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Oldies But Goodies Doo Wop CruiseSailing to the Mexican Riviera from Long Beach California April 10 -17 2011 |
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Shirley Gunter
First All-Girl Doo-Wop Group Shirley Gunter was born in Coffeyville, Kansas, and migrated to Los Angeles with her family in early 1942. She began her singing career as a solo artist in 1953 when her older brother, Cornelius Gunter a member of a local vocal group called The Flairs took her to his label Flair Records a subsidiary of Modern Records. After her first two singles, in the spring of 1954 Shirley put together her own group named the Queens.
One day the four girls were fooling around on the piano in Shirley's living room they came up with "Sh-Boom" like ditty song with nonsense lyrics they called "Oop Shoop." When they took it to saxophonist Maxwell Davis, Shirley's mentor at Flair Records, he helped them work up a more polished arrangement. Label chief Joe Bihari liked what he heard, changed their name to Shirley Gunter & the Queens, and released "Oop Shoop" in August 1954. Within two months it entered the R&B charts and rose to number eight. The flip side was "It's You", but all eyes were on the up-tempo number.
Shirley Gunter was one of the first women in rock & roll and helped to pave the way for other women to lead their own groups. Like Wanda Jackson, Etta James, LaVerne Baker, Esther Phillips, and Brenda Lee. Shirley truly was a real pioneer in the music industry [ back to entertainment page ]
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DISCOGRAPHY SINGLES 1953 1955 CD's R&B Confidential: The Flair Label
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