Florence Ballard sang on 16 top 40 singles with the group, including ten number-one hits.
34 Facts About Florence Ballard
2.
Florence Ballard struggled with alcoholism, depression, and poverty for three years.
3.
Florence Ballard was making an attempt at a musical comeback when she died of a heart attack in February 1976 at the age of 32.
4.
Florence Ballard's death was considered by one critic as "one of rock's greatest tragedies".
5.
Florence Ballard was posthumously inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Supremes in 1988.
6.
Florence Glenda Ballard was born in Detroit, Michigan on June 30,1943 to Lurlee and Jesse Ballard, as the eighth of thirteen children or ninth of fifteen children.
7.
Florence Ballard's father was born Jesse Lambert in Bessemer, Alabama; after his grandmother was shot and killed, he was adopted by the Ballard family.
8.
Jesse Florence Ballard left his adoptive parents at 13, and soon engaged in an affair with Florence Ballard's mother Lurlee, who was only 14, in Rosetta.
9.
Financial difficulties forced the Ballard family to move to different Detroit neighborhoods; by the time Florence turned 15 they had settled at Detroit's Brewster-Douglass housing projects, and the next year Jesse Lambert Ballard died of cancer.
10.
Florence Ballard met future singing partner Mary Wilson during a middle-school talent show and they became friends while attending Northeastern High.
11.
From an early age, Florence Ballard aspired to be a singer and agreed to audition for a spot in the sister group and local Detroit attraction, the Primes, who were managed by Milton Jenkins.
12.
Florence Ballard eventually dropped out of high school though her groupmates graduated.
13.
Florence Ballard reacted by secluding herself in her house and refusing to come outside, which worried her groupmates.
14.
Weeks later, Florence Ballard told Wilson and Ross what had happened, and they were sympathetic.
15.
One track, "Buttered Popcorn", led by Florence Ballard, was a regional hit in the Midwest, but still failed to chart.
16.
Florence Ballard sang lead on several songs on Supremes' albums, including a cover of Sam Cooke's " Good News".
17.
Florence Ballard expressed dissatisfaction with the group's direction throughout its successful times.
18.
Florence Ballard blamed Motown Records for destroying the group dynamic by making Diana Ross the star.
19.
Florence Ballard's alcoholism led to her missing performances and recording sessions.
20.
Florence Ballard married her boyfriend, Thomas Chapman, on February 29,1968.
21.
In March 1968, Florence Ballard signed with ABC Records and released two unsuccessful singles.
22.
In January 1969, Florence Ballard performed at one of newly elected President Richard Nixon's inaugural balls.
23.
In July 1971, Florence Ballard sued Motown for additional royalty payments she believed she was due to receive but she was defeated in court by Motown.
24.
In 1974 Mary Wilson invited Florence Ballard to rejoin the Supremes, which now included Cindy Birdsong and Scherrie Payne.
25.
Later that year Florence Ballard's plight began to appear in newspapers as word of her welfare application leaked out.
26.
Around that time, Florence Ballard entered Henry Ford Hospital for rehab treatment.
27.
In early 1975, Florence Ballard received a settlement from her former attorney's insurance company.
28.
Florence Ballard performed as part of the Joan Little Defense League and was backed by female rock group the Deadly Nightshade.
29.
Florence Ballard died at 10:05 ET the next morning from cardiac arrest caused by a coronary thrombosis, at the age of 32.
30.
Florence Ballard is buried in Detroit Memorial Park Cemetery in Warren, Michigan.
31.
Florence Ballard's story has been referenced in a number of works by other artists.
32.
The central character of Effie White, like Florence Ballard, is criticized for being overweight, and is fired from the group.
33.
In 1988, Florence Ballard was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Supremes alongside Diana Ross and Mary Wilson.
34.
Florence Ballard reportedly had several domestic disputes with her husband and filed for divorce in 1973, but they reconciled in late 1975, prior to her death.