10 Music Artists Who Quit In Their Prime
3. Cindy Birdsong
Cindy Birdsong found success in not one but two Sixties girl groups, first finding fame with Patti LaBelle and The Bluebells, appearing on hits like Down The Aisle(The Wedding Song), before jumping ship to join Diana Ross and The Supremes.
Leaving her former band mates behind caused a rift that lasted decades, but The Supremes were far and away the biggest girl group of their era.
Weirdly, Birdsong’s voice scarcely appears record for her first two and a half years as a supreme. Though Birdsong performed live with the band, Diana Ross generally relied on different backing singers in the studio. Nonetheless, publicly at least, Cindy Birdsong was one third of her generation’s Destiny’s Child.
After Ross departed the group, Birdsong’s vocals were more prominent on the band’s records and, barring a brief break to give birth to her first child, enjoyed another seven years with the group.
In 1977, frustrated with the group’s manager, it was Cindy’s turn to leave the group. She didn’t go solo or join another group at this point. Instead, she returned to her original ambition and dropped out of music entirely to work as a nurse. Not many people could make the transition from fame, success and adoring fans to helping the sick and changing bedpans.