The Shangri-Las
Encyclopedia
The Shangri-Las were an American pop
girl group
of the 1960s. Between 1964 and 1966 they charted with often heartbreaking teen melodrama
s, and remain best known for "Leader of the Pack
" and "Remember (Walkin' in the Sand)".
, a part of Queens, New York City
, in 1963. It consisted of two sets of sisters
: Mary Weiss
(lead singer) (born 1948) and Elizabeth "Betty" Weiss (born 1946), and identical twins Marguerite "Marge" (4 February 1948–28 July 1996) and Mary Ann Ganser (4 February 1948–14 May 1970). The girls often appeared as a trio
, as Betty Weiss rarely appeared on stage until late 1965, preferring to avoid touring.
They began playing school shows, talent shows, and teen hops, coming to the attention of Artie Ripp, who arranged the group's first record deal with Kama Sutra
. Their first recording in December 1963 was "Simon Says", later issued on the Smash label, on which Betty Weiss sang lead. They also recorded "Wishing Well" / "Hate To Say I Told You So", which became their first release in early 1964 when leased to the small Spokane label.
Initially, the girls performed without a name. But when they signed their first deal, they began calling themselves the Shangri-Las, after a Queens restaurant.
Some discographies list The Beatle-ettes and The Bon Bons, who both issued singles in 1964, as early versions of The Shangri-Las. However, they are different groups.
Mary Weiss was the main lead singer; Betty, however, took lead on "Maybe", "Shout" and a number of B-sides and album tracks. Mary Ann Ganser took lead on "I'm Blue", which is a cover of the Ikettes biggest hit at the time, and was included on their 1965 album "Shangri-Las 65!". Mary Ann also takes the lead on "Sophisticated Boom Boom" b-side of "Long Live Our Love".
; Mary was 15, Betty was 17, and the Ganser twins 16. Having been hired by record producer
George "Shadow" Morton
, they had their first success with the summer hit, "Remember (Walking in the Sand)" (U.S.
#5, UK
#14). Billy Joel
, a then-unknown working as a session musician, played on the demo of "Remember (Walkin' In The Sand)". The demo was nearly seven minutes long, too long for Top 40 radio. Morton had hired the group to perform on the demo, but Red Bird released a re-recorded version. Morton faded the new version out around 2:16.
The recordings for Morton featured lavish production with heavy orchestration
and sound effect
s, and their next and biggest hit, "Leader of the Pack
" (U.S. #1, UK #11), climaxes with roaring motorcycle
s and breaking glass. UK re-issues peaked at #3 in 1972 and #7 in 1976. The song epitomized the "death disc"; other examples include Ray Peterson
's "Tell Laura I Love Her", Jan and Dean
's "Dead Man's Curve", J Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers's "Last Kiss," Mark Dinning
's "Teen Angel," and Twinkle
's "Terry".
By the end of 1964 the group was an established act. They performed with the Beatles
, toured with R&B
artists such as The Drifters
and James Brown
(who, according to Mary Weiss, was surprised to discover the girls were white), and Cashbox magazine listed them as best new R&B group. They also promoted Revlon
cosmetics. In March 1965 they toured the UK with Dusty Springfield
and The Zombies
.
Because Betty did not tour until summer of 1965, and because she often did not appear in photos, many fans believed the Shangri-Las were a trio.
The group alternated between touring with their own band and local bands. Among the latter were the Sonics
, as well as the Iguanas, featuring a young Iggy Pop
.
Whatever truth these stories may have, they were believed by fans in the '60s, and they helped cement the group's bad-girl reputation. According to Weiss, that persona helped fend off advances from musicians on tours.
The Shangri-Las continued to chart with fairly successful U.S. hit records
, specializing in adolescent
themes such as alienation, loneliness, abandonment and death. Singles included "Give Him a Great Big Kiss", "Out in the Streets", "Give Us Your Blessings", the top ten hit "I Can Never Go Home Anymore", "Long Live Our Love" (a rare example of a song dedicated to the men at the time fighting overseas in Vietnam
), "He Cried" and the spoken-word "Past, Present and Future", featuring music from Beethoven
's "Moonlight Sonata
". Noteworthy B-sides included "Heaven Only Knows", "The Train from Kansas City", "Dressed in Black", and "Paradise" (written by Harry Nilsson
).
Among titles in critics' favorites lists is "I Can Never Go Home Anymore", the story of a girl who leaves home for a boy; her pride keeps her from returning to her mother who "grew so lonely in the end/the angels picked her for their friend". Lines from "Give Him a Great Big Kiss" include "When I say I'm in love, you best believe I'm in love, L-U-V", and "Well I hear he's bad." "Hmm, he's good-bad, but he's not evil." "Past, Present and Future" has been said to be about rape, something Weiss disagrees with. She has said it is about "teenage angst," heartbreak and "being hurt and angsty and not wanting anyone near you."
. Mary Ann Ganser left but returned when Marge—the most outspoken member, sometimes considered the leader—left early in 1967. Red Bird Records had folded. The group recorded more tracks with Morton (some of which remain unreleased) and signed with Mercury Records
. However, Morton had begun working with Janis Ian
and Vanilla Fudge
and Mercury had little enthusiasm for the group. During their Mercury stint, the Shangri-Las had no further hits. In 1968, they disbanded amid litigation.
