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“As we look back through the funnel cloud oftime...” Alas, it’s not the only clunky line in Mark Ribowsky’s saga.Nevertheless, the author manages to capture some of the sights and sounds of Detroit and itsflourishing ’60s music scene in what, incredibly, seems to be the first fullbiography of the Supremes not written by an ex-member or intimate. Was thesinging trio really “the most important modern American music act after ElvisPresley,” as Ribowsky asserts? With a string of superb hit singles, theSupremes were enormously popular, despite misses and negligible albums. Andseveral years before the Jackson5, they were the acceptable face of soul music on American television, makingthem one of the spearheads forMotown’s crossover dreams. Important, sure, but more than, say, SmokeyRobinson? Ribowsky never entirely proves his case.
