Tag: Girl groups
Flirtations, The
Girl group The Gypsies migrated from the USA to England in 1967, changed their name to The Flirtations and got most things right: a stream of fine singles, ample airplay, primetime TV appearances, and hits...
Blossoms, The
When The Blossoms first formed in 1963 it was as a vocal backing group for other artists recording for Phil Spector.
The first stars to invite The Blossoms to go on the road were The Righteous...
Supremes, The
In 1961 three teenage girls, Florence Ballard, Diane Ross (not until later would she be known as Diana) and Mary Wilson, began a journey that would carry them from the run-down Brewster housing projects in Detroit's...
Shirelles, The
Had Shirley Owens and Beverly Lee not become bored while babysitting, The Shirelles may never have existed.
Forming as high school classmates in Passaic, New Jersey, The Shirelles came under the wing of manager Florence Goldberg,...
Ronettes, The
Girl groups came to the forefront of popular music in the early 60s, and none more so than The Ronettes, a trio of New York Puerto Ricans led by Veronica (Ronnie) Bennett, who had been...
Reparata & The Delrons
Italian-American girl-group The Delrons formed in 1963 at St Brendon's High School in Brooklyn, New York.
Their first single, Your Big Mistake (1964), was a flop, so the producer decided a catchier name was needed for the group. Lead...
Phil Spector
There are only a handful of people from the 1960s who can truly be said to have had a major and lasting effect on the record business; Ray Charles, Bob Dylan, John Lennon and Paul McCartney, Brian Wilson, Jimi Hendrix, Berry Gordy and Aretha...
Leiber and Stoller
Jerry (born Jerome) Leiber and Mike Stoller have written some of the most spirited and enduring rock and roll songs: Hound Dog (originally recorded by Big Mama Thornton in 1953 and covered by Elvis Presley three years later), Love Potion...
Honeys, The
This surf music girl-group trio included Brian Wilson's wife-to-be Marilyn, her sister Diane Rovell, and their cousin Ginger Blake.
None of their three 1963 released singles charted - neither did their version of the Patience and...
Dixie Cups, The
The Dixie Cups were three girls from New Orleans - sisters Rosa Lee and Barbara Ann Hawkins, and their cousin, Joan Marie Johnson.
The girls provided Red Bird records (arguably the Girl Group label) with its first record...
Cookies, The
Like their New Jersey pals The Shirelles, The Cookies (from Coney Island) piqued The Beatles' interest.
When the Fab Four covered their 1962 single Chains, it assured these three girls with their quixotic harmonies would become a footnote in...
Chordettes, The
The Chordettes, label-mates of The Everly Brothers, were one of the most successful of the many US Girl Groups of the 1950s, scoring seven US Top 40 hits before 1960.
Before The Chordettes, female groups generally sang in barbershop-style...
Chiffons, The
Doo-lang doo-lang! Four black teenagers from the Bronx, New York, took He's So Fine to #1 early in 1963.
Their sound was a haunting mixture of mid-50s vocalising and the approaching Motown sound.
One Fine Day (June 1963) and Sweet Talkin' Guy (1966) won them more...
Chantels, The
Five New York school friends led by 15-year-old Arlene Smith made the Top 20 in 1958 with Maybe, produced by disc jockey Alan Freed for George Goldner's Rama group of labels.
Their first release, He's Gone,...
Toys, The
The Toys are a great example of one facet of the 60s music scene - the quick rise to fame and the equally rapid decline of fortune.
The three girls met at the Woodrow Wilson High...
Girl Groups
The story of the 'girl group' sound, which reached its commercial and artistic peak in the early and mid-60s, is not just the story of the performers. More than any other style in rock &...
Marvelettes, The
Hailing from the low-income Detroit suburb of Inkster, the 17-year-old girls who came together as The Marvelettes (originally The Casinyets - a corruption of The Can't Sing Yets) were introduced to Motown Records founder Berry Gordy in...
Breakaways, The
Formed in 1962, female vocal trio The Breakaways became Britain's premiere session vocalists throughout the 1960s, also recording a handful of little-known girl group singles.
The original members were Vicki Haseman (who later married Joe Brown), Margot Quantrell,...
Angels, The
Sisters Barbara (Bibs) and Phyllis (Jiggs) Allbut started out singing with a group called The Starlets in New Jersey alongside Bernadette Carroll and Linda Malzone. They had some minor local hits and wound up doing...
Crystals, The
Five black schoolgirls from Brooklyn, New York were chosen by Phil Spector to launch the Philles label he had formed with Lester Sills in late 1961.
Spector was also a New Yorker, whose family moved to Los Angeles...
