Jump to content

Kaaren Ragland

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Kaaren Ragland (talk | contribs) at 08:05, 10 January 2024 (I corrected libelous and inaccurate information which has been injected into my site. My name is Kaaren Ragland and they must cease and desist.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

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 during 1978 as a contracted background singer through her company "Supremes, Inc." Ragland continued to tour as a background singer for Wilson throughout the 1980s and leaving in 1989. Various venues credited Wilson's show differently - "The Supremes starring Mary Wilson," "The Supremes' Mary Wilson," "Mary Wilson & the Supremes." 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. Wilson attempted to prevent her using the name "The Sounds of the Supremes” in a Federal 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". Further, Universal who is the owner of Motown and the Supremes moniker, has supported and hired The Sounds of the Supremes consistently based on their recognition of Ms Ragland as the youngest former member of the group. (Pls see Federal Court ruling on this matter)


'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

Albums

Live At The Highclere Castle (2007)

  • 1. Symphony
  • 2. You Keep Me Hanging On
  • 3. Where Did Our Love Go
  • 4. Love Child
  • 5. Love Is Here And Now You're Gone
  • 6. Reflections
  • 7. Stoned Love
  • 8. "You Can't Hurry Love"
  • 9. Come See About Me
  • 10. Back In My Arms Again
  • 11. Baby Love
  • 12. Love Is Like an Itching in My Heart
  • 13. Stop In The Name Of Love
  • 14. Someday We'll Be Together
  • 15. "I Hear a Symphony"
  • 16. Symphony Reprise

References


Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kaaren_Ragland&oldid=1194692717"