If you were a teenager anytime between 1952 and 1989, you very likely rushed home most afternoons after school to turn on the television set to watch Dick Clark’s “American Bandstand.” Besides featuring teenagers dancing to Top 40 hits, the nationally-televised “Bandstand” showcased literally hundreds of singers and musical groups, many of whom are legends today.

For those who miss the music of the rock ‘n’ roll era, or weren’t born yet, but wonder what it was all about, the State Theatre presents “The Stars of American Bandstand,” 8 p.m. Oct. 28. The throwback touring show, conceived by pop music idols Bobby Vee and Fabian, features many of the big names of the era who performed on the television show and toured with Dick Clark when he took the show on the road all over the United States.

One of the very bright stars who will be performing in the “Bandstand” show at the State Theatre is Shirley Alston Reeves (Shirley Owens), lead singer for The Shirelles, one of the earliest and most successful “girl groups,” whose songs “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” and “Tonight’s the Night,” are included in Rolling Stone’s list of the greatest songs of all time. The Shirelles were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996, and are on Rolling Stone’s list of Top 100 best acts of all time.

Going on the road with “The Stars of American Bandstand” is nothing new for Reeves. At the age of 17, she and her group of three high school classmates were already hit singers traveling with Dick Clark as part of his “Caravan of Stars” touring shows, and she has lots of stories to tell.

“On our first bus tour, we wore starched crinoline slips that made our skirts stand out. All four of us came dressed alike. We had on the skirts, and the color was kind of like a pumpkin, and we wore gloves,” Reeves says, laughing. “What did we know? We’d never been on a bus tour before. Then we got wise to what was going on, and at one of the destinations we took those things off.”

Calling Dick Clark “a very sweet man,” Reeves says in a phone interview, “He always had a cooler full of soda on the bus. It must have been from a sponsor because it was always Dr. Pepper.”

She recalls how well Clark took care of The Shirelles: “Clark never would let us sit in the back of the bus. He’d get on to make sure. He said, ‘I want my girls in the front.’ He didn’t want us in the back so we might fool around, or something. He sat there in the front also. I can just about see him in my mind. He was so cute.”

Reeves remembers one event when they were on tour that wasn’t pleasant. “When we’d get to a hotel ... It was already arranged ... he [Clark] would go in first and get rooms for all the acts. I do remember this. At one hotel ... It was in the South ... the man said we couldn’t stay there because we were black.

“Clark argued with him for a while, but it didn’t work. He had to take us across town to a boarding house in the black area. While we were there, we [the four girls] all stayed together in the same room. We weren’t going to be split up.”

Reeves mentions Ronnie Evans, who was part of the tour. Clark had him go with the girls to look out for them. “Everyone knew him,” according to Reeves. “He traveled with us and carried our bags, and later on started to emcee for some of our shows. He was excellent. So good. He could dance up a storm.

“That night, he sat up against the door in his chair all night to keep anyone from coming in. Oh boy, did he watch after us.”

Reeves was born in North Carolina, but at age four, she moved to New Jersey with her aunt, who had just gotten married. Reeves left behind her parents and 10 siblings.

When Reeves and the group wanted to go on tour, her aunt had to give her approval. The aunt was reluctant. “I cried. I begged her. That’s how I got her to sign the contract. She was always praying for me when I was on tour.”

Summing up her early years with The Shirelles, Reeves says, “Looking back we never got into drugs, so we were blessed.”

She credits jazz great Etta James for giving the girls the right advice. “We always said she saved us from many things that would have been detrimental to us.”

Today, Reeves is back on the road working with people she said she has known for years, but never worked with. “Everyone sounds good. Our voices are beautifully intact.”

Some of the other stars who will take to the State Theatre stage are Brian Hyland, whose novelty song “Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini” topped the charts at No. 1 in 1960, and the Chiffons, one of the best early-1960s New York “girl groups,” whose hit recording “He’s So Fine” also made it to No. 1.

Dick Clark will also be there ... on video, that is.

Tickets: State Theatre Center for the Arts box office, 453 Northampton St., Easton; statetheatre.org; 1-800-999-7828; 610-252-3132