The Shirelles were an American girl group that achieved popularity in the early 1960s. They consisted of schoolmates Shirley Owens (later Shirley Alston-Reeves), Doris Coley (later Doris Kenner-Jackson), Addie "Micki" Harris (later Addie Harris McPherson), and Beverly Lee. They have been described as either the first African-American girl group to top the Billboard Hot 100, or the first girl group overall, with the song "Will You Love Me Tomorrow".Founded in 1957 for a talent show at their high school, they were signed by Florence Greenberg of Tiara Records. Their first single, "I Met Him on a Sunday", was released by Tiara and licensed by Decca Records in 1958. After a brief and unsuccessful period with Decca, they went with Greenberg to her newly formed company, Scepter Records. Working with Luther Dixon, the group rose to fame with "Tonight's the Night". After a successful period of collaboration with Dixon and promotion by Scepter, with seven top 20 hits, the Shirelles left Scepter in 1966. Afterwards, they were unable to maintain their previous popularity.The Shirelles have been described as having a "naive schoolgirl sound" that contrasted with the sexual themes of many of their songs. Several of their hits used strings and baião-style music. They have been credited with launching the girl group genre, with much of their music reflecting the genre's essence. Their acceptance by both white and black audiences, predating that of the Motown acts, has been noted as reflecting the early success of the African-American Civil Rights Movement. They have received numerous honors, including the Pioneer Award from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation, as well as being accepted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996, and named one of the 100 best acts of all time by Rolling Stone in 2004. Two of their songs, "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" and "Tonight's the Night", were selected by Rolling Stone on its list of the greatest songs of all time.
Attended Passaic High School in Passaic, New Jersey.
2
They were inducted into the 2014 New Jersey Hall of Fame in the Arts and Entertainment category.
3
The long term popularity of their 1961 hit Big John (Get Up)", #21 US Pop, was hindered by Jimmy Dean's eventual Country and Pop standard, "Big Bad John", which was released shortly after The Shirelles' "Big John" song. Suddenly, The Shirelles entry stopped receiving airplay, as DJs preferred not to play 2 songs with practically the same title.
4
They had breakthrough hit in 1958 with "I Met Him On A Sunday" #49 US Pop and followed with "Doin' The Runday" which received only minimal US east coast radio airplay.
5
Their charted US Pop hits from 1961-1962 included "Will You Love Me Tommorrow" #1, "Dedicated To The One I Love" #3 (a reissue from 1959 #89), the two-sided "What A Sweet Thing That Was" #54 / "A Thing Of The Past" #41, Mama Said" #4, Big John (Get Up)" #21 (not the Jimmy Dean song), "Baby It's You" #8, and "Soldier Boy" #1.
$14 Million
