A Rockapaedia Obituary
Barbara Martin
Groups: The Primettes, The Supremes
Barbara Martin died aged seventy-six on 4th March 2020 in Detroit, Michigan, United States of America. She was born Barbara Diane Martin on 16th June, 1943 in Detroit, Michigan, United States of America.
After Betty McGlown left the Primettes due to her upcoming nuptials, Barbara Martin replaced her in the group in 1960. Barbara and her group mates, Diana Ross, Mary Wilson and Florence Ballard, signed a recording contract with the Tamla Motown founder Berry Gordy in January, 1961 as the Supremes, a name that Berry Ballard had chosen from a list of possible names
While recording a handful of early singles, none of which became hits, Barbara Martin, Wilson, Ross, and Ballard worked as studio backing singers, providing vocals and rhythmic effects, such as hand claps, for Tamla Motown's leading groups. In October 1961, Barbara Martin became pregnant. Her husband supported her decision to stay in the group, but, she left in the Spring of 1962 leaving The Supremes a trio.
Although Barbara Martin sang on many of the group's early singles, including a shared lead vocal with Diana Ross on "(He's) Seventeen"), and most of the tracks on the group's first album, 'Meet the Supremes', she is not pictured on the album's cov
er.
After leaving the Supremes, Barbara Martin eventually earned a degree in psychology and worked in mental health but she never spoke publicly about her tenure with the Primettes and Supremes and has denied interviews over the years, with the exception of one interview she gave in 2009 for the 2010 release of 'Meet the Supremes'.
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