All the Shangri-Las withdrew from the spotlight. Morton said "The Shangri-Las vacated, they vanished". Reportedly, they were angry that they received few royalties, despite the millions of records they sold.
Mary Weiss moved to New York's Greenwich Village, then to San Francisco. Returning to Manhattan a few years later, and prevented from recording because of lawsuits, she worked as a secretary while taking college classes. She then went into the architectural industry, working in the accounting department of a New York architectural firm. She moved up to be the chief purchasing agent and later ran the commercial furniture dealership. In the late eighties she managed a furniture store and was an interior designer. By 2001 she was a furniture consultant to New York businesses. She married in 1974 but the marriage ended in 1988; she married again several years later, and her second husband now manages her music career.
Betty Weiss also married and had a daughter, (who was raised with the help of her brother George Weiss, who died in 1998) the only member of the group to have a child. She worked for the cosmetics company Charles of the Ritz in Manhattan and later started her own business on Long Island.
Mary Ann Ganser died on March 14, 1970, aged 22. The cause of her death has been variously reported as encephalitis
, a seizure
disorder, or barbiturates.
Marge Ganser married (becoming Marguerite Ganser Dorste), worked for NYNEX in Valley Stream, New York
, and died of breast cancer
on July 28, 1996 at 48.
The group declined offers to perform throughout the 1970s, although they did a few random live performances. But following the successful re-issue of "Leader of the Pack" in the UK in 1976 and renewed interest in the group, Mary and Betty Weiss and Marge Ganser reunited. Contacting Seymour Stein
of Sire Records
, they spent summer 1977 in New York with producer Andy Paley
. Paley said the sessions went well, but they weren't satisfied with all the material and declined to release the record. The tapes are now owned by the Warner Music Group.
They did, however, give a live performance at CBGBs; Paley put together a band, including Lenny Kaye
, and after two hours of rehearsing, the Shangri-Las returned to the stage for the first time in a decade. Although the Sire sessions came to naught, the group toyed with signing with another label. But they were put off by the insistence of record executives that they be a disco
vocal group, the musical trend of the day. Mary said she envisioned the Shangri-Las like punk
singer Patti Smith
. The Shangri-Las split up.
Since the 1980s a trio has called itself the Shangri Las, although unconnected with the original group. The tribute act was put together by Dick Fox, who claimed to have bought the rights to the name, and resulted in legal action from both sides. The original group performed for the last time at a reunion show hosted by Cousin Brucie (Bruce Morrow) in East Rutherford, New Jersey
on June 3, 1989.
In March 2007 Norton Records
released a solo
album by Mary Weiss (backed by garage rock
ers, The Reigning Sound
) called Dangerous Game. She has been performing in the United States, Spain and France and is working on a new album for 2010.
-era acts such as the New York Dolls
and Blondie
, who twice covered "Out in the Streets," and Aerosmith
, who covered "Remember (Walking in the Sand)." The Go-Go's
, since their early punk rock days in Los Angeles clubs, have been performing live "Remember (Walking in the Sand)".
The line from "Give Him a Great Big Kiss"—"When I say I'm in love, you best believe I'm in love, L-U-V"—was used by the New York Dolls on their 1973 recording "Looking for a Kiss". The New York Dolls' guitarist Johnny Thunders included a cover of "...Great Big Kiss" on his first solo album So Alone. Ian Svenonius
also used the line at the beginning of "Today I Met the Girl I'm Going to Marry" by his band Nation of Ulysses
on the album 13-Point Program to Destroy America. More recently, Ryan Adams
(and the Cardinals) paid homage to that line in their song "Beautiful Sorta" off the album Cold Roses
, but they changed it to "When I say L-U-V, you better believe me L-U-V. Give me a beer!" In 2005 Julian Cope
parodied the famous line in "Dying to Meet You" from his Citizen Cain'd
album. He's heard to say “When I say I’m dead you best believe I’m dead, D-E-A-D” during the outro. In an outtake of "Careless" from their album Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash
, The Replacements opened with the line "When I say I'm in debt, you best believe I'm in debt, D-E-T!"
The opening from "Leader of the Pack"—"Is she really going out with him?"—was recycled both as the opening lines of 1976's "New Rose
" by the Damned, the first British punk rock
single, and of "Kill" by the parody punk group Alberto Y Lost Trios Paranoias
, as well as the title
of the 1979 hit song by Joe Jackson
.
The Shangri-Las' "Past, Present and Future" was covered
in 2004 by ex-ABBA
singer Agnetha Fältskog
on her album
, My Colouring Book
.
Australian artist Rowland S. Howard
reworked "He Cried" as "She Cried" to tremendous effect.
Although most covers and remakes of The Shangri-Las material focus on the hit singles, some express the group's influence on them by recording songs from The Shangri-Las which were never released as singles by the group. Among these, the Los Angeles rock group Red Kross covered "Heaven Only Knows," an album cut from The Shangri-Las second album "Shangri-Las '65," and Superchunk
, Belle and Sebastian, The Shop Assistants
and Neko Case
recorded versions of "The Train From Kansas City," which was a b-side, and an album cut from The Shangri-Las debut album, "Leader of the Pack."
British singer Amy Winehouse
cited The Shangri-Las as an influence and occasionally integrated the hook lyrics from "Remember (Walkin' in the Sand)" into the bridge of her song "Back to Black
" during live performances.
