SHIRELLES, THE

American vocal group popular in the late 1950s and early 1960s, one of the first and most successful so-called girl groups. The original members were Addie (Micki) Harris (b. Jan. 22, 1940, Passaic, N.J., U.S.d. June 10, 1982, Los Angeles, Calif.), Doris Kenner Coley (b. Aug. 2, 1941, Passaic), Shirley Owens Alston (b. June 10, 1941, Passaic), and Beverly Lee (b. Aug. 3, 1941, Passaic). The quartet began singing together at high school functions in Passaic, and Florence Greenberg, the mother of one of their classmates, signed them to her own small Tiara label and later to her more ambitious Scepter Records (for which Dionne Warwick also recorded). Unlike most girl groups, the Shirelles wrote some of their own songs, but their biggest hits were written by othersincluding Brill Building stalwarts Carole King and Gerry Goffin, whose Will You Love Me Tomorrow (1960) became a pop classic for the Shirelles and the first girl group record to reach number one. Dedicated to the One I Love, Mama Said, and Baby It's You were all Top Ten hits. Following their most successful song, Soldier Boy (1962), cowritten by their principal collaborator, producer Luther Dixon, the Shirelles' popularity wanedpartly because of Dixon's departure and partly because of the onset of the British Invasion. Ironically, the Beatles recorded two Shirelles songsBaby It's You and Boyson their debut album. Breaking up in the late 1960s, the Shirelles re-formed later for oldies shows. Remembered for their sweet, gospel-tinged harmonies, they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996.