mick laBriola

Singer Addie “Micki” Harris of The Shirelles, born January 22, 1940-died 1982. She attended high school in Passaic, New Jersey and had three friends she enjoyed singing with, Shirley Owens, Beverly Lee and Doris Coley. A classmate convinced them to meet with Florence Greenberg who was starting up her own record label called Tiara Records (and later Scepter Records, two of the first labels founded by women). Long story short, Greenberg brought in songwriter Luther Dixon to assist, and with new material The Shirelles would go on to become one of the most popular vocal groups of the late 50s and early 60s, with hits like “Dedicated To The One I Love” (#3), “Tonight’s The Night” (#14), “Mama Said” (#2), “Baby It’s You” (#3), “Soldier Boy” (#1), “Welcome Home Baby”(#20) and “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” (#1).

After a long recording and performing career, The Shirelles were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1996. Tragically, Micki would not live to see that day. On June 10, 1982, just after performing two shows in Atlanta, Georgia on the Hyatt Regency stage, she suffered a fatal heart attack.

The Shirelles were a huge influence to other musicians, and some of their biggest fans were The Beatles! They recorded very close-sounding covers of two Shirelles songs on their 1963 album Please Please Me– “Baby It’s You,” and the first song recorded with Ringo Starr on lead vocals, “Boys,” which had been the B-side of The Shirelles’ “Will You Love Me Tomorrow.”