   the shirelles were an american girl group that achieved 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 mcpherson), and beverly lee. they have been described as either the first african-american girl group to top the billboard hot 100, or the first girl group overall, with the song "will you love me tomorrow". founded in 1957 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. working with luther dixon, the group rose to fame with "tonight's the night". after a successful period of collaboration with dixon and promotion by scepter, with seven top 20 hits, the shirelles left scepter in 1966. afterwards, they were unable to maintain their previous popularity. the shirelles have been described as having a "naive schoolgirl sound" that contrasted with the sexual themes of many of their songs. several of their hits used strings and baiÃ£o-style music. they have been credited with launching the girl group genre, with much of their music reflecting the genre's essence. their acceptance by both white and black audiences, predating that of the motown acts, has been noted as reflecting the early success of the african-american civil rights movement. they have received numerous honors, including the pioneer award from the rhythm and blues foundation, as well as being accepted in the [[rock and roll hall of fam
1958_establishments_in_New_Jersey African-American_musical_groups American_girl_groups American_rhythm_and_blues_musical_groups Doo-wop_groups Musical_groups_disestablished_in_1982 Musical_groups_established_in_1958 Rock_and_Roll_Hall_of_Fame_inductees