JANICE'S BLUES ALLEY PRESENTS
Shirley & Lee
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They had one trait in common among their recordings; this New Orleans-based duo almost never sang in harmony, let alone together at all. Their contrasting male-female duet style was later influential on early ska and reggae productions from Jamaica. Shirley & Lee recorded extensively for Eddie Messner and Leo Messner's L.A.-based Aladdin label. The Messners -- along with former NBC radio exec. Lew Chudd's Imperial Records and Art Rupe's Specialty -- seemed to have a knack for signing talent straight out of the Crescent City.
Shirley & Lee's debut single, "I'm Gone," was written and produced by Dave Bartholomew, Imperial's writer/arranger/producer/A&R man and a major contributor to New Orleans-style R&B. (It was Bartholomew's production work with Fats Domino which utilized that talents of a great house band -- pianist Allen Toussaint, bassist Frank Fields, drummer Earl Palmer, and saxophonists Lee Allen, Red Tyler, and Herb Hardesty -- that elevated nearly everything he worked on to "legendary" status.) With their backing "I'm Gone" went on to become a major R&B hit in the fall of 1952.
Early in their careers, Shirley & Lee became known as "the Sweethearts of the Blues," a nickname given not for their personal relationship, but for their romantic sagas of their songs, whicShirley Goodman and Leonard Lee, born just ten days apart in 1936, scored three massive R&B hits before either one of them were both 20 years old: "Feel So Good," "Let the Good Times Roll," and "I Feel Good" were all written by the talented young couple.
h often bordered on telling a fictional soap-opera storyline about two lovers. Their fans would buy the singles simply to keep up with the continuing story of the two sweethearts. The story continued with the very next single, "Shirley Come Back to Me," a heartbreaker released in early 1953, followed by "Shirley's Back," later that year. This happy theme continued through the happy ending for the next single, "The Proposal" b/w "Two Happy People."
By the end of the year, Aladdin was reveling in success of the story of Shirley & Lee. Of course, the couple in the songs had already been apart and were now back together, so they had to shake things up with the next release, called "Lee Goofed," and followed that with "Confessin'" but by now the audience seemed to be tiring of the soap opera, so Shirley & Lee moved on to new lyrical subject matter.
Messner decided to try something new for the duo in May of 1955, issuing a medium-tempo rocker called "Feel So Good." The song featured full vocal group backup (reportedly by the Spiders) and did well, but it was the bluesy B-side, "You'd Be Thinking of Me," that put the duo back on the R&B hit charts. "Lee's Dream" also charted. In early 1956, Aladdin released the duo's slow blues ballad, "A Little Word," which received good airplay, but sales weren't spectacular. Trying to get back on track, Aladdin finally opted to issue a full-length album, Let the Good Times Roll, in December. It was reissued two years later on Score, Aladdin's budget label.
By the middle of 1957, Shirley & Lee were back on top, this time with the biggest hit in their careers. Goodman and Lee borrowed one of New Orleans' most familiar refrains and built a rocking tune around it called "Let the Good Times Roll." The recording was an instant smash and received substantial airplay, climbing up the charts in the process. It sold well-over one million copies and for more than 40 years has been a staple of oldies play lists. To date, there are over a hundred cover versions of the song, but most still prefer the original.
The pair stayed on Aladdin into 1959 before moving to Warwick, where they ended up re-recording "Let the Good Times Roll." Other tunes followed -- "I Feel Good" and "The Flirt" among them -- but like many acts, Shirley & Lee were never able to recapture the nationwide success of their biggest hit. After a few final singles in 1962-1963, this time for Imperial -- Aladdin and Imperial continued their rivalry and tried to one-up each other until Aladdin was acquired by Imperial outright -- the "Sweethearts of the Blues" decided to call it a day.
In 1974, Shirley Goodman reappeared on the R&B scene, this time paired with studio musicians -- they called themselves Shirley and Company -- for "Shame, Shame, Shame," released on the Vibration label. (The song also featured Jesus Alvarez supplying lead vocals). The disco-fied hit topped the R&B charts at number one that summer and peaked at number 12 on the pop charts. It was written by producer Sylvia Robinson, who had also been part of a successful '50s duo, Mickey & Sylvia, with Mickey Baker. Robinson also penned Goodman's less successful follow-up "Cry, Cry, Cry." They issued one more single on Vibration, then dropped out of sight.
Leonard Lee passed away on October 23, 1976.
Shirley married and changed her name to Shirley Mae Goodman Pixley. She passed away on July 5, 2005.
-- Bryan Thomas of All Music Guide.
