Mary Wilson was born to Sam and Johnnie Mae Wilson in Greenville, Mississippi. She was the eldest of three children including a brother, Roosevelt, and a sister, Katherine.

Wilson married Pedro Ferrer in Las Vegas, Nevada on May 11, 1974. Their union produced three children: Turkessa, Pedro Antonio Jr. and Rafael. Wilson and Ferrer divorced in 1981.

She was an American singer and concert performer best known as a founding member of the Supremes alongside Florence Ballard, Diana Ross, and Betty McGlown.

The Supreme was the most successful Motown act of the 1960s and the best-charting female group in U.S. history as well as one of the all-time best-selling girl groups in the world.

Wilson later became a New York Times best-selling author in 1986 with the release of her first autobiography, Dreamgirl: My Life as a Supreme, which set records for sales in its genre.

As of September 2019, Mary Wilson had ten grandchildren and one great-granddaughter, which she revealed during the second episode of season 28 of Dancing with the Stars.

In 2001, Wilson received an associate degree from New York University. Wilson has received an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Paine College in Augusta, Georgia. In 2020, Wilson received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Newspaper Publishers Association.

Wilson died on February 8, 2021, in Las Vegas at 76. Two days before her death, she had announced on YouTube that she was planning to release new solo material with Universal Music Group, and hoped it would come out before March 6, her birthday.