#5: I Met Him On A Sunday ’66 by the Shirelles

City: St. John’s, NL
Radio Station: VOCM
Peak Month: April 1966
Peak Position in St. John’s ~ #2
Peak Position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “I Met Him On A Sunday ’66”
Lyrics: “I Met Him On A Sunday ’66”

The Shirelles were a girl group that formed in 1957 in order to enter a talent show at their high school. The foursome were Shirley Owens, Beverly Lee, Addie “Micki” Harris and Doris Coley. Owens was born Shirley Alston Reeves in Henderson, North Carolina, in 1941. Harris was born in Passaic, New Jersey, in 1940. Lee was also born in Passaic, in 1941. Coley was born in Goldsboro, North Carolina, in 1941. Their performance at that 1957 high school talent show led to a record contract with Decca Records. In 1958 they had a minor hit titled “I Met Him on a Sunday”. It was written by the foursome. The song concerned a girl who meets a guy on a Sunday. She misses him the next day, goes out on a date with him on Wednesday, kisses him on Thursday. And by Saturday she says “bye bye baby.” Such were the fates of some teens in the late 50’s checking out if there momentary crushes were solid enough to go steady. The single was a Top 20 hit in Toronto in April 1958.

As the lead singer of the Shirelles was Shirley Owens, it is likely the group agreed to make their name from the first syllable in Shirley’s name. Did they consider the for a group name the Bevelles, the Dorelles or the Addelles? Five more singles were released by The Shirelles between 1958 and early 1960. Only one of these cracked the Billboard Hot 100. “Dedicated To The One I Love” peaked at #83 on July 13, 1959. The song was reissued two years later and peak at #2 in March 1961 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was a Top Ten hit in Calgary. The sixth single release after “I Met Him On A Sunday” was “Tonight’s The Night”.

The success of “Tonight’s the Night” was a catalyst for The Shirelles to go on tour with other R&B artists, including Etta James and Little Richard. Pre-dating Motown Records, The Shirelles offered the music industry a template for making hits with an all-girl group sound, with an emphasis on girl. Instead of a gender neutral reference to male objects of desire or heartbreak, men in Shirelles songs were not referred to as “you,” but as “he.” Pitching their songs to female listeners, The Shirelles confessional style influenced numbers of female songwriters including Carole King and Joni Mitchell.

The Shirelles follow up hit, “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” was co-written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King. The song helped launch Goffin and King’s songwriting careers. It was co-produced by Luther Dixon. The song climbed to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on January 30, 1961. It was also a #2 hit in Calgary, Ottawa and Toronto, and peaked at #3 in Montreal.

From the winter of 1960 until the spring of 1963 The Shirelles were at the peak of their popularity. They scored six Top Ten hits in the USA, including two #1 hits: “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” and “Soldier Boy.” The latter was a number-one hit in Hamilton (ON), Ottawa and Toronto. The Shirelles also had top ten hits with “Mama Said”, “Foolish Little Girl” and”Baby It’s You”.  The latter was a #3 hit in Hamilton (ON).

Their cover of the Doris Day hit “Everybody Loves A Lover” in 1962 was a Top 20 hit in Canada and the USA.

After “Foolish Little Girl”, the Shirelles had only one Top 30 hit, the follow-up “”Don’t Say Goodnight and Mean Goodbye”. The next thirty single releases failed to crack the Top 50 on the Billboard Hot 100. Of these, eighteen single releases didn’t crack the Hot 100.

However, with the arrival of the British Invasion and Beatlemania in 1964, The Shirelles were sidelined, along with many other American recording artists. Adding to their troubles, The Shirelles found in 1964 that there was no money in the Greenburg Trust Fund in 1964. The fund had been established to protect the groups’ earnings. In 1966, the Shirelles released “I Met Him On A Sunday ’66”.

“I Met Him On A Sunday ’66” was co-written by the group mates of the Shirelles. The song chronicles a very short dating relationship. A girl and a guy meet each other for the first time on a Sunday. Sung from the point of view of the girl, she recalls she didn’t see him on a Monday, but “found him on Tuesday.” Subsequently, she “dated him on Wednesday.” And she “kissed him on Thursday.” The guy didn’t show up on a Friday. And it may be she was counting on him to show up as planned. That may explain why “when he showed up Saturday, I said ‘Bye bye baby.'” The ’66 in the song reflected the upbeat musical arrangement for their former 1958 hit record.

“I Met Him On A Sunday ’66” reached #2 in St. John’s (NL), and charted in Montreal and Lansing (MI). However, it failed to crack the Billboard Hot 100.

They got into a conflict with Scepter Records and eventually decided to remain until 1968. In 1968, Doris Coley left the group to raise a family, but returned in the early 70’s. The Shirelles only single release after 1964 to crack the Billboard Hot 100 was “Last Minute Miracle”. That single stalled at #99 in 1967.

The Shirelles were able to cash in on the rock ‘n roll revival that started in the late 60’s as a reaction to psychedelic pop and hard rock. They came to the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver in 1971 as part of a Rock ‘n Roll Revue that featured Bo Diddley and Chuck Berry. The Shirelles, The Dovells, Bill Haley and Bo Diddley were among those who performed. The concert ended in a riot when the headliner, Chuck Berry, didn’t come out to perform. The fire marshal didn’t want concert goers dancing so close to the stage and so the house lights were turned on. Then a riot broke out.

Addie “Micki” Harris died in 1982.

In 1996, the Shirelles were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Doris Coley married several times and became Doris Kenner Jackson. She died of breast cancer in 2000 at the age of 58.

In 2002 the Shirelles were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame. Beverly Lee and Shirley Owens accepted the award. In September 2008, the Shirelles’ hometown of Passaic honored the group by renaming a section of Paulison Avenue between Passaic and Pennington Avenues (the section where Passaic High School is located) “Shirelles Boulevard”. The dedication ceremony was attended by both surviving Shirelles.

Beverly Lee holds the trademark for The Shirelles. As recently as 2015 Shirley Alston Reeves (Shirley Owens) performed in concert. In 2011, a Broadway musical called Baby It’s You showcased the music of The Shirelles and the story of their discovery by music executive and songwriter, Florence Greenberg.

April 27, 2026
Ray McGinnis

References:
The Shirelles bio, History of Rock.com
The Shirelles band bio, The Shirelles.com
Tim Malcolm, “Interview: Shirelles Lead Singer Talks About Stage Days, Love of Touring,” Harrisburg Daily Register, Harrisburg, Illinois, July 5, 2007.
Mark Voger, “Jersey Girl: Shirley Alston Reeves on Passaic Childhood,” NJ.com, Iselin, New Jersey, February 11, 2015
Elon Green, “A Magical Ten Seconds of the Shirelles,” New Yorker, May 3, 2018.
Baby It’s You, Wikipedia.org (a Jukebox Musical).

Newfoundland’s Only Official Survey – VOCM 590-AM St. John’s (NFLD) | April 15, 1966