Bonita Springs remained a quiet, small town for decades. But, as the years passed, the rush to build was about to start. With the advent of air conditioning, the opening of Interstate 75, a nearby major airport, along with the new US 41 bypass, the growth in population by the 1980s and ’90s ushered in shopping malls, modern office facilities. Florida has a long history of Native American inhabitance. They are believed to have first arrived in Florida about 10,000 – 15,000 years ago. Many tribes coexisted here until the Spanish arrived in Florida in the 1500s.
© Submitted Mary Wilson, one of the founding members of the Motown group The Supremes that recorded numerous hits with Diana Ross.Native Dating Near Bonita Springs Fl
The Daily News interviewed Mary Wilson a year ago before she performed Jan. 19, 2020, at the former Southwest Florida Events Center in Bonita Springs. She died Monday night at her home near Las Vegas at age 76. In this story first published Jan. 15, 2020, Wilson discussed how the famed Supremes formed, performing in the segregated South in the 1960s and more.
Motown icon Mary Wilson recently was talking with one of her best friends in the music business.
A co-founder of The Supremes who recorded hits like 'Where Did Our Love Go?' in the 1960s with Diana Ross, Wilson at 75 continues to tour and even performed recently on the ABC show 'Dancing with the Stars.'
“A lot of people say 'Are you ever going to retire?' And I say 'no,' ' Wilson said in a telephone interview this week from her Las Vegas-area home.
She performs Sunday night at the Southwest Florida Event Center in Bonita Springs.
More: Mary Wilson, legendary founding member of The Supremes, dies at 76
'I was talking to Cher while doing 'Dancing with the Stars' a couple months ago, and she said, 'Mare, we’re still doing it!' That's what I still do and I love it.'
Wilson grew up in Detroit and later formed, along with a childhood friend Florence Ballard, the Primettes that eventually became the Supremes. Ross joined and by 1964 they had their first No. 1 song, 'Where Did Our Love Go?' with Motown led by creator and CEO Berry Gordy Jr.
They would show up at the unique-looking white Motown house with royal blue trim and the words 'Hitsville, U.S.A.' across the front on West Grand Boulevard to practice and record songs.
'Every day, Motown was a musical Disneyland,' Wilson recalled, describing the scene.
'We were there back in the day when Little Stevie Wonder first auditioned there. We were there when Motown brought in Marvin Gaye and the Marvelettes.'
She remembered how Motown early on was like a school, with the boys on one side and the girls on the other. 'We were teenagers,' she added.
Diana Ross and the Supremes continued to record hits, including 'Baby Love,' 'Come See About Me,' 'Stop! In The Name of Love,' 'Back In My Arms Again,' 'Love Child,' 'The Happening' and 'Reflections.'
As they became national then international stars, Wilson said, they realized that they could achieve success and be accepted for their for their talent.
“It was not a given that if you were black that you were going to succeed,' Wilson said. 'Music was something that really put us out front. We knew we could be on Ed Sullivan on Sunday, and we could do more than just watch it.”
They joined other Motown groups on Gordy's Motortown Revue that traveled the country in the early '60s, including stops in the segregated South.
'Back then, each little areas was so different. It was like a different universe,' Wilson said
When the tour reached Southern states, they stayed in segregated hotels and often ate in segregated restaurants. Wilson recalled seeing civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. in the South, alongside Gordy on the tour.
While she never talked to King, she remembered him as ' a woinderful gentleman.'
'We were just black people traveling, making music. We were treated like black people were treated,' she said of Southern stops.
Eventually, American music celebrity Dick Clark invited the Supremes on his Caravan of Stars tour that included black and white musicians. The Detroiters joined with Calilfornia surf musicians Jan and Dean, singer Lesley Gore and others, Wilson said.
“You had a lot of blacks and whites on the same tour bus,' Wilson said. 'That was unherard of. Dick Clark was one of our heroes.”
The Supremes and the other Motown music became popular worldwide, and they traveled to Europe and other continents to perform. As the British invasion swept North America, they were united people in England, Germany and other countries, Wilson said.
'We were changing the world and we are part of that change,' Wilson said. 'We knew we were something special and different. For our parents, this was amazing. They didn’t know anything like that.
“Music is like an ambassador, and it really helped to bridge that gap first in America and then in the world.”
Their last hit together — 'Someday We'll Be Together' — reached No. 1 in late 1969 and Ross left the Supremes a month later. Ross went on to superstardom as a solo artist with her 1970 megahit 'Ain't No Mountain High Enough' and also starred in a few big-screen films, including 'Lady Sings The Blues' in 1972.
The third original member of their trio, Ballard, died unexpectedly at age 32 of a heart attack in 1976.
In 1988, The Supremes were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
© Photo by Universal/Motown (Via MerlinFTP Drop) The Supremes, with members Mary Wilson, Diana Ross and Florence Ballard.Wilson said Ross remains a close friend, the pair born just 20 days apart in March 1944.
'We’re more than friends, we’re sisters,' she said. 'We’re not on the phone every day, every month. But we love each other dearly.”
Native Dating Near Bonita Springs Florida Area Code
Wilson went on to a solo career and wrote a few best-selling books, including 'Dreamgirl: My Life As A Supreme' in 1986. Her latest book, 'Supreme Glamour,' pubilshed last September.
© Junfu Han, Detroit Free Press, Junfu Han, Detroit Free Press Motown Museum in Detroitis trying to raise $50 million for an expansion project. Junfu Han/ Detroit Free Press Motown Museum in Detroit, Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2018.
She lives out West but still visits Detroit frequently to see family and friends, often wearing her favorite T-shirt that reads, 'I'm a Native Detroiter.'
Reflecting on her career, Wilson said she's enjoyed spreading the Motown sound throughout the world.
“I was just honored to be a part of it,' she said. 'Three little black girls from Detroit made it big.”
Dave Osborn is the regional features editor of the Naples Daily News and News-Press. Follow him on Instagram @detroitdave88 and on Twitter @NDN_dosborn.
This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: Mary Wilson, founding member of The Supremes, performed in Bonita last year; she died Monday
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