Shirelles, The #95 Female Artist of the Rock Era

Shirley Owens, Doris Coley, Addie "Micki" Harris and Beverly Lee founded the Poquellos for a talent show at their high school in Passaic, New Jersey. They were soon discovered by Florence Greenberg of Tiara Records, who signed them to a recording contract. The group changed their name to the Shirelles and followed Greenberg to her new company, Scepter Records.

The group recorded "Tonight's The Night", which became their first Top 40 hit in 1960. This led to the Shirelles opening for artists such as Little Richard and Etta James. 

The Shirelles hit it big with their fourth single release, becoming the first all-girl group to reach #1. The Carole King song that catapulted them to stardom? "Will You Love Me Tomorrow"

Luther Dixon, an employee of Scepter, who had written for Nat King Cole, Perry Como and Pat Boone, agreed to write songs for the group. After the success of their first big hit, the Shirelles followed with the #3 smash "Dedicated To The One I Love", a 1961 re-release of a song originally released in 1959.

Later in 1961, "Mama Said" became the Shirelles' third straight Top 10:

After three releases failed to make noise, the group returned later in the year with "Baby It's You", which peaked at #8.

  In 1962, the Shirelles scored the #1 smash "Soldier Boy", which became their first and only gold record:

The group hit a dry spell, before returning to the Top 10 for a fifth and final time with "Foolish Little Girl" (#4) in 1963.

Dixon left Scepter in 1963, and the group never scored another Top 10 song. Dionne Warwick joined the group in concerts when Owens and Coley left to marry their fiancés.  The Shirelles had a cameo in the movie It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.

Though their success was short-lived, the Shirelles are credited for spawning many imitators and laying the blueprint for future female pop stars.  The group essentially gave birth to the girl group genre.  In 1994, the Shirelles received the Pioneer Award from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation.  Two years later, the group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and in 2002, the Vocal Group Hall of Fame.  In 2008, the group's hometown of Passaic honored them by renaming a section of Paulison Avenue (the area where Passaic High School is located) as "Shirelles Boulevard".

The group enjoyed 12 hits from 1958-1967, with exactly half of those reaching the Top 10 and two #1's.  They had two Gold singles, but never had a Gold album.