| Farewell | ||||
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| Live album by Diana Ross & the Supremes | ||||
| Released | April 13, 1970 | |||
| Recorded | New Frontier Hotel and Casino, January 14, 1970, 11:54 p.m. – 1:00 a.m. | |||
| Genre | Pop/Soul/Broadway | |||
| Length | N/A | |||
| Label | Motown MS2-708 |
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| Producer | Deke Richards | |||
| Diana Ross & the Supremes chronology | ||||
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| Alternative cover | ||||
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1992 reissue cover, Captured Live on Stage!.
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| Allmusic | [1] |
Farewell is a 1970 live album by Diana Ross & the Supremes. The album was recorded over the course of the group's final engagement together at the New Frontier Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, including the final night on January 14, 1970. The show marked Diana Ross' final performance with Supremes Mary Wilson and Cindy Birdsong. At the conclusion of the show, new Supremes lead singer Jean Terrell was brought onstage and introduced to the audience.
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The material performed in the show was a mix of popular Supremes hits, cover songs, and Broadway showtunes. During the extended twenty-minute rendition of "Let The Sunshine In", Diana Ross walked through the audience and let some of the guests sing the title-chorus of the song; some of these guests included Smokey Robinson and his wife Claudette, Dick Clark, Lou Rawls, Steve Allen, Bill Russell, Johnny Carson, and Marvin Gaye.
The live album was issued as a two-LP deluxe edition box set, produced by Deke Richards. The album was reissued as a single disc under the title Captured Live on Stage! in 1982, and as a two-disc compact disc reissue Captured Live on Stage!, in 1992.
According to Mary Wilson, Berry Gordy had last-minute reservations about having Terrell replace Ross, as she was more independent and headstrong than Ross had been. Gordy called Wilson during the early morning hours following the final show, and informed her that he was going to instead replace Ross with his original choice for a Ross replacement, Syreeta Wright.
Terrell, Wilson, and Cindy Birdsong had already recorded most of the material for the first post-Ross Supremes album, Right On, and Terrell had just been publicly introduced as the newest Supreme, so Wilson refused and threatened to quit if Gordy dropped Terrell. Gordy angrily replied he would "wash his hands of the group", and hung up the telephone receiver.
The Terrell-led Supremes enjoyed a number of hits following Ross' departure, including "Up the Ladder to the Roof", "Stoned Love", "River Deep – Mountain High" (with The Four Tops), "Nathan Jones", "Floy Joy", "Automatically Sunshine", and their last Top 40 Billboard Pop Chart hit in 1976, "I'm Gonna Let My Heart Do the Walking" -- although promotion and backing from Motown decreased. The Supremes carried on through the middle of the decade, briefly enjoying disco hits, concert touring, and television appearances, before finally disbanding officially in 1977.