supports Curtis, but eventually they all persuade her to acquiesce by asserting that she will have more opportunities after they are famous. Although Curtis explains that the prettier, whiter-sounding Deena will ensure them television exposure, Effie is crushed, protesting that she is the one who has 'the voice.' Effie is humiliated when C.

The girls are thrilled by Curtis' designs for their new look until he tells them that Deena will sing lead while Effie will join Lorrell in singing backup. Curtis then informs the girls that they will be forming their own group, without Jimmy, and be renamed The Dreams because they are now grown up. After the show, Lorrell confides in Deena that she has lost her virginity to Jimmy, whom she loves even though he is still married. As the number continues, however, Jimmy cannot restrain himself from breaking into some funky dance steps, and the white audience reacts with distaste. Reiterating his motto that Jimmy needs 'a new sound,' Curtis softens his rough, jive style, and when Jimmy and the Dreamettes become the first black headliners at the Paradise, they perform a sophisticated ballad. Curtis in turn lambastes Marty for being so narrow-minded that he has kept Jimmy trapped in the 'Chitlin' Circuit.' After Jimmy affirms that Curtis is his new manager, the disillusioned Marty storms out. Curtis is then confronted by Marty, who is furious that he is trying to book Jimmy into the prestigious, white-owned Paradise Hotel in Miami.

Hoping that Curtis will promote her more, Effie records a love song for him, and although Curtis promises her that he will not let her magnificent voice 'go to waste,' he cynically assumes that she is too dark-skinned and overweight to be his ticket to fame. Curtis begins his own record label, Rainbow Records, and Effie is proud of his progress when he releases a recording of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s 'I Have a Dream' speech. Because of their new prestige, the group is invited to sing at the Apollo Theatre in New York City, where C. Thanks to the bribes, which are recorded by Curtis in a ledger, Jimmy and the Dreamettes' next song reaches number one. work overtime selling cars and gamble with the proceeds. To obtain the money, Curtis, Wayne and C. Determined to obtain more radio coverage, Curtis resorts to payola, the common practice of paying off radio deejays. Curtis, Jimmy and the girls are distraught, especially when the white group is featured on the influential television show American Bandstand. The group watches excitedly as the song moves up the charts, but then, as has happened frequently with other African-American artists, the song is re-recorded by white singers, with the original version being forgotten. Marty Madison, a more old-fashioned manager than the cunning Curtis, thinks that the song is low-class, but Jimmy likes the catchy tune and records it with The Dreamettes in a recording studio that Curtis and his partner, Wayne, have erected inside their car dealership. After the tour, Effie begins a romance with Curtis, who tells Jimmy that he needs a 'new sound' and gets him to listen to one of C. Jimmy attempts to flirt with Lorrell, but Lorrell, knowing that he is married, rebuffs him. The beautiful but naГЇve Deena and giggly Lorrell continue to follow the lead of curvaceous, boisterous Effie, whom Curtis has singled out for attention because he knows that she is the most talented. They convince Effie to accept and also to allow Curtis to become their manager, and soon the starstruck girls are accompanying Jimmy on a ten-week, cross-country tour. C., Effie's brother who is their songwriter and choreographer. Although Effie is reluctant, as she considers singing backup a 'trap,' the other girls are enthusiastic, as is C. When he sees how talented the teenaged girls are, Curtis finagles them a job as backup singers for James 'Thunder' Early, a charismatic R&B performer whose infidelities have cost him his usual singers. Curtis Taylor, Jr., an ambitious Cadillac salesman who wants to break into the music business, persuades the manager to allow The Dreamettes to go on. In early 1960s Detroit, childhood friends Effie White, Deena Jones and Lorrell Robinson attempt to participate in a big talent contest, but because Effie, the powerhouse lead singer of their group, The Dreamettes, is late, the girls are told they cannot perform.

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