#FLOSFRIDAY celebrating 34 years with the Former Ladies of The Supremes.

On Fridays we celebrate the legacy of The Former Ladies of The Supremes, we call it #FLOSFriday.  
Today we are going back to the spring of 2000 when The Former Ladies of The Supremes' Scherrie Payne and Lynda Laurence joined with Diana Ross for the "Diana Ross & The Supremes Return To Love Tour."

TEXT: David Kramlick

After receiving several telephone calls and emails from Jean Terrell, Scherrie Payne, Lynda Laurence and Susaye Greene, we knew Diana Ross was calling and everything around us seemed as if it was heightened.  It was a whole new level of Supremeness with Diana calling!

First up, there was supposed to be a photo shoot in New York with ALL the former group members.  Everyone was to wear white clothing.  But due to bad weather (pun intended) conditions, at the last minute the photo shoot was scrapped and never rescheduled.  Imagine a photo with Diana Ross, Mary Wilson, Cindy Birdsong, Jean Terrell, Lynda Laurence, Scherrie Payne and Susaye Greene all dressed in white?   What a missed opportunity that was on so many levels 

Next up Diana Ross & The Supremes make their debut on Oprah!   Scherrie and Lynda invited Steve Weaver, Eric Iversen and me to accompany them as their guests for the Oprah Winfrey Show.  Of course, we said yes!  Imagine that, we were not only going to see Diana Ross & The Supremes for the first time, we were going to the Oprah Show!

On the day of the show, we rode with Diana’s band from the beautiful Palmer House Hilton Hotel, where we were staying, to Harpo studios.  Once there, we went into the artists entry door right along with Scherrie, Lynda and the band!  We were given badges that said, “Full Access.”    

One of the show’s producers ushered us down a hallway covered with photos of Oprah and past guests.  We took our time and strolled down the hallway gawking at the photos of the many artists we recognized and with whom we admired.  

Once inside the dressing room, we were in awe at how nice the amenities were.  At one point, while Scherrie and Lynda were getting ready there was knock on the door.  I got up to answer it and a young lady stuck her head in the door and said, “Miss Ross wants to know if everything is alright with the dressing room.”  How could I not smile while saying, “Tell Miss Ross that everything is just great, and we are all very excited!”  Throughout the time that Scherrie and Lynda were getting ready, that same woman popped her head in the door about three times saying Diana wanted to make sure that Scherrie and Lynda had everything they needed.    

Diana cared about Scherrie and Lynda and she wanted to make sure they were being taken care of.  She was truly so kind to them throughout the tour.   We spoke to Scherrie and Lynda several times when they were on the tour and when they returned home.  They told us what a wonderful person Diana Ross is and how she was involved in every single aspect of the tour.  She worked non-stop.  At one point someone said, “It must really be tiring to be Diana Ross!”   They also told us how kind and lovely she was to work with.   They had a ball!

At that time of RTL, the FLOS had a fan club.  We produced newsletters four times a year.  Diana always received a copy of the newsletters when I mailed them out so she was familiar with our work.  When Diana saw the RTL newsletters, she admired them telling Scherrie and Lynda that they were lucky to have us in their corner.  When Diana signed our RTL tour book, she signed, “Thanks for all that you do for us, Diana Ross.”   And when the tour ended early, Diana sent me a note through her assistant that she wanted us to publish in the newsletter, which we did. 

I hope that you enjoy the photos we have chosen for today’s #FLOSFriday, some of them are from our newsletters that featured RTL!  And I hope that you will check back next Friday for part two of our RTL adventure!

David Kramlick,
proud member of the Supreme Team.