Former Ladies of the Supremes to which she agreed, and called on former Supremes Mary Wilson and Cindy Birdsong. Wilson declined, instead opting to forge a solo career, while Birdsong agreed and coaxed former Supreme Jean Terrell to join the new Supremes group (By early 1976, was stated that Terrell and Birdsong would try to create a new group alongside original supreme Florence Ballard, but Ballard's sudden death cancelled their plans). The three of them set about forming a new incarnation of The Supremes, although due to contractual difficulties over the ownership of the name (Mary Wilson was involved in lengthy lawsuits with Motown over
Patti LaBelle to marry. In 1962, the Ordettes included three new members, Cindy Birdsong, Sarah Dash and Nona Hendryx, the latter two girls having sung for another now defunct vocal group. That year, they auditioned for local record label owner Harold Robinson. Robinson agreed to work with the group after Patti began singing the song "I Sold My Heart to the Junkman". Initially Robinson was dismissive of Patti due to his feeling Patti was "too dark and too plain". Shortly after signing them, he had them record as the Blue Belles and they were selected to promote the recording of "I Sold