Florence Ballard
June 310, 1943 – February 22, 1976
Florence Ballard was a founding member of influential Motown singing group, the Supremes. Born and raised in Detroit, Ballard began singing in local groups while still a teenager. In 1959, she successfully auditioned for a female vocal group called the Primettes who, after a few personnel changes eventually signed with Motown Records as the Supremes, with the most successful formation of the group including Ballard, Diana Ross and Mary Wilson. Over the next eight years with the Supremes, Ballard sang on nearly a dozen #1 hits and helped the women become one of the most influential female groups in history. In the spring of 1967, Ballard left the group and launched a solo career, but it failed to bring her back into the spotlight. Personal and financial problems plagued Florence Ballard during the final years of her life, and on February 22, 1976, she died of cardiac arrest. She was 32.
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