Add a rock and roll twist to your holiday as 60s girl group The Shirelles, featuring original member Beverly Lee, bring their special holiday show to Edmonds Center for the Arts Dec. 19.
The Shirelles were the first major female vocal group of the rock and roll era, preceding Motown as a crossover phenomenon with white audiences. They were successful in Britain, and provided some of the earliest hits for important songwriters like Carole King, Burt Bacharach, Hal David, and Van McCoy.
Formed in 1958 in Passaic New Jersey, they entered their school talent show singing their original composition, “I Met Him On A Sunday.” Their recording of “I Met Him on a Sunday” was licensed by Decca Records and climbed into the national Top 50 in 1958. When Decca passed on further releases, their manager instead signed them to her own label, Scepter Records, and brought in producer Luther Dixon, whose imaginative arrangements helped shaped the group’s signature sound.
Others in their long string of hits include “Soldier Boy,” “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?” and “Dedicated To The One I Love,” and have been recorded by hundreds of artists, including The Beatles, Aretha Franklin, Eric Clapton and the Yardbirds, Smokey Robinson, and The Mamas &the Papas.
The Shirelles have received awards from BMI, the Vietnam Veterans of America and the US Army, received three gold records and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996.
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