Addie "Micki" Harris (January 22, 1940 – June 10, 1982) – Last Minute Miracle (1967)
This superb, high energy Shirelles single was never a hit in the U.S., but became their biggest Northern Soul record.
Addie "Micki" Harris was one of the four original members of the Shirelles, whose 1960 song "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" became the first number one hit on the Billboard pop charts by an all-female Black group.
After the Shirelles' initial success in the early sixties with a string of huge hits on both the R&B and pop charts, they hit turbulent waters. Their manager, Florence Greenberg, was the founder of Scepter Records, and the Shirelles were its first major act. Greenberg deceived them to believe that a trust had been set up holding their royalties, which the members supposedly would receive on their 21st birthdays.
In late 1963, they quit the label and filed suit against the company after learning there was no trust. Scepter counter-sued against them for leaving, and while both suits were settled in 1965, the Shirelles were left in limbo, unable to record for other labels until their contract with Scepter expired. Two of the original members (Doris Coley and lead singer Shirley Owens) left the group after getting married, and were replaced by Dionne Warwick.
One of the last albums they released on Scepter was a live LP recorded at a Columbia University performance. It featured all four original members, backed by Joe Richardson and the Professionals. Spontaneous Combustion (1967) did not chart, and was mostly full of their early hits including "Tonight's The Night" and "Mama Said," plus R&B covers like "What'd I Say," "Knock On Wood," and "I Got You (I Feel Good)." But its brightest moment was "Last Minute Miracle," an upbeat original co-written by Gerald Harris and producer George Kerr, and arranged by Richard Tee.
The studio version of "Last Minute Miracle" was released as a single in June, 1967, with "No Doubt About It" on the B-side. It became the last Shirelles single to chart and didn’t make much of an impact, only reaching #41 R&B and just squeezing onto the pop charts at #99.
But a few years later it was rediscovered by the Northern Soul scene in the UK. According to DJ Ian Levine, "the record first broke in 1973 at the legendary Highland Room in Blackpool Mecca," and it became a Northern Soul classic.
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