Girl group

A girl group, as the name implies, is a musical group featuring a group of young female singers, singing usually pop songs. It is essentially the female equivalent of a boy band.

Early girl groups

Whilst the exact definitions are of course arbitrary, it can be argued that the girl bands have a considerably longer history than boy bands. In the late 1950s and the beginning of the 1960s they were often manufactured by producers or record companies as a vehicle for the latest work by their resident songwriters, such as the work of Phil Spector and the early days of Motown. Even earlier, female pop music singing groups were long popular; "sister groups" like the Andrews Sisters and the Boswell Sisters actually were siblings. Groups such as the Boswells and the Keller Sisters and Lynch were pop recording stars as far back as the 1920s.

Related Topics:
1950s - 1960s - Record companies - Phil Spector - Motown - Pop music - Andrews Sisters - Boswell Sisters - Keller Sisters and Lynch - 1920s

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The sound of many early rock and roll Girl Groups was typified by the products of Spector's Wall of Sound production: A thick layer of instrumentation (drums, guitar, bass, a horn section and often something more exotic, such as glockenspiel) with a lead vocal, often deliberately girlish in tone, singing deceptively simple, naïve lyrics which, uniquely for an art form at the time, eloquently expressed the emotions of teenagers of the time. (A case in point being The Shirelles' "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow", which doubles as both a charming love song and, implicitly, a portrayal of adolescent sexual mores). Other groups, for example those from New York City, like The Chiffons, used more conventional pop music arrangements, while the Motown groups used typical driving Motown arrangements of the period.

Related Topics:
Rock and roll - Wall of Sound - Drums - Guitar - Bass - Horn section - Glockenspiel - The Shirelles - Mores - New York City - The Chiffons - Pop music

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By the mid-late 1960s, in the face of the British Invasion and with the increase in sophistication of popular music instigated by artists such as The Beatles and Bob Dylan, their popularity began to wane with only a few (e.g. The Supremes, Martha and the Vandellas) making the transition to an earthier, soulful sound and some continued success. Fanny was the first all-female rock act to rise to real prominence in the US and Europe. In 1969, Fanny became the first all-female rock act to win the opportunity to record a full-length album for a major recording company, Warner Brothers, and recorded five (5) albums for major labels.

Related Topics:
1960s - British Invasion - The Beatles - Bob Dylan - The Supremes - Martha and the Vandellas - Fanny

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