The Shirelles

The Shirelles were an African 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.