These artists included the Shirelles, Chubby Checker, Chuck Berry, Hank Williams backup musicians and driver of their tour bus, Roy Orbison, Bo Diddley who in an interview with Spencer Rhodes spoke of days of picking cotton as a child.
She launched her professional career with her single, "Will U Still Love Me Tomorrow", a bilingual, bachata cover of the 1961 Shirelles hit, co-written by Carole King.
As well as Owens, the Shirelles consisted of classmates of hers from Passaic High School, New Jersey: Addie "Micki" Harris, Doris Kenner Jackson, and Beverly Lee.