Friday, July 2, 2021

The Beauty of Song, Part Eight: Cindy Birdsong

It might have been because of destiny that Cindy Birdsong was born with that surname, as she did go on to have a singing career. 😊


Cindy Birdsong, as one the Supremes, is the last surviving member of that group who backed lead singer Diana Ross, Mary Wilson having died unexpectedly died earlier this year (2021) and Florence Ballard, whom Ms. Birdsong replaced, having died years before.  She joined the group in April 1967.

Ms. Birdsong did not sing on many Supremes records in the Diana Ross years, however, as Motown producers increasingly relied on session singers in place of Diana Ross's actual groupmates.  However, she took a more active role in the group when Diana Ross left in 1970 for a solo career, and she was part of the lineup (with Jean Terrell as lead singer) that had hits with songs such as "Stone Love" and "Nathan Jones." 


Ms. Birdsong briefly left the Supremes in the early seventies to become a mother but retuned to the group until they disbanded in 1977.  She has worked and recorded sporadically in the years since.  And she has absolutely noting bad to say about Diana Ross, an earlier honoree on this blog.

Fun fact:  A native of southern New Jersey, Cindy Birdsong began her career with a Philadelphia girl group known as the Blue Belles . . . the forerunner of the seventies R&B trio Labelle. 😃

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