Cindy Birdsong who is Sundray Tucker's sister, had already joined Mary Wilson and Jean Terrell onstage and on the "Floy Joy" album cover, as Birdsong's pregnancy became visible. After a brief hiatus, Birdsong returned to the Supremes in November 1973, replacing a pregnant Laurence and remaining with the Supremes until she retired in February 1976, frustrated with her dealings with Mary Wilson's then-husband Pedro Ferrer, who was serving as the group's manager; coincidentally, a few days before Birdsong's official departure, Florence Ballard died of cardiac arrest at the age of 32 while experiencing a financial and personal recovery. During that period, Birdsong
Cindy Birdsong being initially impressed with the looks of Patsy Holt before Holt and the group sang to him during an audition, which prompted Robinson to change his mind, signing the group and changing the name of both the group (into The Blue Belles, based from a Newtown subsidiary, Blue Belle Records) and Holt's own name, from Patsy Holt to Patti LaBelle. The group had their first hit with "I Sold My Heart to the Junkman" in 1962 though LaBelle wrote in her memoirs that the song was actually recorded by The Starlets. When the controversy over the song wound down, the