Mary Wilson in town to perform her “Up Close” show of intimate jazz and standards at Herb Albert’s Vibrato

You all know I’m nuts about The Supremes and can boast that I have interviewed all three members of the 1967-70 version of the group: Diana Ross, Mary Wilson and Cindy Birdsong.

While I’ve seen Miss Ross perform in concert many times, tomorrow night will be the first time I’ve seen Mary on stage and I’m really looking forward to it.

Mary, who turned 70 this year,will be doing two shows on Tuesday night at Herb Alpert’s Vibrato Grill Jazz in Bel Air.

‘The show is my Up Close American Songbook of standards – not my rock and roll show with the Supreme songs and all that,’ Mary told me during our chat last Friday.

She had just arrived in Los Angeles from her home base in Las Vegas and was happy to be doing her show of ballads after six weeks in Europe doing the rock songs.

‘I like to reinvent myself and doing something totally different than what people know me by,’ she says. ‘Most entertainers feel the same way. As a performer, that’s what keeps it exciting.’

Among the songs Mary will be singing are Smile, Here’s to Life, What a Wonderful World, Body and Soul and Spring is Here, among others.

‘I tell the story of my life in song – every song is close and related to me.’

And what a life story it is.

She was still a girl when she formed a singing group with some girls in her Detroit neighborhood including two named Diane Ross and Florence Ballard.

Originally a quartet named The Primettes, the group later became a trio named The Supremes and are still the most successful girl group of all time.

They ruled the charts through much of the 1960s with such hits as Where Did Our Love Go, You Can’t Hurry Love, Reflections, Baby Love, I Hear a Symphony, Love Child and Someday We’ll Be Together, among many others.

Ross left the group in 1970 but Wilson and Birdsong – who replaced Ballard in 1967 – remained with a new lead singer named Jean Terrell. The 1970s Supremes enjoyed such hits as Stoned Love, Floy Joy and Up the Ladder to the Roof.

Several lead singers later, The Supremes finally disbanded in 1977 with Wilson the only member to have been a part of every incarnations.

She’s also authored two best sellers about her years with the group: Dreamgirl: My Life as a Supreme and Supreme Faith.

Since her days singing background with Ballard, Birdsong and others, Wilson’s confidence as a singer has grown and Wilson has never stopped working as a solo act.

‘When I was doing the shows in Europe, I was all over the stage – my energy was so good,’ Wilson says of her recent tour. ‘I love what I do and when I’m on that stage, it’s like being in heaven.’