The great "girl groups" and a few other ladies!

Like most baby boomers, I’m a huge fan of those “girl groups” from the 1960′s.  They were great.  They had great harmonies.  I won’t say anything about their hairstyles.

The Marvelettes had a great name and some big hits like “Too Many Fish In the Sea”, “I’ll Keep Holding On” and “Don’t Mess With Bill”.  My favorite was “Beachwood 4-5789″, a catchy tune and one of the greatest song titles of all time.

The SHIRELLES were a very close second to The Supremes. They recorded songs like “Soldier Boy”, “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow”, “Dedicated To The One I Love” and “Mama Said”. I did not know this: The Shirelles were the first all girl group of the Rock and Roll Era to score a number one record! It’s hard to pick one but I liked “Foolish little girl”

The Shangri-las were from Queens, New York. They were sisters Betty and Mary Weiss and twins Margie and Mary-Ann Ganser. They met at Andrew Jackson High School and had a very unique look. Their biggest hit was “Leader of the pack”.

The Ronettes were also from NY City. Their biggest hit was “Be my baby” but I liked “Walking in the rain”.

Leslie Gore was not a part of a “girl group”. She had songs like “It’s my party”, “Judy’s turn to cry”, “She’s a fool”, “Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows” and “That’s the Way Boys Are”. Most of her songs were about “teen boy-girl” issues. My favorite was “California Nights”, a song recorded at the end of her career.

Let me say a word about Petula Clark. She was my favorite female vocalist from this period. My parents enjoyed her songs because they were so polished. Petula Clark had an amazing voice. She had hits like “Downtown”, “My love” and “I know a place”. My favorite song was “Kiss me goodbye”.

Let me add Carole King. She was a great songwriter in the 1960′s. In 1971, she released her own album called “Tapestry”. She recorded several songs in the 1970′s. My favorite song was “Sweet seasons”.

Barbara Lewis was a hit machine. She recorded “Hello stranger” and “Baby I’m yours”. My favorite was “Make me your baby”.

Let’s go back to the Supremes. As I wrote before, they were the top girl group. This is “Stop in the name of love“.

The girl groups were great. They were one of the most interesting chapters of the pop-rock era!