Starlets

1961 (L-R) Mickie McKinney, Maxine Edwards, Jane Hall, Jeanette Hill
In baseball terms you can say the Starlets batted .500. They had one hit under their own name and one hit under someone else's.

Members:
      (1961-1064)
          Liz Walker (Dynetta Boone)
          Maxine Edwards
          Jane Hall
          Mickie McKinney
          Jeanette Miles

The Starlets were formed in Chicago, Illinois in early1961. The group consisted of Jane Hall, Maxine Edwards, both worked in a pecan processing plant, Mickey McKinney, and Jeanette Miles, all 18 and 19 years old. After rehearsing together, Hall took them to Bernice Williams, a local songwriter, who had been writing for Dukays. Williams feeling the group was missing something added Liz Walker (sometimes known as Dynetta Boone). Williams then wrote a song called "Better Tell Him No," and with Edwards on the lead recorded it for Pam Records (owned by Bill Shepard and Carl Davis) a local label located on Chicago's South Side. second single, "My Last Cry" failed to achieve the success of "Tell Him No".he Pips; a second single, "My Last Cry," appeared on Pam in August, but failed to chart.

On April 24, 1961 "Better Tell Him No' entered Billboard's Pop charts and began steadily rising, finally peaking at number 38. It lasted two weeks on the R&B chart, reaching number 24.

The Starlets then began touring with the likes of Jackie Wilson, The Spinners, Gladys Knight and the Pips, and Mary Wells.

In August Pam issued there second record "My Last Cry," but it went nowhere.

The next April, the Starlets went to Philadelphia for an appearance. It was during this time that they met a fast talking salesman named Harold Robinson, who convinced them to come to his studio and record a couple sides. The studio was right on the car lot and Robinson used local producer Phil Terry to record the oldie "I Sold My Heart to the Junkman."in an exciting up-tempo version with Edwards on lead.

The following April, Maxine Edwards' mother was watching TV's American Bandstand when she heard the Starlets' recording of "Junkman" -- credited instead to the Blue Belles, and with an entirely different group lip-synching the song. It was later revealed that Newtown credited "Junkman" to the Blue Belles to avoid conflict with the Starlets' contract with Pam. When the single began taking off in Philadelphia, Robinson tapped local quartet the Ordettes -- the foursome of Patsy Holt, Nona Hendryx, Sarah Dash, and Cindy Birdsong -- and re-christened them the Blue Belles, with Holt adopting the name Patti LaBelle. The single reached #15 on Billboard and #13 R&B over the summer 1962, and the Starlets and Terry sued Robinson who claimed that he used the Blue Bells in the back ground, erasing Starlets vocals. It did come out that Edwards was the lead voice. Terry disagreed, saying all the voices were the Starlets and sued, with each member later receiving a settlement of 5,000 dollars. But the damage was done, and when Pam co-owner Davis moved to Okeh, he brought the Starlets with him; with Walker on lead, their lone effort for the label, 1962's "You Belong to Me" (credited to Dynetta and the Starlets), promptly went nowhere. The group was soon dropped, and worse still were then erroneously told that as a result of the "Junkman" fiasco they couldn't record anywhere else, hastening their breakup.

Carl Davis moved to Okeh Records in the A&R department and did one single (You Belong to Me") with the girls that read Dynetta and the Starlets with Liz Walker on the lead. Released in 1962 it quickly disappeared. The group was soon dropped, but seemingly as a punishment for "Junkman" situation, they were told that they couldn't record anywhere else as a group. The bluff worked and the Starlets broke up.

The group then toured with Jackie Wilson, Mary Wells, and Gladys Knight & the Pips.The group's follow-up single, "My Last Cry", was less successful. In December of that year, the group performed in Philadelphia, and while there, Newtown Records owner Harold Robinson had them record the song "I Sold My Soul to the Junkman".

Newtown released the single under the name "The Blue Belles" in order to avoid contractual issues with Pam Records; as the song became a hit, Robinson assembled a local Philadelphia ensemble to lip-synch the song on television. Among this second group's members was Patti LaBelle. As "Junkman" itself became an even bigger hit than "Better Tell Him No", The Starlets sued Robinson, settling for $5,000 per member The Starlets then moved to Okeh Records, releasing one single, 1962's "You Belong to Me", and broke up shortly thereafter.

After the disbandment of The Starlets Jane moved to California, where she formed a group and continued to write songs, Maxine sang in nightclubs in Detroit. Today she works she works with the physically challenged preparing them for day-today situations. The other members scattered and disappeared.