The Supremes at the Copa
| The Supremes at the Copa | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
||||
| Live album by The Supremes | ||||
| Released | November 1, 1965 | |||
| Recorded | August 1965 | |||
| Venue | Copacabana nightclub, Manhattan, New York City, New York | |||
| Genre | Pop, Show tunes, Soul, R&B | |||
| Length | N/A | |||
| Label |
Motown M 636 |
|||
| Producer | Berry Gordy, Lawrence Horn | |||
| The Supremes chronology | ||||
|
||||
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   |
The Supremes at the Copa is a live album by Motown singing group The Supremes, recorded during their debut engagement at the prestigious Copacabana nightclub in New York City. Released in the late fall of 1965, At the Copa was the first live album issued by The Supremes, and the only live album issued by the group's best-known lineup of Diana Ross, Florence Ballard and Mary Wilson.
Missing the Billboard LP Top 10 by a notch (#11), "The Supremes at the Copa" was a commercial success remaining on the album chart for 54 weeks. The album managed to sell over 1,000,000 copies according to Motown data.
The Supremes were following Ella Fitzgerald, Lena Horne, Sammy Davis, Jr., Sarah Vaughan, Nat King Cole and Sam Cooke, among the first African-American entertainers to appear at the Copa, and playing the club was seen by Motown CEO Berry Gordy as an in-roads into the conservative white middle-America market. Gordy and the Motown staff, including vocal director Maurice King and choreographer Cholly Atkins, invested significant amounts of time and money into preparing the Supremes for their Copa debut.
Tensions ran high at several points during the preparation stages. Florence Ballard was angered that her only solo number, "People", was now to be led by Supremes lead singer Diana Ross, while Ross herself complained about the group's staging and bristled under Gordy's criticisms of their performances. Nevertheless, the Copa engagement was a success, paving the way for several other Motown stars, including The Temptations, Marvin Gaye, Martha & the Vandellas and Smokey Robinson & the Miracles to secure play dates at the Copa.
...
Wikipedia