Mary Wilson, formerly of the Supremes, will perform with the Funk Brothers at the UA.

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The Supremes didn't become an internationally renowned touring phenomenon all at once.

"It took some time," said Mary Wilson, one of the group's founding members, who will open the UApresents Motown Celebration with the Funk Brothers tonight. "We had something like seven records released before we actually had a hit."

The group eventually cracked the Top 40 with the song "When the Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes" in 1963, followed by a string of No. 1 singles that included "Where Did Our Love Go," "Baby Love," "Come See About Me," "Stop! In the Name of Love" and "Back in My Arms Again."

"All we wanted was to get a hit record to prove that we were as good as we thought we were," Wilson said. "Once we did that and things started going well, we realized we were kind of special."

Wilson has the distinction of being the only member of the original lineup to stick around until the group disbanded in 1977. She has since taken a different musical path, performing more jazz than Motown, but she still loves belting out the classics.

"I love singing the Supremes," she said. "Motown music is really cool. It has stood the test of time and outlived a lot of its singers. The Motown sound was really a good model for years to come. That has already been proven."

— Gerald M. Gay