Search - Shirley & Lee :: (Volume 1) The Legendary Master Series

The Sweethearts Of The Blues

08/06/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The above caption was hung on this young duo from New Orleans - Shirley Goodman (age 14) and Leonard Lee (age 15)- the minute they cut I'm Gone b/w Sweethearts in late 1952 for the Aladdin label. Backed by Dave Bartholomew & His Orchestra (legendary bandleader for Fats Domino, The Spiders, Lloyd Price, and Bobby Mitchell and a member of the R&R Hall of Fame) this was an instant success in the R&B market, going to # 2 early in 1953.



But then, shackled with the caption, they were handed one boy-meets-girl song after another and it wasn't until 1955 that they hit it big again with Feel So Good which, b/w You'd Be Thinking Of Me, also rose to # 2 R&B and, staying there for two weeks, chalked up 25 weeks on the charts (Johnny Preston would have a # 14 Hot 100 hit with the A-side in 1960, calling it Feel So Fine).



The next year they cut the classic Let The Good Times Roll, which Lee wrote, and b/w Do You Mean To Hurt Me So it not only hit # 1 R&B but put a pretty good dent in the Billboard Top 100 charts going to # 20 that October. In December I Feel Good b/w Now That It's Over hit # 3 R&B and # 38 Top 100.



Their final hit on Aladdin came in 1957 with When I Saw You b/w That's What I Want To Do which reached # 14 R&B in the spring. Not long after the label folded and the duo hooked up with Warwick and then Imperial into the early 1960s before splitting up.



Listening to Shirley on cuts like Why Did I? and Confessin' it evokes visions of the great Little Esther Phillips, and the influence of the Fats Domino-style is clearly evident.



After a long absence from the singles charts Shirley came back with a bang in the mid-Seventies as Shirley (And Company) to take Shame, Shame, Shame to # 1 R&B and # 12 Billboard Hot 100 in 1975, followed by Cry Cry Cry (# 38 R&B and # 91 Hot 100) and, in 1976, I Like To Dance (Shirley And Company Featuring Peppi Marchand) which topped out at # 91 R&B - all on the Vibration label.



Two very influential artists and a worthy addition to your collection."