After Lionel Richie left the Commodores to pursue a solo career in the 80's, the group tried to soldier on, but landed only one final top 40 hit, 1985's "Night Shift", a tribute to Jackie Wilson & Marvin Gaye, the latter of whom passed away two years before "Shift".
15 years earlier, the Supremes underwent a similar change, as Diana Ross left to pursue a solo career, as well as a modestly successful acting career. Jean Terrell succeeded Miss Ross as the lead voice of the trio, but their final #1 on the R & B charts was 1970's "Stoned Love", which brought the revamped Supremes to Soul Train 2 years later.
You'd be forgiven if you thought Diana Ross was on vocals if you'd only heard the song on the radio. Jean Terrell's vocals are similar, but not exactly like Miss Ross.
There was some trepidation about the song, though, due to the connotations of the word, "stoned", in connection with drug and/or alcohol use, such that a performance was edited off the trio's appearance on The Merv Griffin Show when Merv had a late night berth on CBS.
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