MOTOWN legend Mary Wilson of The Supremes is making a welcome return to the UK in an 20-date UK tour.

Joining her will be Chicago hit-makers The Chi-Lites.

Mary helped form a High School singing group called The Primettes with friends Florence Ballard and Diana Ross in 1958.

A fourth singer, Betty McGlown, later replaced by Barbara Martin, was soon dropped and the group became a trio.

They wanted to get on the books of Tamla Motown, but label boss Berry Gordy said they were too young.

The trio turned up at the studios every day after school until Gordy signed them in 1961, with one proviso that they changed their name; and The Supremes were born.

It was two years before they scored their first hit, When The Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes.

This was the start of a long streak of hits written by the in-house team of Holland-Dozier-Holland.

Where Did Our Love Go was their first chart-topper in 1964, followed by a trio of number Ones — Baby Love, Come See About Me and Stop in the Name Of Love.

Gordy started to promote Ross as the main focus and after The Happening was a hit in 1967, the band was renamed Diana Ross and The Supremes.

This eventually resulted in Florence Ballard being replaced by Cindy Birdsong.

In 1970, Ross left for a solo career and Jean Terrell came in.

More hits followed, like Nathan Jones and Floy Joy and by now, Mary Wilson was the only remaining original member.

By 1976, Mary’s then husband Pedro Ferrer was managing the band and in 1977, The Supremes performed for the last time, their farewell concert being at the Drury Lane Theatre in London.

Mary has done more than most to keep the spirit of The Supremes alive; she has campaigned against imposter groups using the names of bands from the ’50s and ’60s.

She is also a great charity worker, her work includes The American Cancer Society, UNICEF and The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation to name but three.

In recent years she has been involved with a touring exhibition of The Supremes’ former stage gowns.

In 2006, the film Dreamgirls was released which was based on the group’s career; and while Mary undertook personal appearances with some of the stars of the film, she went on record as saying that the film “did not depict their true story”.

Now Mary is to tour the UK with The Chi-Lites, who formed in 1959 — Marshall Thompson is the only remaining original member.

Originally The Hi-Lites, they added the “C” to commemorate the fact that they came from Chicago.

During the 1970s, they had a number of hits, including Oh Girl, Homely Girl, Too Good To Be Forgotten and the evergreen Have You Seen Her.

Their music has been sampled recently by Beyonce as her track Crazy In Love features The Chi-Lites’ Are You My Woman.

Mary said: “I just love performing in the UK. The audiences are so appreciative, it’s one of my favourite places to tour.”

The tour will be a celebration of her career — not just her time in one of the most successful girl-groups of all time. She outlined the show to me.

“We’ll probably do some of the early hits like Stop In the Name Of Love and You Can’t Hurry Love, and there’ll also be some of my solo material including songs by Sting and Stevie Wonder.”

“It’s gonna be an eclectic kind of show,” she said.

* Mary Wilson and The Chi-Lites, will be at The Southport Theatre on Friday, March 4. Tickets are available from on 0844 847 2380 or from southporttheatre.org.uk. Mary’s new live DVD is available on her website marywilson.com.