And so we come to the end of an era. This is not only the last song of the Sixties decade, it’s the last number one that the Supremes ever had and it was the last song for Diana Ross. In fact, of the three Supremes, Diana is the only one who sings on this record. The background singers are Maxine and Julia Waters, not Mary Wilson and Cindy Birdsong who were two-thirds of the Supremes at this point.

“Someday We’ll Be Together” was written years earlier, in 1961, by Johnny Bristol, Jackey Beavers and Harvey Fuqua. They were recording as “Johnny and Jackey” for the Tri-Phi label, and they recorded “Someday” themselves, but no one paid any attention and the song died. In the mid-Sixties, Tri-Phi was bought out by Motown in the mid-Sixties and all three of them came to work for Berry Gordy. They didn’t do much singing for Gordy, they were more in the writer and producer role.

As the Sixties came to an end, Gordy wanted one last song for Diana Ross and asked Bristol if he knew of anything. Bristol remembered the old song and played it for Gordy. He was blown away and immediately took the song to Diana and the song was recorded.

On the night that they recorded the song, Diana was exhausted and, so Johnny Bristol went into the studio with her and gave her encouragement from a sound booth. Bristol meant for his voice to be taken out in the final pressing, but Gordy liked it and so it was kept in. If you listen to the song, you will hear a man’s voice come in a various times with short remarks. That is Johnny Bristol.

The Supremes did sing the song together on their last appearance on the Ed Sullivan show. They had performed on the show 20 times during the decade, but this would be the last time and all three girls were there. The very last time Diana Ross sang with the two other girls was in Las Vegas on January 14, 1970 at the Frontier Hotel. They sang the last song of the night, “Someday We’ll Be Together” at 11:54 P.M. on that night and the curtain closed on the group, the Supremes. Diana left to a very successful solo career.

The Supremes continued with Jean Terrell taking Diana’s place and while they continued to chart on the Top 40, the new group never had a number one. The highest they achieved was number seven with “Stoned Love.”

The personnel of the Supremes varied over the years, but it wasn’t until May 16, 1983 when Diana Ross rejoined Mary Wilson and Cindy Birdsong for the Motown 25th Anniversary as seen on NBC. That was the night Michael Jackson moon-walked for the first time and that was the night that the Supremes were back together, at least for a brief time.

“Someday We’ll Be Together” debuted on the pop charts on November 15, 1969 and spent one week at number one, the last week of the year and the last week of the decade. It was the Supremes’ 20th number one and their last