Was former Supreme Florence Ballard murdered?

London's Daily Mail is posing the possibility that Florence Ballard was murdered in a story published today. The newspaper --which is definitely a gossipy, guilty pleasure read -- quotes Ballard's older sister Maxine Ballard, who claims she confronted the man she feels is responsible for Ballard's death. I saw Maxine and several of Flo's daughters go up and greet Berry Gordy Jr. warmly (and pose for photos) at last October's Motown fundraiser at the Detroit Marriott, so there are no hard feelings there. The article implies that someone who's conveniently dead, might have done the deed. I'm a little leery about all the Flo stories that have popped up recently. The recent book by Peter Benjaminson attempts to revive a lot of tired old gossip about how Gordy and Diana Ross conspired to get Flo out of the group for no good reason. There were some good reasons. Ballard's last days in the Supremes were sad, but she was clearly not the most reliable employee, toward the end, as Mary Wilson has documented in her books. The thesis that launched the Broadway musical "Dreamgirls," that Flo should have been the Supremes' lead singer, makes for great theatrical drama, but that wasn't the real story. Flo had a great, churchy voice, but Diana's more kittenish pipes was perfect for the teenage pop Motown was churning out. Motown had already tried and failed to market Mable John's sultry, bluesy voice, and Berry Gordy knew that wasn't what his teenage market wanted. Once and for all, it'd be nice to see these ghoulish theories about poor Flo's life and death fade away.

You can reach Susan Whitall at (313) 222-2156 or swhitall@ http://detnews.com.