Faris Badwan
of The Horrors
has listed The Shangri-Las as an influence in The Horrors' sound and lyrics, and had added a reworked version of "He Cried" to "She Cried" into The Horrors' song, "Who Can Say," using the lines, "And when I told her I didn’t love her anymore, she cried/and when I told her, her kisses were not like before, she cried/and when I told her another girl had caught my eye, she cried/and I kissed her, with a kiss that could only mean goodbye," in spoken-word with a drum beat similar to that The Shangri-Las used. The song is also originally, "She Cried" by Jay and the Americans, another (if slight) influence over The Horrors.
Atlanta, GA band Black Lips
called their 2007 album Good Bad Not Evil
, after the line in "Give Him A Great Big Kiss."
Sonic Youth
referenced the "very, very close" lyric of Give Him A Great Big Kiss on the Kim Gordon/Kim Deal duet Little Trouble Girl
in 1995. Early punk band The Slits
also reference the song in Love Und Romance on the 1979 album Cut
.
The Bat For Lashes
song What's A Girl To Do? has been widely acknowledged as a Shangri Las pastiche.
Kathleen Hanna
of the electropunk group Le Tigre
has mentioned that the "one girl calling another" motif and the opening sound of seagulls on the track "What's Yr Take on Cassavetes?" were inspired by The Shangri-Las.
The Shangri-Las were imitated by groups like The Nu-Luvs, who had a hit with "So Soft, So Warm", which was originally recorded by The Shangri-Las as "Dressed In Black" and used as the b-side to Jay and the Americans' original, "He Cried". Others included the Pussycats and the Whyte Boots, who scored big with their single "Nightmare", originally intended for The Shangri-las, and written, produced and performed by Lori Burton and Pam Sawyer
. The Goodees
had a hit in early 1969 with "Condition Red", a "Leader of the Pack" inspired tale about a girl who wants to be with her long haired, bearded boyfriend despite her parents' objections.
The Detergents
had hits with "Leader of the Laundromat" and "I Can Never Eat Home Any More", both of which parodied The Shangri-Las.
Giddle Partridge and Boyd Rice
recently covered "Past, Present, and Future."
Brooklyn band Vivian Girls
cite The Shangri-Las as one of their influences.
Finnish rock band HIM is using "Dressed in Black" as an intro song for their current tour promoting their latest album Screamworks: Love in Theory and Practice
.
Marianne Faithfull
has released a cover of "Past, Present and Future" on her 2011 album Horses and High Heels
.
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
girl group
Girl group
A girl group is a popular music act featuring several young female singers who generally harmonise together.Girl groups emerged in the late 1950s as groups of young singers teamed up with behind-the-scenes songwriters and music producers to create hit singles, often featuring glossy production...
of the 1960s. Between 1964 and 1966 they charted with often heartbreaking teen melodrama
Melodrama
The term melodrama refers to a dramatic work that exaggerates plot and characters in order to appeal to the emotions. It may also refer to the genre which includes such works, or to language, behavior, or events which resemble them...
s, and remain best known for "Leader of the Pack
Leader of the Pack
"Leader of the Pack" is a 1964 pop song recorded by girl group The Shangri-Las. It became number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on November 28, 1964.-Original Shangri-Las recording:...
" and "Remember (Walkin' in the Sand)".
Early career
The group was formed at Andrew Jackson High School in Cambria HeightsCambria Heights, Queens
Cambria Heights is a middle-class neighborhood in the southeastern portion of the New York City borough of Queens. It is bounded by Springfield Boulevard and Francis Lewis Boulevard to the west, the Elmont, Nassau County border on the east, Queens Village to the north, St. Albans to the west, and...
, a part of Queens, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, in 1963. It consisted of two sets of sisters
Sibling
Siblings are people who share at least one parent. A male sibling is called a brother; and a female sibling is called a sister. In most societies throughout the world, siblings usually grow up together and spend a good deal of their childhood socializing with one another...
: Mary Weiss
Mary Weiss
Mary Weiss, born on December 28 in Queens, New York, found fame in the 1960s as the lead singer of The Shangri-Las. She then vanished from the music scene for decades, returning in 2007 to record her first solo album with Norton Records....
(lead singer) (born 1948) and Elizabeth "Betty" Weiss (born 1946), and identical twins Marguerite "Marge" (4 February 1948–28 July 1996) and Mary Ann Ganser (4 February 1948–14 May 1970). The girls often appeared as a trio
Trio (music)
Trio is generally used in any of the following ways:* A group of three musicians playing the same or different musical instrument.* The performance of a piece of music by three people.* The contrasting section of a piece in ternary form...
, as Betty Weiss rarely appeared on stage until late 1965, preferring to avoid touring.
They began playing school shows, talent shows, and teen hops, coming to the attention of Artie Ripp, who arranged the group's first record deal with Kama Sutra
Kama Sutra Records
Kama Sutra Records was started in 1964 by Arthur "Artie" Ripp, Hy Mizrahi and Phil Steinberg as Kama Sutra Productions, a production house. The word "Kama Sutra" is a Sanskrit terminology....
. Their first recording in December 1963 was "Simon Says", later issued on the Smash label, on which Betty Weiss sang lead. They also recorded "Wishing Well" / "Hate To Say I Told You So", which became their first release in early 1964 when leased to the small Spokane label.
