Florence Ballard

Florence Ballard
Ballard in 1965.
Background information
Birth name	Florence Glenda Ballard
Also known as	Florence Chapman
Born	(1943-06-30)June 30, 1943 Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
Died	February 22, 1976(1976-02-22) (aged 32) Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
Genres	R&B, Pop, Soul
Occupation(s)	Singer
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	1959–70; 1975–76
Labels	ABC
Associated acts	The Supremes, Diana Ross, Mary Wilson, Barbara Martin, Betty McGlown, The Marvelettes, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye

Florence Glenda Chapman (née Ballard; June 30, 1943 – February 22, 1976) was an American vocalist. She was one of the founding members of the popular Motown vocal female group the Supremes. Ballard sang on sixteen top forty singles with the group, including ten number-one hits.

After being removed from the Supremes in 1967, Ballard tried an unsuccessful solo career with ABC Records before she was dropped from the label at the end of the decade. Ballard struggled with alcoholism, depression, and poverty for three years. She was making an attempt for a musical comeback when she died of a heart attack in February 1976 at age 32. Ballard's death was considered by one critic as "one of rock's greatest tragedies". Ballard was posthumously inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Supremes in 1988.

Florence Glenda Ballard was born in Detroit, Michigan on June 30, 1943 to Lurlee (née Wilson) and Jesse Ballard, as the ninth of fifteen children. Her siblings were Bertie, Cornell, Jesse, Jr., Gilbert, Geraldine, Barbara, Maxine, Billy, Calvin, Pat, Linda and Roy. Her mother was a resident of Rosetta, Mississippi. Her father was born Jesse Lambert in Bessemer, Alabama; after his grandmother was shot and killed, he was adopted by the Ballard family. Jesse Ballard left his adoptive parents at thirteen and soon engaged in an affair with Ballard's mother, who was only fourteen, in Rosetta. The Ballards moved to Detroit in 1929. Jesse soon worked at General Motors. Jesse, an amateur musician, helped instigate Florence's interest in singing; he taught her various songs and accompanied her on guitar. Financial difficulties forced the Ballard family to move to different Detroit neighborhoods; by the time Florence turned 15 they had settled at Detroit's Brewster-Douglass housing projects, and the next year Jesse Lambert Ballard died of cancer.