Lynda Laurence the departure of Florence Ballard in 1967 and lead singer Diana Ross in 1970, was about to lose another member of the group, Cindy Birdsong, who was expecting a baby. Birdsong originally replaced Tucker in the group The Ordettes, later to be named Patti LaBelle & the Bluebelles, so it was ironic that Tucker's sister, Laurence took Birdsong's place as a backing vocalist. At this time, Jean Terrell was the lead singer of The Supremes. Laurence joined the group around the time the group issued their "Floy Joy" album, and appeared on the cover with Terrell and Wilson, though Birdsong
Mia Birdsong to connect with the characters in these stories. There were books like Nancy Drew and Judy Blume that drew on gender invisibility, but not race. When Birdsong was a senior in high school, she read Richard Wright's "Black Boy". Though the book wasn't assigned for students to read, Birdsong chose it for her AP English class. Another influence was Public Enemy's "It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back""." With the birth of her first child in 2005, Birdsong wanted to ensure that her daughter saw herself reflected in the world around her. She wanted her daughter to