Initially, the girls performed without a name. But when they signed their first deal, they began calling themselves the Shangri-Las, after a Queens restaurant.
Some discographies list The Beatle-ettes and The Bon Bons, who both issued singles in 1964, as early versions of The Shangri-Las. However, they are different groups.
Mary Weiss was the main lead singer; Betty, however, took lead on "Maybe", "Shout" and a number of B-sides and album tracks. Mary Ann Ganser took lead on "I'm Blue", which is a cover of the Ikettes biggest hit at the time, and was included on their 1965 album "Shangri-Las 65!". Mary Ann also takes the lead on "Sophisticated Boom Boom" b-side of "Long Live Our Love".
Success at Red Bird Records
In April 1964, when the girls were still minors, their parents signed with Red Bird RecordsRed Bird Records
Red Bird Records was a record label started by American pop music songwriters Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller in 1964. Though often thought of as a "girl-group" label, female-led acts made up only 40% of the artist roster on Red Bird and its associated labels...
; Mary was 15, Betty was 17, and the Ganser twins 16. Having been hired by record producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
George "Shadow" Morton
Shadow Morton
George 'Shadow' Morton is an American record producer and songwriter best known for his influential work in the 1960s and the introduction of girl group The Shangri-Las to the pop music world....
, they had their first success with the summer hit, "Remember (Walking in the Sand)" (U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
#5, UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
#14). Billy Joel
Billy Joel
William Martin "Billy" Joel is an American musician and pianist, singer-songwriter, and classical composer. Since releasing his first hit song, "Piano Man", in 1973, Joel has become the sixth best-selling recording artist and the third best-selling solo artist in the United States, according to...
, a then-unknown working as a session musician, played on the demo of "Remember (Walkin' In The Sand)". The demo was nearly seven minutes long, too long for Top 40 radio. Morton had hired the group to perform on the demo, but Red Bird released a re-recorded version. Morton faded the new version out around 2:16.
The recordings for Morton featured lavish production with heavy orchestration
Orchestration
Orchestration is the study or practice of writing music for an orchestra or of adapting for orchestra music composed for another medium...
and sound effect
Sound effect
For the album by The Jam, see Sound Affects.Sound effects or audio effects are artificially created or enhanced sounds, or sound processes used to emphasize artistic or other content of films, television shows, live performance, animation, video games, music, or other media...
s, and their next and biggest hit, "Leader of the Pack
Leader of the Pack
"Leader of the Pack" is a 1964 pop song recorded by girl group The Shangri-Las. It became number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on November 28, 1964.-Original Shangri-Las recording:...
" (U.S. #1, UK #11), climaxes with roaring motorcycle
Motorcycle
A motorcycle is a single-track, two-wheeled motor vehicle. Motorcycles vary considerably depending on the task for which they are designed, such as long distance travel, navigating congested urban traffic, cruising, sport and racing, or off-road conditions.Motorcycles are one of the most...
s and breaking glass. UK re-issues peaked at #3 in 1972 and #7 in 1976. The song epitomized the "death disc"; other examples include Ray Peterson
Ray Peterson
Ray Peterson was an American pop music singer who was best remembered for singing "Tell Laura I Love Her" and "Corrine, Corrina" in the 1960s.-Career:...
's "Tell Laura I Love Her", Jan and Dean
Jan and Dean
Jan and Dean were a rock and roll duo, popular from the late 1950s through the mid 1960s, consisting of William Jan Berry and Dean Ormsby Torrence...
's "Dead Man's Curve", J Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers's "Last Kiss," Mark Dinning
Mark Dinning
Max Edward Dinning was an American pop music singer. In February 1960, the song "Teen Angel", written by his sister Jean and her husband Red Surrey, reached No. 1 on the Billboard Charts...
's "Teen Angel," and Twinkle
Twinkle (singer)
Twinkle is an English singer-songwriter, primarily in the 1960s. Twinkle's most famous songs were "Terry" and "Golden Lights".-Career:...
's "Terry".
By the end of 1964 the group was an established act. They performed with the Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
, toured with R&B
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
artists such as The Drifters
The Drifters
The Drifters are a long-lived American doo-wop and R&B/soul vocal group with a peak in popularity from 1953 to 1963, though several splinter Drifters continue to perform today. They were originally formed to serve as Clyde McPhatter's backing group in 1953...
and James Brown
James Brown
James Joseph Brown was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and recording artist. He is the originator of Funk and is recognized as a major figure in the 20th century popular music for both his vocals and dancing. He has been referred to as "The Godfather of Soul," "Mr...
(who, according to Mary Weiss, was surprised to discover the girls were white), and Cashbox magazine listed them as best new R&B group. They also promoted Revlon
Revlon
Revlon is an American cosmetics, skin care, fragrance, and personal care company founded in 1932.-History:Revlon was founded in the midst of the Great Depression, 1932, by Charles Revson and his brother Joseph, along with a chemist, Charles Lachman, who contributed the "L" in the Revlon name...
cosmetics. In March 1965 they toured the UK with Dusty Springfield
Dusty Springfield
Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'BrienSources use both Isabel and Isobel as the spelling of her second name. OBE , known professionally as Dusty Springfield and dubbed The White Queen of Soul, was a British pop singer whose career extended from the late 1950s to the 1990s...
and The Zombies
The Zombies
The Zombies are an English rock band, formed in 1961 in St Albans and led by Rod Argent, on piano and keyboards, and vocalist Colin Blunstone. The group scored a UK and US hit in 1964 with "She's Not There"...
