June 30 - Florence Ballard (The Musical Birthday Series, 3rd Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for June 30th are found here: Esa-Pekka Salonen (2019) and Lena Horne (2020)

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Florence Ballard (30 June 1943 – 22 February 1976) was an American singer and a founding member of the Supremes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

O Fortuna velut luna

After being removed from the Supremes in 1967, Ballard tried an unsuccessful solo career. She struggled with alcoholism, depression, and poverty for three years. - adapted from Wikipedia

Though Florence Ballard reached the top

   As part of the Supremes,

She felt like she was just a prop

   In someone else’s dreams.

Then Fate arrived and made a swap

   For opposite extremes,

And she was caught within a slop

   Of alcoholic schemes.

From No. 1, that’s quite a drop,

   But tragic as it seems,

There is no way that we can stop

  Fate’s archetypal themes.

 

 

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