Now aged 64, just a year older than Flo would have been, Maxine Ballard Jenkins, a teacher, has rarely spoken about her sister's flirtation with stardom or her dramatic decline. Considered "one of rock's greatest tragedies", her death also meant the end to a woman trying to piece her dreams back together to sing another day. No cause of death was disclosed.. Wilson was an original member of The Supremes when the Motown group was formed in 1959. "He asked, "Do you girls sing?" Florence Ballard. 4 Min Read ... as did former Supreme Florence Ballard, who succumbed to a coronary … Both Mary Wilson and Diana Ross attended the funeral, which attracted some 5,000 fans, according to Benjaminson, who was there himself. She was 76 … No comments have so far been submitted. Maxine says: "At the beginning, Flo thought Berry was a father figure and she trusted him. Here is all you want to know, and more! Florence told an interviewer in 1975 that she, Diana & Mary would have their own hotel rooms whereas in the past, they shared one hotel room. On March 2, 2003, he died at age 75 of throat cancer in his Los Angeles home. Florence Ballard died in 1976; her official cause of death, following years of alcoholism and other ills, was coronary thrombosis. They were so close that they all bought houses on the same street - Buena Vista Avenue, Detroit.". "She bought fur coats for her friends and took them on holidays to Barbados. Whether it was jealousy or illness that lay behind her descent into alcoholism, no one knows, but the sacking took Flo completely by surprise. It was 1976 and ousted Supremes member Florence Ballard had tragically died after years of poverty and despair. Not that Flo or Maxine, the eighth and ninth out of 15 children born to a General Motors worker Jessie and his wife Lurlee, were unhappy with their lot. "But she got to be a pain in the ass and I said, "Oh, forget it." Brilliantly managed by Berry Gordy, the Motown entrepreneur who also discovered the Jackson Five, the group's hits started mounting up. "I think Flo would have loved the movie because it ends with her getting back with The Supremes," says Maxine. In fact, Florence Ballard was found dead in 1976, killed by a heart attack caused by a blood clot in her pulmonary artery. Her death has been called "one of rock's greatest tragedies" More on Flo's Death HERE . I'll see you all later." He did not confirm her cause of death. Wilson, a singer as well as best-selling author, helped form female singing group The Primettes in Detroit in 1959, alongside Diana Ross, Florence Ballard, and Betty McGlown. • Click here for all the latest TV and showbiz news and gossip. This isn't fair. 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