The family of Cindy Birdsong, a former Motown star in the Supremes, is requesting a legal conservatorship over the singer. According to the New York Times, Birdsong’s family is arguing the conservatorship is necessary both given the 83-year-old’s multiple strokes and the allegedly undue influence of a friend, Rochelle Lander. The family has asked her brother, Ronald Birdsong, and a longtime entertainment manager, Brad Herman, to be named co-conservators, and has signed power of attorney to Herman. “It has been an open secret among the Motown family, the tragedy of Cindy,†Herman told the Times.
Birdsong joined the Supremes after Florence Ballard was fired in 1967, and she continued performing with the R&B girl group through their end a decade later. As her money dried up, and after she tried to launch a solo career in the 1980s, Birdsong began living with Lander, a former actor and performer, in Los Angeles. They bonded over their Christian faith, and amid her health struggles, Birdsong signed power of attorney to Lander over a decade ago. Birdsong’s family says after the singer’s second stroke, about seven years ago, Lander began to keep Birdsong from them; at the same time, they claim, Lander was declining their financial efforts to help Birdsong. “We didn’t even know where Cindy was,†said Melody Birdsong, her sister.
In 2021, police removed Birdsong from Lander’s apartment and took her to a nursing facility, after a request from Birdsong’s family. In a video outside her apartment, Lander reportedly told police of Birdsong, “No one would help her.†A hearing is now scheduled for August.