Doris Kenner-Jackson; Member of the Shirelles

Doris Kenner-Jackson, 58, a member of the 1960s pop group the Shirelles, whose soaring harmonies on “Soldier Boy” and a number of other songs made the group a huge success. Born in North Carolina, she moved to Passaic, N.J., as a child, where she sang in church and with friends. When a classmate heard Kenner-Jackson and her friends--Shirley Owens Alston, Addie “Micki” Harris and Beverly Lee--singing their own composition, “I Met Him on a Sunday,” she told her mother, Florence Greenberg, who was an independent record producer. The girls recorded the song the next year. Aided by legendary record producer Phil Spector, the Shirelles turned out a string of hits in the early 1960s, including “Tonight’s the Night,” “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow,” “Baby It’s You” and “Dedicated to the One I Love,” which featured Kenner-Jackson on lead vocal. The group broke up in the late 1960s then reunited in the early 1970s for concert dates, sometimes featuring different members. Harris died in 1982 of a heart attack. Kenner-Jackson died Thursday in Oakland of complications from breast cancer.