.
Because Betty did not tour until summer of 1965, and because she often did not appear in photos, many fans believed the Shangri-Las were a trio.
The group alternated between touring with their own band and local bands. Among the latter were the Sonics
The Sonics
The Sonics are an American garage rock band from Tacoma, Washington, originating from the early and mid-1960s. Among The Sonics' contemporaries were The Kingsmen, The Wailers, The Dynamics, The Regents, and Paul Revere & the Raiders...
, as well as the Iguanas, featuring a young Iggy Pop
Iggy Pop
Iggy Pop is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Though considered an innovator of punk rock, Pop's music has encompassed a number of styles over the years, including pop, metal, jazz and blues...
.
Public image
The Shangri-Las' 'tough girls' persona set them apart from other girl groups. Having grown up in a rough neighborhood of Queens, they were less demure than their contemporaries. Rumors about supposed escapades have since become legend, for example the story that Mary Weiss attracted the attention of the FBI for transporting a firearm across state lines. In her defense, she said someone tried to break into her hotel room one night, and for protection she bought a pistol.Whatever truth these stories may have, they were believed by fans in the '60s, and they helped cement the group's bad-girl reputation. According to Weiss, that persona helped fend off advances from musicians on tours.
The Shangri-Las continued to chart with fairly successful U.S. hit records
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
, specializing in adolescent
Adolescence
Adolescence is a transitional stage of physical and mental human development generally occurring between puberty and legal adulthood , but largely characterized as beginning and ending with the teenage stage...
themes such as alienation, loneliness, abandonment and death. Singles included "Give Him a Great Big Kiss", "Out in the Streets", "Give Us Your Blessings", the top ten hit "I Can Never Go Home Anymore", "Long Live Our Love" (a rare example of a song dedicated to the men at the time fighting overseas in Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
), "He Cried" and the spoken-word "Past, Present and Future", featuring music from Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
's "Moonlight Sonata
Piano Sonata No. 14 (Beethoven)
The Piano Sonata No. 14 in C minor "Quasi una fantasia", Op. 27, No. 2, by Ludwig van Beethoven, popularly known as the Moonlight Sonata , was completed in 1801...
". Noteworthy B-sides included "Heaven Only Knows", "The Train from Kansas City", "Dressed in Black", and "Paradise" (written by Harry Nilsson
Harry Nilsson
Harry Edward Nilsson III was an American singer-songwriter who achieved the peak of his commercial success in the early 1970s. On all but his earliest recordings he is credited as Nilsson...
).
Among titles in critics' favorites lists is "I Can Never Go Home Anymore", the story of a girl who leaves home for a boy; her pride keeps her from returning to her mother who "grew so lonely in the end/the angels picked her for their friend". Lines from "Give Him a Great Big Kiss" include "When I say I'm in love, you best believe I'm in love, L-U-V", and "Well I hear he's bad." "Hmm, he's good-bad, but he's not evil." "Past, Present and Future" has been said to be about rape, something Weiss disagrees with. She has said it is about "teenage angst," heartbreak and "being hurt and angsty and not wanting anyone near you."
Disintegration and retirement
The group appeared on several TV shows, but in 1966 two of three releases on Red Bird failed to crack the U.S. top 50, although the group remained popular in England and JapanJapan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. Mary Ann Ganser left but returned when Marge—the most outspoken member, sometimes considered the leader—left early in 1967. Red Bird Records had folded. The group recorded more tracks with Morton (some of which remain unreleased) and signed with Mercury Records
Mercury Records
Mercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the Island Def Jam Motown Music Group in the US; both are subsidiaries of Universal Music Group. There is also a Mercury Records in Australia, which is a local artist and repertoire division of Universal...
. However, Morton had begun working with Janis Ian
Janis Ian
Janis Ian is an American songwriter, singer, musician, columnist, and science fiction author. Ian first entered the folk music scene while still a teenager in the mid-sixties; most active musically in that decade and the 1970s, she has continued recording into the 21st century...
and Vanilla Fudge
Vanilla Fudge
Vanilla Fudge is an American rock band. The band's original lineup – vocalist/organist Mark Stein, bassist/vocalist Tim Bogert, lead guitarist/vocalist Vince Martell, and drummer/vocalist Carmine Appice – recorded five albums during the years 1966–69, before disbanding in 1970...
and Mercury had little enthusiasm for the group. During their Mercury stint, the Shangri-Las had no further hits. In 1968, they disbanded amid litigation.
All the Shangri-Las withdrew from the spotlight. Morton said "The Shangri-Las vacated, they vanished". Reportedly, they were angry that they received few royalties, despite the millions of records they sold.
Mary Weiss moved to New York's Greenwich Village, then to San Francisco. Returning to Manhattan a few years later, and prevented from recording because of lawsuits, she worked as a secretary while taking college classes. She then went into the architectural industry, working in the accounting department of a New York architectural firm. She moved up to be the chief purchasing agent and later ran the commercial furniture dealership. In the late eighties she managed a furniture store and was an interior designer. By 2001 she was a furniture consultant to New York businesses. She married in 1974 but the marriage ended in 1988; she married again several years later, and her second husband now manages her music career.
