Three young women from Detroit, a string of irresistible songs and a sound that made the world want to dance. Sixty years ago today, The Supremes achieved something no all-female group had done before.
Remember You Can’t Hurry Love? Or Baby Love, Stop! In the Name of Love and Where Did Our Love Go?
For anyone who grew up in the 1960s, those opening notes can bring back memories of school dances, transistor radios and Saturday nights out.
On October 22, 1966, Diana Ross, Mary Wilson and Florence Ballard made music history when their album The Supremes A’ Go-Go reached No. 1 on the American album chart.
And they knocked The Beatles’ Revolver off the top to get there.
The trio had already become international stars, but this achievement was particularly significant. It was the first time an all-female group had topped America’s main album chart.
Their polished harmonies, glamorous gowns and unforgettable songs made The Supremes one of Motown’s greatest success stories.
Behind the hits was the extraordinary songwriting team of Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier and Eddie Holland, who helped give the group its unmistakable sound.
The album included You Can’t Hurry Love, a song that would find another generation of fans when Phil Collins recorded his own hit version in 1982.
Diana Ross left the group in 1970 to begin her solo career, while Florence Ballard died in 1976 and Mary Wilson in 2021.
But those records are still capable of filling a dance floor.
On October 22, 1962, US President John F. Kennedy addressed Americans on television with frightening news.
Soviet nuclear missiles had been discovered in Cuba, just 145 kilometres from the Florida coast.
Kennedy announced a naval quarantine to prevent further offensive weapons reaching the island and demanded the removal of the missiles already there.
The Cuban Missile Crisis brought the United States and Soviet Union dangerously close to nuclear war before a resolution was reached days later.
Disney sweetheart Annette Funicello was born on October 22, 1942, and would have turned 84 today.
A favourite on The Mickey Mouse Club, she later starred alongside Frankie Avalon in a string of popular beach movies. She died in 2013.
French screen legend Catherine Deneuve, remembered for The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and Belle de Jour, turns 83.
And Christopher Lloyd, beloved as Doc Brown in the Back to the Future films, celebrates his 88th birthday.
Were you a Supremes fan in the 1960s? Which of their songs takes you straight back to your younger days?
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