This is the third number one for the Supremes in succession and their tenth number one overall. It is also the last single the Supremes recorded with Florence Ballard as backup singer. Go back to the article on “Love is Here and Now You’re Gone” to read about the problems they were having with Florence. As mentioned in the earlier article, Cindy Birdsong stepped in and took over Florence’s spot.

Probably the main thing that drove Florence away from the group was that right about this time, Berry Gordy officially changed the name of the group to “Diana Ross and the Supremes.” If Florence didn’t feel appreciated before, she really felt pushed to the background now. This led to her being fired in July. Mary Wilson stayed but later said that with the name change, she knew it was only a matter of time before Diana left the group completely and went solo. And, of course, she was right. Diana Ross left the group in 1969.

This was also the first Supremes’ song that was not written just by Holland-Dozier-Holland, who thus far had written all of their hits. This time, they brought in a fourth person Frank DeVol. “The Happening” was the theme of a movie also called The Happening which was released in March, 1967 and starred Anthony Quinn and George Maharis. According to IMDB, It’s a comedy about a couple hippies who “go with the flow” and accidently kidnap a Mafia kingpin. The song did better than the movie, which pretty much flopped. But, the song went to number one. Frank Devol was the musical director for the movie, so he assisted in writing the title song.

This was the last song to feature the name “The Supremes” and, as I said, it was the last song that included Florence Ballard. Surprisingly enough, it was also the last number one recorded by the Supremes which was written by Holland-Dozier-Holland. H-D-H thought they could do better independently, so soon after this, they left Motown and started their own record label, Hot Wax Records. Lamont Dozier thought the group would go on just fine without them, but the Supremes had trouble after this. H-D-H did write three more songs for the Supremes before they left Motown, “Reflections,” (#2) “In and Out of Love,” (#9) and “Forever Came Today” (#28.) The girls would have only two more number ones after the departure of H-D-H. “Love Child” in 1968 and “Someday We’ll Be Together” in 1969. That would be the end of number ones for the group.

After leaving the group, Florence Ballard tried a solo career, but had little success. She ended up on welfare for awhile but on June 25, 1968, she was asked to sing at a benefit at Ford Auditorium in Detroit where she received a standing ovation. In 1976, Florence died of cardiac arrest at the age of 32.

“The Happening” debuted on the pop charts on April 15, 1967 and spent one week at number one.