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The Shirelles were an American girl group in the early 1960s, and were the very first girl group to have a number one single on the Billboard Hot 100. The members of the quartet were Shirley Owens (who was the main lead singer), Doris Coley, who sang lead on "Dedicated To The One I Love", "Welcome Home Baby", "Blue Holiday" and a number of 'b' sides and album cuts, Beverly Lee, and Addie 'Micki' Harris. The quartet formed in New Jersey in 1958, and went on to release a string of hits including "Baby It's You" (written by Burt Bacharach/Hal David/Barney Williams), "Mama Said", "Foolish Little Girl", and the #1 Pop hits "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" (Gerry Goffin/Carole King) and "Soldier Boy" (Florence Greenburg/ Luther Dixon). Their "Sha La La" became an international hit when covered by the UK/British group Manfred Mann, giving them a Top 5 hit in 1965, and "Boys" (The Shirelles song) was covered by the Beatles as "Girls".(Ringo Starr singing lead). The Beatles also covered "Baby It's You" on their album "Please, Please Me" in 1963. A year later, this same Burt Bacharach/ Hal David song was also a Top 30 hit in the UK for Sheffield-born singer Dave Berry.
The Shirelles were the first major female vocal group of the rock era, defining the so-called girl group sound with their soft, sweet harmonies and yearning innocence. Their music was a blend of pop and R&B, especially Doo-wop and smooth uptown soul that appealed to listeners across the board, before Motown ever became a crossover phenomenon with white audiences. Though The Chantels preceded them by several years, their international success was unprecedented, paving the way for legions of imitators; their inviting musical blueprint had an enduring influence not just on their immediate followers, but on future generations of female pop singers, who often updated their songs without losing their initial appeal. In addition, they provided some of the earliest hits for important Brill Building songwriters like Gerry Goffin & Carole King, Burt Bacharach & Hal David, and Van McCoy.
The Shirelles were originally formed in 1958 in Passaic, New Jersey by four high school friends: Shirley Owens, Doris Coley, Addie "Micki" Harris, and Beverly Lee. Christening themselves 'the Poquellos', the girls wrote a song called "I Met Him On A Sunday" and entered their school talent show with it. A school friend had them audition for her mother, Florence Greenberg, who ran a small record label; she was impressed enough to become the group's manager, and changed their name to The Shirelles by combining frequent lead singer Shirley's first name with doo-woppers the Chantels. The Shirelles' recording of "I Met Him On A Sunday" was licensed by Decca and climbed into the national Top 50 in 1958. Two more singles flopped, however, and Decca passed on further releases. Greenberg instead signed them to her new label, Scepter Records, and brought in producer Luther Dixon, whose imaginative, sometimes string heavy arrangements would help shape the group's signature sound.
"Dedicated To The One I Love" (1959), a song they learned by heart after seeing The Five Royales perform in a show they did together and "Tonight's The Night" (1960) both failed to make much of an impact on the pop charts, although the latter was a Top 20 R&B hit. However, they broke big time with the Goffin-King composition "Will You Love Me Tomorrow?"; released in late 1960, it went all the way to number one pop, making them the first all-female group of the rock era to accomplish that feat; it also peaked at number two R&B. In the UK this same song reached the top three pop chart in 1961. Its success helped send a re-release of "Dedicated To The One I Love" into the Top Five on both the pop and R&B charts in 1961 [US], and "Mama Said" did the same. A more R&B flavored outing, "Big John", also went to number two that year. 1962 continued their run of success, most notably with "Soldier Boy", a Luther Dixon/Florence Greenberg tune that became their second pop number one; they also had a Top Ten pop and R&B hit with "Baby It's You". Dixon subsequently left the label; the Shirelles managed to score one more pop/RB Top Ten with 1963's "Foolish Little Girl", but found it difficult to maintain their previous level of success. "Soldier Boy" also reached the Top 30 in the UK in 1962.
The group went on to record material for the film 'It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World', headlined the first integrated concert show in Alabama, and helped a young Dionne Warwick get some of her first exposure (subbing for Owens and Coley when each took a leave of absence to get married). A money dispute with Scepter tied up their recording schedule for a while in 1964, and although it was eventually settled, The Shirelles were still bound to a label where their run was essentially over. This was also due in part to the British Invasion, whose bands were among the first to cover their songs; not only their hits, but lesser-known items like "Boys" (the Beatles) and "Sha La La" (a hit for Manfred Mann). Some of the classic covers of the Shirelles tunes, besides the ones mentioned above include: "Dedicated To The One I Love" by The Temprees, and later the Mamas & the Papas, "Baby It's You" by The Masqueraders, "Will You Love Me Tomorrow?" by Roberta Flack.
The Shirelles scraped the lower reaches of the charts a few more times, making their last appearance, ironically, with 1967's "Last Minute Miracle". Coley left the group the following year to concentrate on raising her family, and the remaining Shirelles continued as a trio, cutting singles for Bell Records, United Artists, and RCA through 1971. The group continued to tour the oldies circuit, however, and appeared in the 1973 documentary "Let the Good Times Roll". Shirley Alston Reeves left for a solo career in 1975, upon which point Doris Kenner Jackson returned. Reeves recorded both as 'Lady Rose' (on the Scepter Strawberry subsidiary) and Shirley Alston for moonlighting Motown executive Barney Ales' Prodigal label until the label was purchased by Motown. That year, she recorded the album "With A Little Help From My Friends", in which such rock-and-roll luminaries as Shep and the Limelites, The Five Satins, Lala Brooks of the Crystals, Danny and the Juniors, the Flamingos, and the Drifters sang along with Reeves. Shirelle Micki Harris died of a heart attack during a performance in Atlanta on June 10 1982 and was replaced by Louie Bethune. When Micki Harris died, the group split into two camps: Coley fronting one group along with Fanita James and Gloria Jones of The Blossoms and occasionally, Carolyn Willis formerly of the Honey Cone; and Beverly Lee fronting the other (which featured Eloise Whittiker). This was because various groups claiming to be the Shirelles toured the oldies circuit in the '90s, so one group agreed to tour the West Coast while the other toured the East Coast so that promoters would look for an authentic Shirelle to be featured in the group. They reunited briefly for a program honoring them at the high school they attended in Passaic, New Jersey and sang background on Dionne Warwick's 1983 recording of "Will You Love Me Tomorrow?", found on her "How Many Times Can We Say Goodbye?" album. They had previously sung background for her on the song "Get Rid Of Him", an answer to their own "Foolish Little Girl", on Warwick's 'Make Way For Dionne Warwick' album. Beverly Lee eventually secured the official trademark for the group's name. The group has also been lifelong activists in the fight for royalty reform, medical coverage, and fair treatment of and recognition for pioneering artists. They were officially inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996. In 2004, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked them #76 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. "Will You Love Me Tomorrow?" (#125) and "Tonight's the Night" (401) both made Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Doris Kenner Jackson died at the age of 58 from breast cancer in Sacramento, California, on February 4 2000.
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