One of the pioneering girl groups of the 60s, The Shirelles (originally Shirley Alston nee Owens, Doris Coley, Micki Harris and Beverly Lee) were the mainstay act at New York-based Scepter Records for a number of years, scoring hits with such classic songs as Will You Love Me Tomorrow (considered the first No. 1 single by a girl group), Dedicated to the One I Love, Baby It s You and Soldier Boy (another No. 1 single).
In 1966, Coley left, and two years later, the group s tenure with Scepter ended with duelling lawsuits. But the group soldiered on; working with producer Randy Irwin and arranger George Andrews, the trio of Alston, Harris and Lee recorded for Blue Rock, Bell and United Artists over a three-year period before signing with RCA Records in 1971. Their initial release for RCA was the album Happy And In Love, which included a few tracks (e.g.a version of The Royalettes hit It s Gonna Take a Miracle ) previously released during the group s short stays at Bell and United Artists. The balance of the LP included a version of the Guess Who s No Sugar Tonight and a medley of Jr. Walker s Gotta Hold On to This Feeling and Eddie Floyd s re-gendered I ve Never Found a Girl (as I ve Never Found a Boy ).
In 1972, RCA issued a self-titled follow-up LP which consisted almost entirely of contemporaneous covers of songs like Bill Withers Ain t No Sunshine, a Marvin Gaye medley ( Mercy Mercy Me, Inner City Blues and What s Going On, arranged by Motown s David Van De Pitte, who had worked on the original versions with Gaye), Al Green s Let s Stay Together and three Carole King compositions, Brother Brother, Walk On In and It s Going To Take Some Time.
Both Happy and in Love and Shirelles are making their worldwide CD debut with this release, which also includes three non-album RCA singles as bonus tracks and liner notes by renowned UK writer David Cole with interview quotes from Shirley Alston. Remastered at Battery Studios in New York--another soulful collaboration between Real Gone Music and SoulMusic Records!