Shirley M. Gunter (September 29, 1934 – December 1, 2015) Shirley Gunter: Obituary, ''Las Vegas Review-Journal''
Retrieved 29 January 2016 was an American singer and songwriter who led one of the earliest female

doo-wop Doo-wop (also spelled doowop and doo wop) is a subgenre of rhythm and blues music that originated in African-American communities during the 1940s, mainly in the large cities of the United States, including New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, ...

groups, Shirley Gunter and the Queens, in the mid-1950s.

Background

She was born in

Coffeyville, Kansas Coffeyville is a city in southeastern Montgomery County, Kansas, United States, located along the Verdigris River in the state's southeastern region. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 8,826. Coffeyville is the most pop ...

; her younger brother was Cornell Gunter. The family moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

in 1942. Cornell Gunter was the first family member to join a vocal group, firstly being a founding member of

The Platters The Platters are an American vocal group formed in 1952. They are one of the most successful vocal groups of the early rock and roll era. Their distinctive sound bridges the pre-rock Tin Pan Alley tradition and the new burgeoning genre. The act ...

and then, in 1953, joining

The Flairs The Flairs (or Flares) were an United States, American doo-wop musical ensemble, group known for their 1961 hit "Foot Stompin', Pt. 1." Based in Los Angeles, they went through several lineup changes during their existence. Their notable members i ...

Career

Shirley's brother Cornell persuaded the

Bihari brothers The Bihari brothers, Lester, Jules, Saul and Joe, were American businessmen of Hungarian Jewish origin. They founded Modern Records in Los Angeles and its subsidiaries, such as Meteor Records, based in Memphis. They were significant figures in th ...

, owners of

Flair Records Flair Records was an American record label owned by the Bihari brothers, launched in the early 1950s. It was a subsidiary of Modern Records. Its most famous artists were Elmore James, who released ten singles with this label (as listed below), R ...

, to audition his sister, and they signed Shirley on the spot. After releasing solo singles without success, she formed a group, the Four Queens, with her friends Blondene Taylor and Lula Bee Kenney, and Lula's aunt Lula Mae Suggs. In 1954, Gunter and Taylor worked up a nonsense song, "Oop Shoop", and the group quickly recorded it with saxophonist and

arranger In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestrat ...

Maxwell Davis Thomas Maxwell Davis, Jr. (January 14, 1916 – September 18, 1970), was an American rhythm and blues saxophonist, arrangement, arranger, bandleader and record producer. Biography Davis was born in Independence, Kansas in 1916. In 1937, h ...

. Credited to Shirley Gunter and the Queens, it immediately became a regional hit, and rose to number 8 on the national ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

R&B chart The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

after being promoted by leading DJ

Alan Freed Albert James "Alan" Freed (December 15, 1921 – January 20, 1965) was an American disc jockey. He also produced and promoted large traveling concerts with various acts, helping to spread the importance of rock and roll music throughout Nor ...

. Bryan Thomas, Biography of Shirley Gunter, ''Allmusic.com''
Retrieved 29 January 2016 The song was also

covered Cover or covers may refer to: Packaging * Another name for a lid * Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package * Album cover, the front of the packaging * Book cover or magazine cover ** Book design ** Back cover copy, part of ...

the Crew-Cuts The Crew-Cuts (sometimes spelled Crew Cuts or Crewcuts) were a Canadian vocal and doowop quartet, that made a number of popular records that charted in the United States and worldwide. They named themselves after the then popular crew cut hai ...

, whose version made number 13 on the national

pop chart A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide charts, often in combination. These include re ...

, and

Harry James Harry Haag James (March 15, 1916 – July 5, 1983) was an American musician who is best known as a trumpet-playing band leader who led a big band to great commercial success from 1939 to 1946. He broke up his band for a short period in 1947, but ...

recorded a version in 1955 on his album ''Jukebox Jamboree'' ( Columbia CL 615). "Oop Shoop" became the first record to be written and performed, with any degree of success, by a group of young black women", Tony Rounce, "Oop Shoop: The Flair And Modern Recordings 1953-1957", ''Ace Records''
Retrieved 29 January 2016 and inspired later groups such as

the Cookies The Cookies were an American R&B girl group active in two distinct lineups, the first from 1954 to 1958 which later became the Raelettes, and the second from 1961 to 1967. Several of the members of both lineups were members of the same fami ...

and

the Shirelles The Shirelles were an American girl group formed in Passaic, New Jersey, in 1957. They consisted of schoolmates Shirley Owens (later Shirley Alston Reeves), Doris Coley (later Doris Kenner-Jackson), Addie "Micki" Harris (later Addie Harris McF ...

. The Queens recorded several more singles for Flair, and toured widely. However, their records had little commercial success, and the group split up in late 1955. Gunter toured as a solo performer with

Young Jessie Obediah Donnell "Obie" Jessie (December 28, 1936 – April 27, 2020) was an American R&B, rock and roll and jazz singer and songwriter. He recorded as Young Jessie in the 1950s and 1960s, and was known for his solo career, work with The Flair ...

and the Flairs, and featured on an early

Modern Records Modern Records (Modern Music Records before 1947) was an American record company and label formed in 1945 in Los Angeles by the Bihari brothers. Modern's artists included Hadda Brooks, Etta James, Joe Houston, Little Richard, Ike & Tina Turn ...

compilation LP, ''The Hollywood Rock & Roll Record Hop''. She then became a member of the Flairs, and recorded a moderately successful single, "Headin' Home", with them. In 1958, she had a single "Believe Me" bw "Crazy Little Baby" released on Tender Records.''

The Billboard The Billboard () is a massive granite monolith in the Sarnoff Mountains of the Ford Ranges of Marie Byrd Land, West Antarctica, standing just west of Mount Rea between Arthur Glacier and Boyd Glacier. History It was discovered in November 193 ...

'', June 9, 1958
Page 36 * ''Reviews of New Pop Records''
/ref> Also in 1958, Shirley Gunter – who had been registered as

legally blind Visual or vision impairment (VI or VIP) is the partial or total inability of visual perception. In the absence of treatment such as corrective eyewear, assistive devices, and medical treatment, visual impairment may cause the individual difficul ...

by 1954, and later lost her sight completely – left the music business to marry and raise a family. Her only later recordings came in 1965, when she recorded several tracks including the single "Stuck Up", for

Ray Charles Ray Charles Robinson (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential musicians in history, and was often referred to by contemporaries as "The Gen ...

Tangerine The tangerine is a type of citrus fruit that is orange in colour, that is considered either a variety of the mandarin orange (''Citrus reticulata''), or a closely related species, under the name ''Citrus tangerina'', or yet as a hybrid (''Citr ...

record label. Shirley Gunter Discography, ''Discogs.com''
Retrieved 29 January 2016 Shirley Gunter later lived in

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

, and continued to sing at her local church. In 1990, she made a rare appearance with Blondene Taylor, and the Flairs, at a Doo-Wop Society show. She died in Las Vegas in 2015, aged 81. In the 2000s, Ace Records released a CD compilation of her recordings, ''Oop Shoop: The Flair And Modern Recordings 1953-1957''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gunter, Shirley 1934 births 2015 deaths American rhythm and blues singers Musicians from Coffeyville, Kansas 20th-century American women singers 20th-century American singer-songwriters American women singer-songwriters 20th-century African-American women singers