Vocalist Mary Wilson died on Monday night at her home in Las Vegas. She was 76.
Wilson co-founded the Supremes as a 15-year-old in a Detroit housing project and stayed with the fabled, hitmaking Motown Records trio until its dissolution in 1977.
Wilson’s longtime publicist, Jay Schwartz, reported that she died suddenly. The circumstances of her death are not yet public. Funeral services will be private because of COVID, he said. But there will be a public memorial later this year.
“I was extremely shocked and saddened to hear of the passing of a major member of the Motown family, Mary Wilson of the Supreme,” said Berry Gordy in a statement Monday night.
“The Supremes were always known as the ‘sweethearts of Motown.’”
“Mary, along with Diana Ross and Florence Ballard, came to Motown in the early 1960s. After an unprecedented string of No. 1 hits, television and nightclub bookings, they opened doors for themselves, the other Motown acts, and many, many others.”
“I was always proud of Mary. She was quite a star in her own right. Over the years, she continued to work hard to boost the legacy of the Supremes. Mary Wilson was extremely special to me. She was a trailblazer, a diva and will be deeply missed.”
Just two days prior to her death, Wilson put up a video on her YouTube channel announcing that she was working with Universal Music on releasing solo material, including the unreleased album Red Hot she recorded in the 1970s with producer Gus Dudgeon. “Hopefully some of that will be out on my birthday, March 6,” she said in the video.
She also promised upcoming interviews she had done about the Supremes’ experiences with segregation; which she said were forthcoming in honor of Black History Month.