Betty Weiss also married and had a daughter, (who was raised with the help of her brother George Weiss, who died in 1998) the only member of the group to have a child. She worked for the cosmetics company Charles of the Ritz in Manhattan and later started her own business on Long Island.
Mary Ann Ganser died on March 14, 1970, aged 22. The cause of her death has been variously reported as encephalitis
Encephalitis
Encephalitis is an acute inflammation of the brain. Encephalitis with meningitis is known as meningoencephalitis. Symptoms include headache, fever, confusion, drowsiness, and fatigue...
, a seizure
Seizure
An epileptic seizure, occasionally referred to as a fit, is defined as a transient symptom of "abnormal excessive or synchronous neuronal activity in the brain". The outward effect can be as dramatic as a wild thrashing movement or as mild as a brief loss of awareness...
disorder, or barbiturates.
Marge Ganser married (becoming Marguerite Ganser Dorste), worked for NYNEX in Valley Stream, New York
Valley Stream, New York
Valley Stream is a village in Nassau County, New York in the United States. The population in the village of Valley Stream was 37,511 at the 2010 census...
, and died of breast cancer
Breast cancer
Breast cancer is cancer originating from breast tissue, most commonly from the inner lining of milk ducts or the lobules that supply the ducts with milk. Cancers originating from ducts are known as ductal carcinomas; those originating from lobules are known as lobular carcinomas...
on July 28, 1996 at 48.
The group declined offers to perform throughout the 1970s, although they did a few random live performances. But following the successful re-issue of "Leader of the Pack" in the UK in 1976 and renewed interest in the group, Mary and Betty Weiss and Marge Ganser reunited. Contacting Seymour Stein
Seymour Stein
Seymour Stein is an entrepreneur in the music industry who has been a part of the business since getting his first job as a clerk for Billboard magazine in 1958. Stein is a vice president of Warner Bros...
of Sire Records
Sire Records
Sire Records is an American record label, owned by Warner Music Group and distributed through Warner Bros. Records.-Beginnings:The label was founded in 1966 as Sire Productions by Seymour Stein and Richard Gottehrer, each investing ten thousand dollars into the new company. Its early releases as a...
, they spent summer 1977 in New York with producer Andy Paley
Andy Paley
Andy Paley is a noted record producer and musician who has been active since the late 1960s. His work includes stints as a producer for such noted musicians as Madonna, the Ramones, Jonathan Richman, Debbie Harry, Brian Wilson and Jerry Lee Lewis....
. Paley said the sessions went well, but they weren't satisfied with all the material and declined to release the record. The tapes are now owned by the Warner Music Group.
They did, however, give a live performance at CBGBs; Paley put together a band, including Lenny Kaye
Lenny Kaye
Lenny Kaye is an American guitarist, composer and writer who is best known as a member of the Patti Smith Group.- Early life :...
, and after two hours of rehearsing, the Shangri-Las returned to the stage for the first time in a decade. Although the Sire sessions came to naught, the group toyed with signing with another label. But they were put off by the insistence of record executives that they be a disco
Disco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...
vocal group, the musical trend of the day. Mary said she envisioned the Shangri-Las like punk
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
singer Patti Smith
Patti Smith
Patricia Lee "Patti" Smith is an American singer-songwriter, poet and visual artist, who became a highly influential component of the New York City punk rock movement with her 1975 debut album Horses....
. The Shangri-Las split up.
Since the 1980s a trio has called itself the Shangri Las, although unconnected with the original group. The tribute act was put together by Dick Fox, who claimed to have bought the rights to the name, and resulted in legal action from both sides. The original group performed for the last time at a reunion show hosted by Cousin Brucie (Bruce Morrow) in East Rutherford, New Jersey
East Rutherford, New Jersey
East Rutherford is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 8,913. It is an inner-ring suburb of New York City, located west of Midtown Manhattan....
on June 3, 1989.
In March 2007 Norton Records
Norton Records
For the Canadian independent record label of the same name, see Matt Minglewood.Norton Records, a New York City based independent record label founded by musicians Miriam Linna and Billy Miller, maintains a focus on primitive, retro rock'n'roll, rockabilly, garage punk, garage rock, lounge music...
released a solo
Solo (music)
In music, a solo is a piece or a section of a piece played or sung by a single performer...
album by Mary Weiss (backed by garage rock
Garage rock
Garage rock is a raw form of rock and roll that was first popular in the United States and Canada from about 1963 to 1967. During the 1960s, it was not recognized as a separate music genre and had no specific name...
ers, The Reigning Sound
Reigning Sound
The Reigning Sound is an American garage punk band originally based out of Memphis, Tennessee, now located in Asheville, North Carolina. The band's current lineup includes former Oblivians and Compulsive Gamblers frontman Greg Cartwright on lead vocals and guitar, David Wayne Gay on bass, Lance...
) called Dangerous Game. She has been performing in the United States, Spain and France and is working on a new album for 2010.
Influence
The street-wise image of The Shangri-Las—initially a promotional device for "Leader of the Pack"—contrasted with other "girl groups" of the 1960s, and they were cited as an influence by 70s punk rockPunk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
-era acts such as the New York Dolls
New York Dolls
The New York Dolls is an American rock band, formed in New York in 1971. The band's protopunk sound prefigured much of what was to come in the punk rock era; their visual style influenced the look of many new wave and 1980s-era glam metal groups, and they began the local New York scene that later...
and Blondie
Blondie (band)
Blondie is an American rock band, founded by singer Deborah Harry and guitarist Chris Stein. The band was a pioneer in the early American New Wave and punk scenes of the mid-1970s...
