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The Shirelles

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The Shirelles

The Shirelles were an American girl group notable for their rhythm and blues, doo-wop and soul music and gaining 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 McFadden), and Beverly Lee.
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The Shirelles
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Videos 2


The Shirelles - Baby it's you (original 1961)

Influences

Steve Huey of AllMusic notes that the Shirelles defined "the so-called girl group sound with their soft, sweet harmonies and yearning innocence", with their songs predating Motown in their widespread crossing of racial demographics, both in the US and in Britain. He also notes that they spawned "legions

of imitators", and laid a blueprint for future female pop stars to follow. Turner writes that the Shirelles "launched [the girl group] genre", noting that their early work already included "the essence" of the genre; Alwyn Zak expands on the statement, noting that the influx of female groups started after the success of "Will You Love Me Tomorrow".
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Discography

1960 Tonight's the Night
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


It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
1965 Hear and Now
Swing the Most
1967 Spontaneous Combustion
1971 Happy and in Love
1972 The Shirelles
1973 Eternally, Soul


Style

Wadhams, Nathan, and Lindsay describe the style of the Shirelles early work as "tight, almost doo-wop harmony". Owens's vocals, described by rock n' roll writer Alwyn W. Turner as being "wonderfully expressive", were capable of sounding "almost, but not quite" out of tune, which in his opinion lent Owens

an innocent sound in her songs; music critic Albin Zak describes her vocals as being able to intone desire and vulnerability. The other members, singing backup, also convey what Michael Campbell, a professor of music at Western Illinois University, calls a "naive schoolgirl sound". The lyrics sung by the Shirelles tended to be fairly simple and "barely" concealed the subtexts of the songs. The songs were implicitly directed at female listeners, with the male subjects of songs being referred to as "he" instead of "you"; this was a change from previous female-written songs, which tended to be more gender neutral, and helped pave the way for the "confessional" songs of 70s singers like Joni Mitchell and Carole King.
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