgia was introduced with selections from their “We Remember Sam Cooke” album (pre-selected audio tracks tagged to the image below), delivered with taste and class.

Closing was “You’re Nobody Till Somebody Loves You,” with Diana delivering the lyric, Mary and Florence cutting in with appropriate asides.

The program wound up with a standing ovation.

While the Supremes will probably keep their teen-age following for some time, there appears little question that the act will last a lot longer as staple adult fare, not too dependent on the chart position of their latest single.

They have all the equipment, poise, polish and a comic sense – and that equipment was working flawlessly Thursday night. END

_______________

Credit source information (as published): Billboard, August 7, 1965

Loading

SUPREMES ARE NUMBER ONE ON BILLBOARD–THIRD DISK IN ROW . . . DECEMBER 19, 1964

Motor City Girl Group’s latest, ‘Come See About Me’, Ascends to Top of Chart This Week

 

 

NEW YORK — Motown’s Supremes are living up to their title. The gals captured the first place position on this week’s Billboard Hot 100 chart with their waxing of “Come See About Me.” This is the third No. 1 record in a row for the gals and represents the first femme group to achieve this status.

To add to it all, Diana, Flo and Mary have staged a turn-about on the British by invading the No. 1 position on their charts with “Baby Love,” the first American gal group to do so. The record also registers big here, having reached the No. 8 position on Billboard’s singles listing and holding 15th place this week.

Their Motown albums have had the same response from record buyers. “Where Did Our Love Go,” formerly occupying the No. 1 position is No. 7 this week on Billboard’s LP chart with 14 weeks as a chart entry. Their most recent album release, “A Bit of Liverpool,” has reached 92 this week after only a month on the chart. Indications are that it should do as well as its predecessor.

“Baby Love,” also reached the chart pinnacle for four consecutive weeks. The Supremes have recently returned from a much-heralded tour of England and Europe. END

_______________

Credit, information and news source: Billboard, December 19, 1964

The Supremes, photographed in 1965. (L-R) Florence Ballard, Mary Wilson and Diana Ross. (Photo by King Collection/Avalon/Getty Images)

 

Loading

MUSIC BUSINESS | “WE’RE HAVING A BALL!”, THE SUPREMES . . . OCTOBER 10, 1964

It’s fun being a success,” say the Motown stars. But success hasn’t changed them too much. They still live at home, date old boyfriends, and like to talk about clothes.

 

 

Diane, Mary, and Florence (Photo: Music Business, October 10, 1964)

TIGHT PANTS. Should a girl wear tight, tight pants, like some of the fashions seem to dictate these days?” I think it’s all in how a girl acts when she gets them on,” says Mary Wilson, of the smash-hit Detroit group, the Supremes. Mary made the observation during a break in the group’s recent appearance at the Brooklyn Fox Theater, with jockey Murray “The K” Kaufman.

“For one thing,” Mary continued, “Those tight-fitting pants are particularly good when you’re on the road, because you don’t have to press them so much. But we’re all quite petite and we like flare-outs (dresses) too and we often wear
them in our shows. But really, it seems to be that the tight things are the favorites and we often have to wear them, sort of by demand, if you know what I mean.

“Like with Dick Clark. We were out on his tour for 48 days this past summer. We had silver pants for our act on that show, and I must say, he just loved them. In fact, he just about insisted that we wear them all the time. He would getup- set when we would try something else. We’re getting a lot more clothes for our wardrobe now and we plan them all ourselves too.”

Want more than rock. Obviously, the Supremes are interested in more things than clothes-musical styles for instance. “Nobody seems to get anywhere these days without a hit record,” Mary continued.” We started singing over seven years ago. For most of that time, we’ve been making records, on a lot of different labels. Then with a good rock and roll sound, after all these years, we get a hit and things start to happen. People notice us. The trouble is that they think rock and roll is all we can or want to do, and that isn’t true. We hope to do an album soon with songs like ‘People’ and ‘I Am Woman’. ‘Those ballads are a long way from ‘Where Did Our Love Go.’

“We hope to get into the nightclub field and we’re working at it right now. We just appeared for a while in the20 Grand Club in Detroit and we tried out our new act recently in a Bermuda Club called the Clay House. We seemed to go over real big there but I know there’s a lot more work left to do before we’re really ready for the big time.

“In a way we’re old-timers already. We’re all about 21 now, but we started singing when we were all in school at 14. We knew the fellows in the Temptations and we got to be like a sister act to them, doing shows with them. We were all from the same neighborhood.

STILL LIVE HOME. “We still live in the same neighborhood at home with our Moms. One of them usually goes on tour with us. When we’re home, between tours and one-nighters and record dates, we sometimes still go out with old friends on dates. We all like to go bowling and Diane (Ross) loves to swim. She won some prizes when she was on her high school team.” (The third member of the trio is Florence Ballard).

It’s no secret that such Britishers as the Beatles and the Rolling Stones have openly dug the artists from the Tamla- Motown group, and the Supremes have often been mentioned as among the top favorites. But it’s really a mutual admiration society, trans-Atlantic style, since the Supremes have just recorded a new album of Beatles and other British group hits.

LIKE BRITISH ACTS. “When those fellows first got started here in America, we all just asked, who are they and what have they got. Now I think the Beatles, and the Dave Clark Five, especially, get better with each record. I like their songs. The other night, a couple of us saw the Animals and I can tell you that they were a terrific group too. “We’re having a ball right now our- selves. It’s fun being a success and it’s even fun going on tour. It means a lot of bus riding but the groups are all swell and we have a lot of fun flirting, in a nice way, on the bus with all the fellows. I know we’re going to have great fun in England too (the group was due to appear on British TV Sunday, October11). I hope they’ll like us, even though we haven’t had a chance to take Berry Gordy upon his offer to send us to drama school yet. He thought we had a lot of promise and wanted us to get that training for TV work. I guess things have just been too good for us. We haven’t had time to study. We’ve been too busy working.” END

_______________

Information, credit and news source: Music Business, October 10, 1964

The Supremes 1964

Loading

A HOLIDAY RECORDS COUNTDOWN: 06 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS!

_______________

“Twinkle Twinkle Little Me” is a Christmas song recorded by Motown girl group The Supremes, and released by Motown Records in November 1965. The song, produced by Harvey Fuqua, having been included in the group’s Christmas album, ‘Merry Christmas‘, added with familiar Christmas songs such as “White Christmas“, “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town“, “My Favorite Things“, and “Joy To the World“.

Two originals, “Children’s Christmas Song” and “Twinkle Twinkle Little Me“, were issued as a single. The latter having debuted on Billboard on December 18, 1965, while the former, a week earlier, on December 11.

In 1965, “Children’s Christmas Song” peaked at number 7, whilst “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Me” peaked at number 5 on the Billboard Christmas Singles chart (according to Billboard’s Christmas in the Charts; 2004), where it re-entered at number 29 in 1967. In Singapore, “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town” charted at number 4 on January 1, 1966, before peaking at number 1 on January 15, 1966 — the same week it charted at number 2 in Malaysia. In February 1966, “My Favorite Things” charted at number 10 in Singapore.

In addition, their album ‘Merry Christmas’ (see it here), issued by Motown the same day as the live recording The Supremes at the Copa, was the only holiday album released by the Supremes. They charted four albums in 1965 with one hitting the Top 10 of the Billboard Top 200 album chart and this hitting the Top 10 of the Billboard Holiday Album Chart.

Sources: Wikipedia; Billboard’s Christmas in the Charts 1920-2004

_______________

For previous Holiday Yule Tides Countdown record #07 GO HERE

Loading