, who twice covered "Out in the Streets," and Aerosmith
Aerosmith
Aerosmith is an American rock band, sometimes referred to as "The Bad Boys from Boston" and "America's Greatest Rock and Roll Band". Their style, which is rooted in blues-based hard rock, has come to also incorporate elements of pop, heavy metal, and rhythm and blues, and has inspired many...
, who covered "Remember (Walking in the Sand)." The Go-Go's
The Go-Go's
The Go-Go’s are an all-female American rock band formed in 1978. They made history as the first all-female band that both wrote their own songs and played their own instruments to top the Billboard album charts....
, since their early punk rock days in Los Angeles clubs, have been performing live "Remember (Walking in the Sand)".
The line from "Give Him a Great Big Kiss"—"When I say I'm in love, you best believe I'm in love, L-U-V"—was used by the New York Dolls on their 1973 recording "Looking for a Kiss". The New York Dolls' guitarist Johnny Thunders included a cover of "...Great Big Kiss" on his first solo album So Alone. Ian Svenonius
Ian Svenonius
Ian Folke Svenonius is an American musician, notable as the singer of various Washington, D.C.-based bands including Nation of Ulysses, The Make-Up, Weird War, and Chain and The Gang. Between his numerous projects, Svenonius has released more than 15 full-length albums and more than 20 singles,...
also used the line at the beginning of "Today I Met the Girl I'm Going to Marry" by his band Nation of Ulysses
Nation of Ulysses
The Nation of Ulysses was an American punk rock band from Washington, D.C., formed in spring 1988 with four members. Originally known as simply "Ulysses," the first mark of the group consisted of Ian Svenonius on vocals and trumpet, Steve Kroner on guitar, Steve Gamboa on bass guitar, and James...
on the album 13-Point Program to Destroy America. More recently, Ryan Adams
Ryan Adams
David Ryan Adams is an American alt-country/rock singer-songwriter, from Jacksonville, North Carolina. Initially part of the group Whiskeytown, Adams left the band and released his first solo album Heartbreaker in 2000...
(and the Cardinals) paid homage to that line in their song "Beautiful Sorta" off the album Cold Roses
Cold Roses
-Performers:* Ryan Adams – Vocals, acoustic and electric guitar, harmonica, piano* J.P. Bowersock – Electric guitar* Cindy Cashdollar – Steel guitar, resonator guitar, vocals* Brad Pemberton – Drums, vocals...
, but they changed it to "When I say L-U-V, you better believe me L-U-V. Give me a beer!" In 2005 Julian Cope
Julian Cope
Julian Cope is a British rock musician, author, antiquary, musicologist, poet and cultural commentator...
parodied the famous line in "Dying to Meet You" from his Citizen Cain'd
Citizen Cain'd
Citizen Cain'd is an album by Julian Cope released in 2005.-Tracklisting:SIDE ONE:#Hell Is Wicked#I Can't Hardley Stand It#I'm Living In The Room They Found Saddam In#Gimme Head#Dying To Meet You#I Will Be AbsorbedSIDE TWO:...
album. He's heard to say “When I say I’m dead you best believe I’m dead, D-E-A-D” during the outro. In an outtake of "Careless" from their album Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash
Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take out the Trash
Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash is the first studio album by the American punk rock band The Replacements. It was released on August 25, 1981.A considered album title was "Powertrash"....
, The Replacements opened with the line "When I say I'm in debt, you best believe I'm in debt, D-E-T!"
The opening from "Leader of the Pack"—"Is she really going out with him?"—was recycled both as the opening lines of 1976's "New Rose
New Rose
"New Rose" was the first single by British punk rock group The Damned, released on October 22, 1976. It was the first single by a British punk group, and was released in the Netherlands, Germany, and France in 1977....
" by the Damned, the first British punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
single, and of "Kill" by the parody punk group Alberto Y Lost Trios Paranoias
Alberto y Lost Trios Paranoias
Alberto y Lost Trios Paranoias were a comedy rock band, formed in Manchester, England in 1973. Their story is told in the book When We Were Thin...
, as well as the title
Is She Really Going Out with Him?
"Is She Really Going Out with Him?" is the first single released by Joe Jackson in September 1978. The track was included on Jackson's debut album, Look Sharp!, the following year...
of the 1979 hit song by Joe Jackson
Joe Jackson (musician)
Joe Jackson is an English musician and singer-songwriter now living in Berlin, whose five Grammy Award nominations span from 1979 to 2001...
.
The Shangri-Las' "Past, Present and Future" was covered
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
in 2004 by ex-ABBA
ABBA
ABBA was a Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm in 1970 which consisted of Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Agnetha Fältskog...
singer Agnetha Fältskog
Agnetha Fältskog
Agnetha Åse Fältskog is a Swedish recording artist. She achieved success in Sweden after the release of her début album Agnetha Fältskog in 1968, and reached international stardom as a member of the pop group ABBA, which to date has sold over 375 million records worldwide, making it the fourth...
on her album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
, My Colouring Book
My Colouring Book
My Colouring Book is the name of a 2004 album by Swedish singer Agnetha Fältskog. It was her first album release for 17 years and was well received by ABBA fans, as well as the general music press, with renditions of songs which she had listened to during her teenage years in the 1960s.Hit singles...
