Music
Betty McGlown
1941–2008 · singer
Detroit singer and founding member of the Primettes, the girl group that became the Supremes.
- Born
Detroit, Michigan- Died
Royal Oak, Michigan
aged 66- Also known as
- Betty McGlown-Travis · Betty Travis
- Detroit years
- 1941–2008
- Field
- Music
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
In 1959 Milton Jenkins, manager of the Detroit vocal group the Primes, went looking in the city's neighborhoods for girls to form a sister act. He found Florence Ballard, who recruited Mary Wilson; Paul Williams of the Primes brought in Diana Ross; and McGlown, who was dating Williams, became the fourth Primette. Accompanied by guitarist Marv Tarplin, the girls sang for Berry Gordy, who liked them but told them to finish school first. On the small Detroit label Lu Pine, McGlown sang backup on Wilson's "Pretty Baby" and Ross's "Tears of Sorrow", her only known recordings. All four sang lead on stage, but McGlown never did on record. She left in 1960 to marry, and Barbara Martin took her place months before the group signed with Motown as the Supremes. She died in Royal Oak in 2008.
Highlights
- Founding member of the Primettes (1959)
- Sang backup on the Primettes' Lu Pine single
- Left in 1960, before the group became the Supremes