Shirley a legend: Reeves adds voice to Stardust’s ‘Legendary Ladies of Rock ‘n’ Roll’

Tuesday, July 9, 2002 | 8:18 a.m.

If you were black, being a member of one of the hottest singing groups in the nation didn't matter much in parts of Texas back in the early 1960s.

And the Shirelles may have been the hottest.

They were turning out hits such as "Dedicated to the One I Love," "Tonight's the Night," "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow," "Baby, It's You" and "Soldier Boy."

Their record sales were in the millions.

Shirley Alston Reeves, co-founder of the Shirelles, recalled those exciting times during a recent telephone interview from her home in Hillside, N.J.

And she also recalled the racism she experienced while touring America as part of Dick Clark's Caravan of Stars. She was on a bus loaded with entertainers, both black and white.

"We stopped at a hotel in some Texas town and we couldn't go in with everyone else," Reeves, 61, said. "I don't care how much Dick Clark pleaded and took up for us. The man said he didn't care, we couldn't come in."

So the Shirelles, who were making history by breaking the grip male singing groups held on the recording industry at the time, found a rooming house in which to spend the night.

"It was more like a gambling hall," Reeves said. "We were so afraid when we went in there. We were so young."

A bodyguard for the Shirelles sat and slept in a chair propped against the door of the small bedroom. "The four Shirelles slept crossways on one bed," Reeves said.

The next morning everyone on the bus cried.

"Those were some difficult times because of the time period we were living in, but only in the hotels, not so much the venues," she said. "We didn't have any problems with the venues."

Reeves at Stardust

Reeves will perform Wednesday through Saturday at the Stardust, one of several entertainers who are part of "Legendary Ladies of Rock 'n' Roll."

Others on the bill include Lesley Gore ("It's My Party," "Judy's Turn to Cry"), Little Peggy March ("I Will Follow Him") and the Chiffons ("He's So Fine," "Sweet Talking Guy" and "One Fine Day").

"We had a ball on the Dick Clark caravan," Reeves recalled. "We would all sing ourselves to sleep.

"Could you imagine singing songs on a bus with everyone you could possibly think of who had a name? Bo Diddley. Annette Funicello. Bobby Rydell. We would have a ball."

It was the golden age of rock 'n' roll. British groups had not yet invaded America. Drugs were not a major issue. The nation was just emerging from the naivete of the Eisenhower era.

"If we only had video cameras back then and had taped the rides on the bus," Reeves said. "But you could never really capture that whole feeling, that whole mood. It was something different.

"Truthfully, I didn't see any drug abuse. But then, if they were going to do it, they wouldn't do it on the Dick Clark bus. Anyway, everyone was high off of performing."

Reeves says everyone wants to know what it was like to be part of the music scene in the late '50s and early '60s.

"I used to say to myself (while onstage), 'Look at the kids. Their faces are so happy. If life could just be this way, so friendly. It would be such a beautiful world.'

"Music has bridged so many gaps, especially our music. It was cute and fun and innocent."

The Pequellos

Before they were the Shirelles, four high school classmates in Passaic, N.J. formed the Pequellos. Reeves and Beverly Lee were the founding members.

"We were baby sitters," Reeves said. "She would come by sometimes and we would sing. One day we decided to put a little group together."

They recruited their friend Addie "Micki" Harris and Doris Kenner-Jackson (both of whom have since died; Harris in 1983 and Kenner-Jackson in 2000).

"Doris had just the right powerful sound we were looking for," Reeves said. "Her father was a minister. She sang in the choir and her (singing) voice had that churchy sound."

They performed at a high school talent show and a classmate whose mother had a small record company heard them.

"Her mother was Florence Greenberg, who owned Tiara Records," Reeves said. "Tiara released our first hit, 'I Met Him on Sunday,' which was picked up for national distribution by Decca. It narrowly missed the top 40 in '58."

Reeves said Greenberg turned the Shirelles over to Decca because she didn't think she could do the group justice. But a second release by Decca didn't fare as well as "I Met Him" and the company let the Shirelles go.

Greenberg took them back and started Scepter Records and hired producer Luther Dixon to find songs for the group. Scepter was responsible for starting the careers of such entertainers as Dionne Warwick, B.J. Thomas and Ronnie Milsap.

"We started to have success, one right behind another," Reeves said.

They recorded more than 24 singles with Scepter. Their greatest successes were from 1960 to '63, when they charted a dozen Top 40 singles. Their last record to be charted was "Foolish Little Girl" (1965).

Party's over

Reeves recalls when the music well went dry.

"Luther Dixon called a meeting," she said. "We were always looking to him for what we were going to do next. We needed something, and he usually had something for us. When he called the meeting, we thought he might have something good to tell us. But he said he had given us all he had. He couldn't do anything else."

The group left Scepter, but continued to perform until Kenner-Jackson dropped out in 1968 to give birth to a set of twins. The quartet became a trio and performed as Shirley and the Shirelles, recording for Bell and RCA, but without success.

In 1975, Reeves dropped out of the group to give birth to a daughter and Kenner-Jackson replaced her. Reeves said she tried to rejoin the group a year later, but was rejected.

"They said they thought they might like to leave it like it was, with Doris back at the helm," Reeves said. "It broke my heart, but I said fine."

Reeves then formed her own group and Beverly Lee, who co-founded the original Shirelles, formed her own group. All three groups were called the Shirelles.

"To show you just how strong the original group was, we all were getting as much work as we wanted," Reeves said.

Reeves says she continues to be as busy as she wants.

"I just did a big party in a back yard," she said. "But it wasn't your average back yard. It had a waterfall and a full-sized stage. This wealthy man puts on a show every year. He had Little Richard last year."

Reeves performs at homes, weddings, high schools, colleges, showrooms and anywhere else fans want to hear her.

"Music is my life," she said.

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