Kaaren Ragland is the founder of the group The Sounds of The Supremes.

Biography

Kaaren Ragland was born in Richmond, Virginia. She attended the Northfield School in Massachusetts, Brown University (BA) and studied acting at Boston University’s School of Fine Arts (MFA) where she also took classes in the Music Department. Ragland's later education included a JD from UCLA. She states that her mother, a well known Virginia educator, always stressed the importance of a well-rounded education.

Career

Ragland appeared in the National Touring production of "Eubie" with Cab Calloway, and in productions of “Little Shop of Horrors” and "Balm in Gilead" in Los Angeles. She was the first African-American ingenue] hired by the National Shakespeare Company in New York City in the mid 70’s while she was still a student at Boston University. In addition Kaaren Ragland appeared in several productions of the play “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When The Rainbow is Enuf” in Los Angeles at the Mark Taper Forum, the Huntington Hartford, and at the Buffalo Studio Arena Theatre. Over the years she appeared in more than 20 National Television Spot Commercials.

In 1977, last original and founding member Mary Wilson decided to disband The Supremes and forge a solo career. Wilson hired Ragland for concert tours in the United Kingdom, Europe, South East Asia and Australia. However, as Wilson had numerous contracts for the group with those major promoters worldwide who demanded a group and not a solo artist, Wilson contracted Kaaren Ragland as a group member. Many of those promoters still work with Ragland. (See contracts provided in the US Fed Ct Rulings Los Angeles 1996)

Late in 1989, Ragland formed a group called “The Sounds of the Supremes” with whom she has appeared in over 70 countries around the world in both Concert and Charity events. Wilson attempted to prevent her using the name "The Sounds of the Supremes” in a court action in 1996. But, based on extensive contractual evidence and her concert performance history that began in the UK in 1978 the court found in Ragland’s favor, granting her the right to use her own name: “The Sounds of the Supremes". In point of fact, Universal the owner of Motown and the moniker The Supremes has supported and hired The Sounds of the Supremes on numerous occasions, a fact supported by contracts which are part of the US Federal Court Record.

'Sounds of the Supremes' Personnel

• Kaaren Ragland, Althea Burkhalter, Angel Rose
• Former members: Roberta Freeman, Van Jewel, Wendy Smith, Hollis Payseur, Kathy Merrick, Amy Keys

External links

• The Sounds of the Supremes Group Site
• https://archive.today/20140615211724/http://www.tsdmemphis.com/index.php/entertainment/1202-

References

US Fed Ct Los Angeles 1996 Wilson v. The Sounds of the Supremes Hollywood Reporter same year