THE SHIRELLES
With all due respect to The Supremes, I think the best girl group of the sixties was the Shirelles. Somehow the Shirelles had a way of producing hits that "spoke to me". I can relate some significant event or person to every Shirelle hit.
David
The following history of the Shirelles was "borrowed" off the Internet.
The Shirelles, a group of 16 and 17 year olds, were all friends from Passaic High School in Passaic, New Jersey, that began singing together in 1958. Fans of the Flamingos, Chantels, and Little Anthony and the Imperials as well as the Bobbettes, The Shirelles received a large part of their musical education by listening to New York's premier R&B station at the time, WWRL.
Originally they called themselves the Poquellos (meaning birds).
The Shirelles consisted of Shirley Owens (born June 10, 1941), Addie Micki" Harris (born January 22, 1940), Beverly Lee Born August 3, 1942) and Doris Coley (born August 2, 1941) With a strong distinctive voice, Owens was the natural leader.. Their harmonizing in the school gym resulted in a teacher suggesting that they direct their talents toward the school's talent show. The Shirelles then set about to writing an original show and they wrote one about young love called "I Met Him On A Sunday." The girls sang the song a cappella in the show and were immediate sensations. Their friend Mary Jane Greenberg wanted to introduce them to her mother Florence Greenberg, who owned Tiara Records, but the girls weren't interested and turned her down. After Mary Jane's repeated request, the Poquellos finally auditioned in Florence's living room with "I Met Him on a Sunday." On February 7, 1958 they found themselves in a recording studio doing "I Met Him On A Sunday" and "I Want You To Be My Boyfriend." Deciding that they needed a more commercial name, so Florence took Shirley's name, and combined it with the Chantels and came up with the Shirelles. Promotional copies were distributed in New York in les than a week after the audition..
The single came out in March and created enough activity for Decca to buy the masters. On April 21, "I Met Him On A Sunday reached the Billboard charts, rising to #49. The single became a staple on radio stations until July. The Shirelles were booked to play the Apollo Theater in March and appeared on Dick Clark's ABC-TV Saturday show in April.
The Shirelles then began performing on the chitlin' circuit, but their mothers insisted that the teens be chaperoned. Two of the tour's older performers, Etta James and Ruth Brown became the designated den mothers.
Decca issued two more singles "My Love Is A Charm" and "Lonely Nights" both which failed to chart. The Shirelles were dropped by Decca by the end of 1958.
Eventually Luther Dixon, who had written Mama Said and Soldier Boy in addition to a number of other popular songs, left the Scepter label. The Shirelles continued to have hits in 1962, among them Welcome Home Baby and Everybody Loves A Lover. In 1963 they put their final top ten effort on the charts with Foolish Little Girl, which had been written by Howard Greenfield and Helen Miller. They had one more song reach the top forty, Don't Say Goodnight And Mean Goodbye, in 1963. They had some songs that did not do as well, and left the charts completely after 1967.The British Invasion was launched and the Shirelles were one of the casualties of its emergence. But not before the Beatles themselves paid homage to the influence of the great girl group by putting two Shirelles' songs on the Beatles' first album: Boys, a Luther Dixon song that had failed, and Baby It's You.
The Shirelles went on the oldies circuit in the 70's. Inevitably the cast was altered somewhat. Doris Coley married and became Doris Kenner (then, Doris Jackson); she left the group in 1968, then returned in 1975. Shirley Owens became Shirley Alston, and in 1975 she left for a solo career, recording as Lady Rose. The same year she recorded an album titled With A Little Help From My Friends, a title that was borrowed from a Beatles' song. And what friends they were -- appearing on the album along with Shirley were 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. Micki Harris died in 1982 and was replaced by Louie Bethune. In the 80's the girls reformed once again to sing backup on a Dionne Warwick record. There is a two-disc anthology on Rhino that includes nearly all of the Shirelles hits, of which there were many.
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These Shirelle favorites are from my personal collection. Enjoy.
"This Is Dedicated To The One I Love"
"Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow"