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Shirley Owens | |
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 Owens in 2008 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | June 10, 1941 Henderson, North Carolina, U.S. |
| Origin | Passaic, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Genres | R&B, pop, soul |
| Occupation(s) | Singer |
| Years active | 1958–present |
| Formerly of | The Shirelles |
Shirley Alston Reeves (born June 10, 1941), born Shirley Owens, is an American soul singer who was the main lead singer of the hit girl group the Shirelles.
In addition to Owens, The Shirelles consisted of fellow Passaic High School (New Jersey) alumni Doris Kenner Jackson, Addie "Micki" Harris McPhadden and Beverly Lee. Owens' strong, distinctive voice meant that she was a natural choice for the lead singer, though Jackson was also featured as lead on several songs, as well.
Reeves enjoyed a string of hits with The Shirelles throughout the 1960s, the most notable being "Will You Love Me Tomorrow". She left The Shirelles in 1975 to begin a solo career, initially recording under the name "Lady Rose".
The Shirelles were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996. [1] She also performed on the Doo Wop 51 PBS special in 2000.
In 1975, she recorded an album entitled With A Little Help From My Friends, after the hit song by the Beatles, which featured members of the Flamingos, the Drifters, Shep and the Limelites, the Five Satins, the Belmonts, Danny & the Juniors, Herman's Hermits and La La Brooks of the Crystals. [2]
Shirley continues to tour under the name 'Shirley Alston Reeves and her Shirelles'. [3]
Through marriages, she became Shirley Alston and later, Shirley Alston Reeves. Her nephew, Gerald Alston is the lead singer of The Manhattans.
| Year | Album | Billboard 200 [4] | Record label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1960 | Tonight's the Night | — | Scepter Records |
| The Shirelles Sing to Trumpets and Strings | — | ||
| 1962 | The Shirelles and King Curtis Give a Twist Party | — | |
| Baby It's You | — | ||
| 1963 | Foolish Little Girl | 133 | |
| It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World [5] [6] | — | ||
| 1965 | Hear and Now | — | Pricewise Records |
| Swing the Most | — | ||
| 1967 | Spontaneous Combustion | — | Scepter Records |
| 1971 | Happy and in Love | — | RCA Records |
| 1972 | The Shirelles | — | |
| 1973 | Eternally, Soul | — | Scepter Records |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart. | |||
| Year | Album | Billboard 200 [7] | Record label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1963 | The Shirelles' Greatest Hits | 67 | Scepter Records |
| 1964 | The Shirelles Sing the Golden Oldies | — | |
| 1967 | The Shirelles's Greatest Hits Vol. II | — | |
| 1972 | Remember When Volume 1 | — | Wand Records |
| Remember When Volume 2 | — | ||
| 1973 | The Shirelles Sing Their Very Best | — | Springboard |
| 1975 | The Very Best of the Shirelles | — | United Artists Records |
| 1984 | Anthology 1959–1964 | — | Rhino Records |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart. | |||
| Year | Single (A-side, B-side) Both sides from same album except where indicated | Chart positions | Album | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US [8] | US R&B [8] | UK [9] | |||
| 1958 | "I Met Him on a Sunday (Ronde-Ronde)" b/w "I Want You to Be My Boyfriend" | 49 | — | — | Non-album tracks |
| "My Love Is a Charm" b/w "Slop Time" | — | — | — | ||
| "I Got the Message" b/w "Stop Me" | — | — | — | ||
| 1959 | "Dedicated to the One I Love" b/w "Look a Here Baby" (Non-album track) | 83 | — | — | Tonight's the Night |
| "Doin' the Ronde" b/w "A Teardrop and A Lollipop" (Non-album track) | — | — | — | ||
| 1960 | "Please Be My Boyfriend" b/w "I Saw a Tear" (from The Shirelles Sing to Trumpets and Strings) | — | — | — | The Shirelles' Greatest Hits Vol. II |
| "Tonight's the Night" b/w "The Dance Is Over" | 39 | 14 | — | Tonight's the Night | |
| "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" b/w "Boys" | 1 | 2 | 4 | ||
| 1961 | "Dedicated to the One I Love" (reissue) b/w "Look a Here Baby" (Non-album track) | 3 | 2 | — | |
| "Mama Said" b/w "Blue Holiday" | 4 | 2 | — | The Shirelles Sing to Trumpets and Strings | |
| "A Thing of the Past" b/w "What a Sweet Thing That Was"(from The Shirelles Sing to Trumpets and Strings) | 41 54 | 26 — | — — | Baby It's You | |
| "Big John (Ain't You Gonna Marry Me)" b/w "Twenty-One" | 21 | 2 | — | Baby It's You | |
| "Baby It's You" b/w "Things I Want to Hear (Pretty Words)" | 8 107 | 3 — | — — | ||
| 1962 | "Soldier Boy" b/w "Love Is a Swingin' Thing" (from Give a Twist Party) | 1 109 | 3 — | 23 — | |
| "Welcome Home, Baby" b/w "Mama, Here Comes the Bride" | 22 104 | 20 — | — — | Give a Twist Party (With King Curtis) | |
| "Stop the Music" b/w "It's Love That Really Counts (In the Long Run)" | 36 102 | — — | — — | The Shirelles' Greatest Hits | |
| "Everybody Loves a Lover" b/w "I Don't Think So" (from Foolish Little Girl) | 19 | 15 | — | ||
| 1963 | "Foolish Little Girl" b/w "Not for All the Money in the World" | 4 100 | 9 — | 38 — | Foolish Little Girl |
| "Don't Say Goodnight and Mean Goodbye" b/w "I Didn't Mean to Hurt You" | 26 | — | — | ||
| "What Does a Girl Do?" b/w "Don't Let It Happen to Us" (Non-album track) | 53 | * | — | The Shirelles Swing the Most | |
| "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" b/w "31 Flavors" | 92 97 | * | — — | It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World | |
| 1964 | "Tonight You're Gonna Fall in Love with Me" b/w "20th Century Rock N' Roll" (from It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World) | 57 | * | — | Hear & Now |
| "Sha-La-La" b/w "His Lips Get in the Way" (from The Shirelles Swing the Most) | 69 | * | — | ||
| "Thank You Baby" b/w "Dooms Day" (from Hear & Now) | 63 | * | — | The Shirelles' Greatest Hits Vol. II | |
| "Maybe Tonight" b/w "Lost Love" | 88 125 | * | — — | Hear & Now | |
| "Are You Still My Baby" b/w "I Saw a Tear" (from The Shirelles Sing to Trumpets and Strings) | 91 | * | — | Non-album tracks | |
| 1965 | "Shhh, I'm Watching the Movie" b/w "A Plus B" | — | — | — | |
| "March (You'll Be Sorry)" b/w "Everybody's Goin' Mad" (from It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World) | 108 | — | — | ||
| "My Heart Belongs to You" b/w "Love That Man" (Non-album track) | 125 | — | — | The Shirelles' Greatest Hits Vol. II | |
| "Mama, My Soldier Boy Is Coming Home" b/w "Soldier Boy" (from Baby, It's You) | — | — | — | Non-album track | |
| 1966 | "I Met Him on a Sunday – '66" b/w "Love That Man" (Non-album track) | — | — | — | The Shirelles' Greatest Hits Vol. II |
| "Que Sera Sera" b/w "Till My Baby Comes Home" | — | — | — | Remember When | |
| "Shades of Blue" b/w "When the Boys Talk About the Girls" (from Remember When) | 122 | — | — | Non-album tracks | |
| "Teasin' Me" b/w "Look Away" | — | — | — | ||
| 1967 | "Don't Go Home (My Little Darlin')" b/w "Nobody Baby After You" (Non-album track) | 110 | — | — | The Shirelles' Greatest Hits Vol. II |
| "Bright Shiny Colors" b/w "Too Much of a Good Thing" | — | — | — | Non-album tracks | |
| "Last Minute Miracle" b/w "No Doubt About It" | 99 | 41 | — | Spontaneous Combustion | |
| 1968 | "Sweet Sweet Lovin'" b/w "Don't Mess with Cupid" | — | — | — | Non-album tracks |
| "Call Me (If You Want Me)" b/w "There's a Storm Going On in My Heart" | — | — | — | ||
| 1969 | "A Most Unusual Boy" b/w "Look What You've Done to My Heart" | — | — | — | |
| "Playthings" b/w "Looking Glass" | — | — | — | ||
| "Go Away and Find Yourself" b/w "Never Give You Up (Never Gonna Give You Up)" | — | — | — | ||
| 1970 | "There Goes My Baby/Be My Baby" b/w "Strange, I Love You" | — | — | — | |
| "It's Gonna Take a Miracle" b/w "Lost" | — | — | — | ||
| "Dedicated to the One I Love" (new version) b/w "Take Me" | — | — | — | ||
| 1971 | "No Sugar Tonight" b/w "Strange, I Love You" | — | — | — | Happy and In Love |
| 1972 | "Sunday Dreaming" b/w "Brother, Brother" | — | — | — | The Shirelles |
| 1973 | "Let's Give Each Other Love" b/w "Deep in the Night" (from The Shirelles) | — | — | — | Non-album tracks |
| "Do What You've a Mind To" b/w "Touch the Wind" | — | — | — | ||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory. | |||||
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Gerald Alston is an American soul/R&B singer, and the lead singer of the Grammy Award winning group The Manhattans between late 1970 and 1988, recording 25 top 40 R&B and 12 Hot 100 Pop Singles. Alston was lead singer on their most successful 1976 Platinum song "Kiss and Say Goodbye", which topped all U.S. pop and R&B charts and was number one in four countries. Alston left the group in 1988 to pursue a solo career and recorded five albums and ten singles, including the hit singles "Take Me Where You Want To", "Slow Motion" and "Getting Back into Love", he also recorded a remake of Atlantic Starr's "Send for Me", most of which was for Motown Records.
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"Tonight's the Night" is a song by the American girl group the Shirelles, from their 1961 album Tonight's the Night. Written by Luther Dixon and Shirley Owens, the song dealt with a woman's feelings before losing her virginity and was released as the pre-album's second single in 1960. In 2010, Rolling Stone listed as one of the 500 greatest songs of all time.
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Foolish Little Girl is a 1963 album by The Shirelles. The title track turned out to be the last of the group's big hits, stopping at number four on the U.S. pop charts. The album's other single, "Don't Say Goodnight and Mean Goodbye," was The Shirelles' last top forty US hit. Cash Box described it as "a tender, soft beat cha cha weeper...that the gals again polish off with finesse." Despite their weakening chart impact, the demand for Shirelles recordings continued to grow. The same year, they had provided material for the film It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World. By this period, the main producer of The Shirelles, Luther Dixon, had gone to Capitol Records and production was taken over by Stan Green; some of Dixon's previously recorded tracks with the group appear on this album. Foolish Little Girl also contains material by Ellie Greenwich and Van McCoy.
Baby It's You! is a jukebox musical written by Floyd Mutrux and Colin Escott, featuring pop and rock hits of the 1960s, with a special emphasis on songs by the Shirelles and other acts signed to Scepter Records. The show "tells the story of Florence Greenberg and Scepter Records, the label Greenberg started when she signed the Shirelles." After several tryouts and premieres, the show debuted on Broadway in April 2011, directed by Sheldon Epps.
"Foolish Little Girl" is a song written by Helen Miller and Howard Greenfield and performed by The Shirelles. The song reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100, #9 on the R&B chart, and #38 on the UK Singles Chart in 1963. The song appeared on their 1963 album, Foolish Little Girl. The song was ranked #57 on Billboard magazine's Top Hot 100 songs of 1963.
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