TYPING IN PRACTICE # 11: THE SUPREMES
I said I was going to type a bunch of Detroit area "hometown heroes " I had, growing up in Metro Detroit. I've typed Eminem. I'm in his generation, so for me , he didn't really fit the "hometown heroes " category, although he does for many people of younger generations. However, the Supremes really were "hometown heroes" for me, in every sense of the word. And the Supremes were pretty much over by the time I was born, and when I moved up to the Detroit area, they were totally a thing of the past. Yet the fact that Diane (Diana) Ross, Florence Ballard and Mary Wilson all grew up in poverty, yet went on to become one of the greatest female singing groups of all time made them "local legends" and "hometown heroes", and with that , my education into the Supremes began.
I got so caught up in the Supremes, from that education, I auditioned for a Motown cover band to sing Supremes songs. I also have an "Essential" Supremes collection released in the mid to late 2000s, when a music distributor released the "Essential" series. I even went so far as to voice type them: Florence Ballard as a "Dugazon", a hybrid voice that has the high notes of a soprano, but the low notes of a mezzo soprano; and Diane and Mary were both mezzo sopranos with different tone quality. But I never personality typed them until now.
The resources I used for the personality typings were: "Where Did Our Love Go?: the Rise and Fall of The Motown Sound" by Nelson George, and "Dreamgirl: My Life As a Supreme " by Mary Wilson.
Step 1: identify everyone's DISC quadrant: Diane (Diana) Ross liked having authority, liked to take charge of situations, and was very determined and persistent. She clearly belongs in the D quadrant. I noticed Florence Ballard had enthusiasm, liked talking, was a promoter of people, was spontaneous, loved to have fun and liked being popular. Those things put her in the I quadrant. I noticed Mary Wilson was loyal, accommodating, sympathetic, nurturing and a peacemaker. I decided that was enough to put her in the S quadrant, yet it was not, as we shall later see. So far , for letters, we have: Diane: ET, Florence: EF, Mary, IF.
Step 2: at this early point, it was also clear that all 3 women had a conscious sensation function; because singing, dancing, performing and entertaining were all thematic in their lives. If not the overarching theme, objects was at least the incidental theme for all 3 women. So we know, none of them was an intuitive. We have only sensors present. So far for the letters, we have Diane: EST, Florence: ESF, Mary: ISF
Step 3: figure out the overarching themes. Diane's was pretty easy to see: it was power, fame, sucees, money, etc. These are all themes for ETs as either overarching or incidental. However, since these are overarching themes, we know that Te is not only conscious but in first place for Diane. Therefore, we have a type identification for one of the 3: Diane (Diana) Ross is an ESTJ. Now to move on to Mary and Florence
Step 4: I figured out the overarching theme for Mary, and it was people. So I initially typed Mary as ISFJ, but I realized if she really *were* an ISFJ, she would have probably had Diane angry at her, for "dropping the ball", more than Florence. And she would have picked up on Mary's sensitivity and dislike for change, and would have been seeing Mary as a hindrance to her dream. And, since that was not the story, I took a look at those S traits, and realized they were common secondary S traits (where S is above 50/50, but not the highest letter). As a result, I did an actual DISC assessment on Mary Wilson, and found her to be I=S, which is in Jungian typology, F-s preferring extroverted>introverted. This means that although Mary Wilson could sometimes resemble an ISFJ, more often than not, she functioned as an ESFJ. So now, we have a type identification for Mary Wilson as an imperfect, but we'll take it, ESFJ. Now on to Florence.
Step 5: Florence was definitely the hardest of the 3 to type. She suffered from depression her entire post adolescent life. But it was still clear that Florence's overarching theme was, in fact performing. That was her overarching theme, and people were just incidental. That led me to type her as ESFP, but confirming that Florence was, in fact an ESFP was a nightmare, because Florence was "depression". But the cool thing about DISC is, it is not mood related. I looked for S (Steadiness)traits in Florence, and found none. Also, what started Florence's depression was Diane and Berry Gordy (incidentally, I believe Berry Gordy is a High D as well as Diane) decreasing Florence's performance opportunities ( a real blow to an SP). When Florence's depression was so bad that she started losing interest in everything (except eating, sleeping, etc), Diane ultimately saw Florence as a stumbling block to her pursuing her own dream, and had Florence removed from the group. Florence was replaced, and the group went on. ESFPs would generally be able to take blows like that , and just wait in the wings for the ESTJ to leave the coop, much like ESFJ Mary Wilson was able to do. But because of Florence's undealt with emotional problems and trust issues she developed from being raped, she became more susceptible to spiraling into depression, when she felt like her performance opportunities were taken from her. Florence is a very sad example of what ESFPs are like when they don't take care of their mental and emotional health. Surprisingly, Florence did not commit suicide, but died from heart disease, at only 32.
So, there we have it. The 3 women who grew up in poverty in Detroit, and rising up to become one of the greatest female groups of all time, were:
Diane (Diana) Ross, an ESTJ
Florence Ballard, an ESFP, and
Mary Wilson, an ESFJ