Shirley Alston Reeves born June 10, 1941

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. 

Raised in Passaic, New Jersey, she formed the group in 1957 with classmates Beverly Lee, Doris Kenner Jackson (nee Coley), and Addie "Micki" Harris under the name The Poquellos 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 where as The Shirelles they achieved fame with hits like "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" (1960) which was the first number-one hit by a Black girl group on the Billboard Hot 100, and "Dedicated to the One I Love" (1961). Owens’ warm, soulful voice defined their sound, and was the lead singer, though Jackson was also featured as lead on several songs, as well. Blending pop, R&B, and doo-wop. The Shirelles released 12 studio albums, with over 20 charting singles, influencing the girl group era and artists like The Beatles.

                                  

After a successful period of collaboration with Dixon and promotion by Scepter, with seven top 20 hits, the Shirelles left Scepter in 1966. Afterwards, the Shirelles declined in popularity due in part to pressure from the British Invasion and the heavy competition from other girl groups, including the Chiffons, the Supremes, the Ronettes, Martha & the Vandellas, and the Crystals. 

Clockwise from top-Addie Harris,
Shirley Owens, Beverly Lee
and Doris Coley

During this period, Warwick often replaced Coley on stage due to the latter's family commitments. The Shirelles were still bound to Scepter and thus unable to record for another company until the end of their contract in 1966. Their last single to chart was 1967's "Last Minute Miracle", which peaked at No. 99.

After the commercial failure of their most recent releases, Coley left the group in 1968 to focus on her family. The remaining three Shirelles recorded songs for several labels, including Bell Records, RCA Victor, and United Artists until 1971. Afterwards, they toured singing their older songs, and participated in the filming of the 1973 documentary Let the Good Times Roll, recording two songs for it. Coley returned as lead singer in 1975, replacing Owens, who left that year to pursue a solo career.

Owens then went on to release albums like With a Little Help from My Friends (1975) under the name Shirley Alston,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. Then she recorded as Lady Rose and released a self titled album in 1977. Also that year  as Shirley Lady Rose Alston" she recorded Sings Shirelles Greatest Hits. Doris, Beverly and Shirley would come together once more to record on Dionne Warwick's 1983 album, "How Many Times Can We Say Goodbye", which featured a new version of "Will You Love Me Tomorrow?"

In 1994, the Shirelles were honored by the Rhythm and Blues Foundation with the Pioneer Award for their contributions to music. The award was accepted by Owens, Lee, and Kenner. As Coley was accepting her award, she said "This is dedicated to the one I love", and sang an impromptu rendition of "Soldier Boy" together with Owens and Lee. Two years later they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, together with Gladys Knight & the Pips. At the ceremony in the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York, the three surviving members sang a medley of songs after being presented the awards by Merry Clayton, Marianne Faithfull, and Darlene Love.

Shirley continued to perform as Shirley Alston Reeves and The Shirelles with various line-ups into the 2000s. The Shirelles were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame. Lee and Owens accepted the award. In September, 2008, The Shirelles' hometown of Passaic, New Jersey honored the group by renaming a section of Paulison Avenue as Shirelles Boulevard. Shirley is married to Kenneth Reeves and has two children. She retired from performing in 2020 but remains a celebrated figure in R&B history, living in North Carolina.

(Edited from Wikipedia) 

Doris Kenner Jackson born 2 August 1941

Doris Kenner-Jackson (August 2, 1941 in Goldsboro, North Carolina – February 4, 2000) was a member (and occasional lead singer) of the Shirelles.

Addie, Beverly, Doris & Shirley

Doris Kenner-Jackson, known publicly by her maiden name of Doris Coley, was one of the quartet who enjoyed a run of million-sellers in America between 1959 and 1965, and transformed popular music. With Addie "Micki" Harris, Beverly Lee and Shirley Owens, she formed the group that became the Shirelles for a high school talent show in 1957. There, as the Poquelles, they sang I Met Him On A Sunday - the song that was to be their first single.

Coley was born in the southern state of North Carolina but, like many black families, her parents moved north and she was brought up in Passaic, New Jersey. A classmate, Mary Jane Greenberg, told her music-business mother about the group's school appearance and Flo rence Greenberg became their manager, signing them to Scepter/Wand, her record label.

Shirley, Beverly, Doris & Addie

With their name now changed again, from the Honeytones, the Shirelles first million-seller was a bal lad, Tonight's The Night, but it was swiftly followed by the groundbreaking Will You Love Me. The Shirelles became a major influence on the young white British music scene of the early 1960s, where any musician clued in to mod culture was looking towards soul and r&b, and listening to a clutch of black female vocal groups: the Shirelles, Crystals, Chiffons and Marvelettes. Nowhere was this influence more noticeable than on the white female singers of the day, particularly Dusty Springfield, whose early records are homage to these groups.

Shirley, Addie, Beverly & Doris 

Coley, Harris, Lee and Owens were leading exponents of "uptown r&b", so named because it came out of New York, rather than the southern states. In the 1950s, the city saw a blossoming of independent, black-run labels and black venues, like Harlem's Apollo and the Brooklyn Fox. New York also boasted the Brill Building music factory, where young white songwriting teams - including Burt Bacharach and Hal David, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, and Gerry Goffin and Carole King - put out thoughtful teenage love songs which were snapped up by the black groups.

Goffin and King provided the Shirelles with Will You Love Me, though it was transformed by Luther Dixon's production, overlaying an r&b rhythm section with lush mellow string arrangements behind the slightly nasal voices of the group.

 

 

With Greenberg and Dixon, the Shirelles had three more million-sellers: Baby It's You, Everybody Loves A Lover and Dedicated To The One I Love. The last, originally written by Lowman Pauling for his group the Five Royales, featured Doris Coley on lead, and also gave the white Californian group, the Mamas and Papas, a hit in 1967.

Shirelles & Luther Dixon

The Shirelles toured America and Europe through the 1960s, with Coley billed as Doris Kenner after her first marriage. But, by mid-decade - like many of the original girl groups - they had been superseded by the more sophisticated Motown female sound epitomised by the Supremes and Martha and the Vandellas. In 1968, Coley left the group to concentrate on her family - Doris had re-married and was now Doris Jackson - but she returned in 1975 when the Shirelles were playing the oldies circuit.

The last recorded performance of The Shirelles was in 1996 at their old high school. Doris performed with two other members of the Shirelles, Beverly Lee of Passaic and Shirley Alston Reeves (born Shirley Owens) of Hillside. The fourth Shirelle, Addie "Mickie" Harris, died in 1982.  "God, it feels good to be here," Jackson said during that performance, which ended in a shower of flowers, proclamations, honorary diplomas, and a standing ovation. None of the four students graduated with their class of 1958, but they earned diplomas later.  The following night, the Shirelles were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame during a ceremony in Manhattan.

Despite her two-year fight with breast cancer, she was entertaining audiences until a few weeks before her death. At the age of 58, Doris Kenner-Jackson died on February 4, 2000, at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, Sacramento, CA.

(Info edited, mainly from the Guardian obit)