Cindy Birdsong

Cynthia Ann Birdsong (born December 15, 1939) is an American singer who became famous as a member of The Supremes in 1967, when she replaced co-founding member Florence Ballard.

Birdsong had previously been a member of Patti LaBelle & The Bluebelles.

Birdsong was born in Mount Holly, New Jersey on December 15, 1939, to parents Lloyd Birdsong, Sr. and Annie Birdsong.

After living in Philadelphia for a duration of her childhood, the family returned to New Jersey, settling in Camden.

Birdsong set her sights on becoming a nurse and attending college in Pennsylvania.

When Cindy returned to Philadelphia she was contacted by a longtime friend, Patsy Holte, in 1960 to replace Sundray Tucker in Holt's singing group The Ordettes.

At twenty years of age, Birdsong was the oldest member of the group with the remainder of the group still in their mid-teens.

By 1962, the group had two new members, Sarah Dash, and Nona Hendryx, the latter two girls had sung for another vocal group which was defunct at the time.

In the same year, they auditioned for local record label owner Harold Robinson.

Robinson agreed to work with the group after hearing LaBelle sing the song "I Sold My Heart to the Junkman".

Shortly after Robinson signed them, he had them record as the Blue Belles and they were selected to promote the recording of "I Sold My Heart to the Junkman", which had been recorded by the Starlets.

It was recorded as a Bluebelles single due to label conflict.

The Starlets' manager sued Harold Robinson after the Blue Belles were seen performing a lip-synching version of the song on American Bandstand.

After settling out of court, Robinson altered the group's name to "Patti LaBelle and The Blue Belles".

Initially, a Billboard ad cited the group as "Patti Bell and the Blue Bells".

In 1963, the group scored their first hit single with the ballad "Down the Aisle".

Later in the year, they recorded their rendition of the "You'll Never Walk Alone"; the single was later re-released on Cameo-Parkway Records where the group scored a second hit on the pop charts with the song in 1964.

Another charted single, "Danny Boy", was released that same year.

In 1965, after Cameo-Parkway folded, the group signed with Atlantic Records where they recorded twelve singles for the label, including the mildly charted singles "All or Nothing" and "Take Me for a Little While".

The group's Atlantic tenure included their rendition of "Over the Rainbow" and a version of the song "Groovy Kind of Love".

By this time, Birdsong was contacted by Berry Gordy in April 1967.

She was being considered as a replacement for Florence Ballard by Diana Ross due to Ballard's "erratic behavior".

Birdsong said: "All I was told was they wanted me there. I was met at the airport by Motown executives and driven to Berry Gordy's house where the group was having a meeting with him. I was a still a member of Patti's group and didn't even tell her that I was going to Detroit. So, the door of the room swung open and Florence came out in tears. Her mother came out with her. Oh, she was so upset, so shaken, she didn't even see me. it was then I realized that I was to replace her. I felt so bad, but later on Florence understood why I did it."

Birdsong began to rehearse with the Supremes doing Ballard's work as in her place, and when Ballard was fired from the Supremes at the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas, and forced Ballard back to Detroit, Birdsong officially assumed her place during the second July 1 show.

During her tenure with the group, Gordy mostly used the Andantes on background vocals to accompany Ross instead of Birdsong nor Wilson.

However, when the single, "Someday We'll Be Together", hit number one, the group made their final television appearance with Ross, performing on The Ed Sullivan Show on December 21, 1969.

In 1970, Jean Terrell replaced Ross as lead singer of the Supremes.

However, at first, Syreeta Wright was considered a replacement but Terrell was chosen instead.

In the new group, both Wilson and Birdsong's voices were heard more prominently, including the three albums the group recorded with the Four Tops.

The group had a hit with the Four Tops with a cover version of Ike & Tina Turner's "River Deep – Mountain High".

They scored more chart success at the beginning of the new decade, scoring hits in the United Kingdom, while having several pop and soul hits in the United States, including "Up the Ladder to the Roof", "Everybody's Got the Right to Love", "Stoned Love", "Nathan Jones", and "Floy Joy".

However, Birdsong left to have her first child and was replaced by Lynda Laurence.

Birdsong later returned to replace Laurence in 1973 after Laurence left to start a family with her husband Trevor Lawrence.

It was also when Scherrie Payne joined the group as well, replacing Jean Terrell.

During that period, Birdsong contributed to two albums: The Supremes (1975) and High Energy (1976).

Birdsong was later fired from the Supremes in February 1976.

In that same year, Birdsong and Terrell then contacted Ballard to create a new group, but Ballard's death that same year cancelled their plan.

In June 1977, Wilson performed a "farewell" concert with The Supremes (by then Scherrie Payne and Susaye Greene) and thereafter embarked on a solo career.

Later that fall, Wilson was forced to play several Supremes dates, most notably in South America, that Payne and Greene would not fulfill on such short notice.

Rather than risk lawsuits, Wilson recruited Birdsong and Debbie Sharpe as her backups, performing under "Mary Wilson of the Supremes".