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1. Let The Good Times Roll 2. Rock All Night 3. Feel So Good 4. I'm Gone 5. Lee's Dream 6. That's What I'll Do |
7. Don't You Know I Love You 8. Everybody's Rockin' 9. Why Did I? 10. I Feel Good 11. Baby 12. I'll Thrill You |
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01. Bewildered 02. Good For Nothing Baby 03. Everybody Needs Somebody 04. Lover's Mistake |
05. Your Day Is Coming 06. I'll Never Be Free 07. Shirley, Come Back To Me 08. After Last Night |
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01. I'm Gone 02. Sweethearts 03. Baby 04. Why Did I? 05. Confessin' 06. Keep On 07. Comin' Over 08. Takes Money 09. Feel So Good 10. Lee's Dream |
11. Deed I Do 12. That's What I'll Do 13. Let The Good Times Roll 14. I Feel Good 15. When I Saw You 16. I Want To Dance 17. Rock All Night 18. Don't You Know I Love You 19. I'll Thrill You 20. Everybody's Rockin' |
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01. Let The Good Times Roll 02. A Little Word 03. Do You Mean To Hurt Me So 04. All I Want To Do Is Cry 05. You'd Be Thinking Of Me 06. Rock All Night 07. That's What I Wanna Do 08. I'm Gone 09. Sweethearts 10. That's What I'll Do 11. Shirley, Come Back To Me 12. Shirley's Back 13. Don't You Know I Love You 14. Feel So Good 15. Come On And Have Your Fun |
16. I'll Thrill You 17. Don't Leave Me Here To Cry 18. Before I Go 19. The Reason Why 20. I Didn't Want You 21. I'll Do It (deed I do) 22. Everybody's Rockin' 23. Rockin' With The Clock 24. Lee's Dream 25. The Flirt 26. Korea 27. Comin' Over 28. When Day Is Done 29. Marry Me 30. True Love Never Dies |
| Disc 1. |
01. Sweethearts 02. I'm Gone 03. The Real Thing 04. Korea 05. Baby 06. Shirley, Come Back To Me 07. Shirley's Back 08. Why Did I? 09. So In Love 10. The Reason Why 11. The Time Has Come 12. I Love You So 13. The Proposal 14. Two Happy People |
15. Lee Goofed 16. Every Fool Has His Day 17. Down In My Heart 18. Keep On 19. Confessin' 20. When The Sun Goes Down 21. Trying To Fool Me 22. Rumors Blue 23. Comin' Over 24. Takes Money 25. I Didn't Want You 26. You'd Be Thinking Of Me 27. I'll Thrill You |
Disc 2. |
01. Feel So Good 02. Lee's Dream 03. I'll Do It (deed I do) 04. Tell Me So 05. That's What I'll Do 06. A Little Word 07. Let The Good Times Roll 08. Do You Mean To Hurt Me So 09. Everything (when I saw you) 10. We Will Be Forever Happy 11. I Feel Good 12. That's What I Wanna Do 13. Now It's Over 14. I Want To Dance 15. Marry Me |
16. Before I Go 17. Don't You Know I Love You 18. Rock All Night 19. Rockin' With The Clock 20. The Flirt 21. Love No One But You 22. Live On The Farm 23. Everybody's Rockin' 24. Don't Leave Me Here To Cry 25. Come On And Have Your Fun 26. All I Want To Do Is Cry 27. True Love Never Dies 28. When Day Is Done 29. So Tired |
Disc 3. |
01. Let The Good Times Roll 02. Like You Used To Do 03. Bewildered 04. Who Are You Fooling 05. Keep Loving Me 06. You Moves Me 07. Let's Live It Up 08. I've Been Loved Before 09. After Last Night 10. I Love The Way You Love 11. I'll Never Be Free 12. Your Love Makes The Difference 13. I Was Lucky 14. Lover's Mistake |
15. Everybody Needs Somebody 16. Your Day Is Coming 17. Two Peas In A Pod 18. Good For Nothing Baby 19. Well-a, Well-a 20. Our Kids 21. They've Got To Understand 22. Call Me A Fool 23. Hard To Believe 24. Behind The Make-Up 25. Keep The Magic Working 26. Girl, You're Married Now 27. It's Been So Long |
Disc 4. |
01. The Joker 02. Together We Stand 03. My Last Letter 04. I'm Old Enough 05. You Wouldn't 06. A Little Thing 07. The Engagement 08. Don't Stop Now 09. Hey Little Boy 10. The Golden Rule 11. Honky Tonk Music 12. Dancing World |
13. Thank You 14. Wouldn't Be Here 15. The Brink Of Disaster 16. Paper Doll 17. When I Fall In Love 18. Don't Marry Too Soon 19. Honey Bee 20. When A Girl Meets A Boy 21. Never Let Me Go 22. Surf Heaven 23. Surfer's Hangout 24. Somebody Put A Jukebox In The Study Hall |
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01. Let The Good Times Roll 02. Keep On 03. Comin' Over 04. Two Happy People 05. Feel So Good 06. Takes Money 07. I'll Thrill You 08. That's What I'll Do 09. I'll Do It (deed I do) 10. I Feel Good 11. Do You Mean To Hurt Me So 12. Everything (when I saw you) 13. That's What I Wanna Do 14. I Want To Dance 15. Marry Me |
16. Before I Go 17. Don't You Know I Love You 18. Rock All Nite 19. Rockin' With The Clock 20. The Flirt 21. Live On The Farm 22. Everybody's Rockin' 23. Come On And Have Your Fun 24. All I Want To Do Is Cry 25. When Day Is Done 26. Like You Used To Do 27. I'm Old Enough 28. Hey Little Boy 29. Somebody Put A Jukebox In The Study Hall 30. I'm Gone |
