The Supremes performing on "The Ed Sullivan Show" on December 21, 1969. The Supremes without Ross made their final appearance altogether on "Ed Sullivan" on February 15, 1970. Diana Ross & the Supremes gave their final performance on January 14, 1970 at the Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas. At the final performance, the replacement for Diana Ross, Jean Terrell, was introduced. According to Mary Wilson, after this performance, Berry Gordy wanted to replace Terrell with Syreeta Wright. Wilson refused, leading to Gordy stating that he was washing his hands of the group thereafter. This claim is also made by Mark Ribowsky. After
The Supremes at the Copa Ballard was angered that her only solo number, "People", was now to be led by Supremes lead singer Diana Ross, while Ross herself complained about the group's staging and bristled under Gordy's criticisms of their performances. Nevertheless, the Copa engagement was a success, paving the way for several other Motown stars, including The Temptations, Marvin Gaye, Martha & the Vandellas and Smokey Robinson & the Miracles to secure play dates at the Copa. After the success of their initial Copa engagement, Mary Wilson noted that the Supremes were "welcome to play any club in the world" The group had several