.
Australian artist Rowland S. Howard
Rowland S. Howard
Rowland Stuart Howard was an Australian rock musician, guitarist and songwriter, he played electric guitar in the post-punk group The Birthday Party. Howard died of liver cancer in December 2009, aged 50 years....
reworked "He Cried" as "She Cried" to tremendous effect.
Although most covers and remakes of The Shangri-Las material focus on the hit singles, some express the group's influence on them by recording songs from The Shangri-Las which were never released as singles by the group. Among these, the Los Angeles rock group Red Kross covered "Heaven Only Knows," an album cut from The Shangri-Las second album "Shangri-Las '65," and Superchunk
Superchunk
Superchunk is an American indie rock band from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, consisting of singer/guitarist Mac McCaughan, guitarist Jim Wilbur, bassist Laura Ballance, and drummer Jon Wurster. Formed in 1989, they were one of the bands that helped define the Chapel Hill music scene of the 1990s...
, Belle and Sebastian, The Shop Assistants
The Shop Assistants
Shop Assistants were an indie pop band from Edinburgh, Scotland, formed in 1984, initially as Buba & The Shop Assistants. After achieving success with independent releases they signed to Chrysalis Records sublabel Blue Guitar, releasing their only album in 1986...
and Neko Case
Neko Case
Neko Case is an American singer-songwriter, best known for her solo career and her contributions as a member of the Canadian indie rock group The New Pornographers....
recorded versions of "The Train From Kansas City," which was a b-side, and an album cut from The Shangri-Las debut album, "Leader of the Pack."
British singer Amy Winehouse
Amy Winehouse
Amy Jade Winehouse was an English singer-songwriter known for her powerful deep contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres including R&B, soul and jazz. Winehouse's 2003 debut album, Frank, was critically successful in the UK and was nominated for the Mercury Prize...
cited The Shangri-Las as an influence and occasionally integrated the hook lyrics from "Remember (Walkin' in the Sand)" into the bridge of her song "Back to Black
Back to Black
Back to Black is the second studio album by English recording artist Amy Winehouse, released on 27 October 2006 by Island Records. It is the last album released in her lifetime. The album incorporates 1960s soul music styles and modern R&B production, with subjective lyrics that concern...
" during live performances.
Faris Badwan
Faris Badwan
Faris Badwan is a British musician, best known for being the lead vocalist for the English Alternative Rock band The Horrors, and more recently one half of his side project Cat's Eyes with Rachel Zeffira.-Early life:...
of The Horrors
The Horrors
The Horrors are an English band from Southend on Sea, formed in 2005. Their debut Strange House, was released in 2007 and reached number thirty-seven on the UK Albums Chart, their second album Primary Colours was released in 2009 and peaked at number 25 in the UK...
has listed The Shangri-Las as an influence in The Horrors' sound and lyrics, and had added a reworked version of "He Cried" to "She Cried" into The Horrors' song, "Who Can Say," using the lines, "And when I told her I didn’t love her anymore, she cried/and when I told her, her kisses were not like before, she cried/and when I told her another girl had caught my eye, she cried/and I kissed her, with a kiss that could only mean goodbye," in spoken-word with a drum beat similar to that The Shangri-Las used. The song is also originally, "She Cried" by Jay and the Americans, another (if slight) influence over The Horrors.
Atlanta, GA band Black Lips
Black Lips
Black Lips are a "Flower Punk" band from Atlanta, Georgia.-History:The band formed in 1999 in Dunwoody, Georgia after guitarist Cole Alexander and bassist Jared Swilley left the Renegades, and guitarist Ben Eberbaugh left the Reruns. Alexander and Swilley were known for their crude antics both...
called their 2007 album Good Bad Not Evil
Good Bad Not Evil
-Additional personnel:* Jiro Bevis - Illustrations* Black Lips - Audio Production* Justin McNeight - Audio Engineer* Dan Monick - Photography* Edward Rawls - Audio Engineer, Engineer* Noel Summerville - Mastering* Chris "Box" Taylor - Artwork, Design...
, after the line in "Give Him A Great Big Kiss."
Sonic Youth
Sonic Youth
Sonic Youth is an American alternative rock band from New York City, formed in 1981. The current lineup consists of Thurston Moore , Kim Gordon , Lee Ranaldo , Steve Shelley , and Mark Ibold .In their early career, Sonic Youth was associated with the No Wave art and music scene in New York City...
referenced the "very, very close" lyric of Give Him A Great Big Kiss on the Kim Gordon/Kim Deal duet Little Trouble Girl
Little Trouble Girl
"Little Trouble Girl" is a song by Sonic Youth, released as the second and final single from their 1995 album Washing Machine. Guest vocals for the song were provided by Kim Deal.-CD single:# "Little Trouble Girl" - 4:29...
in 1995. Early punk band The Slits
The Slits
The Slits were a British punk rock band. The quartet was formed in 1976 by members of the bands The Flowers of Romance and The Castrators. The members were Ari Up , who died of cancer in October 2010, and Palmolive , with Viv Albertine and Tessa Pollitt replacing founding members, Kate Korus and...
also reference the song in Love Und Romance on the 1979 album Cut
Cut
Cut may refer to:* The act of cutting, the separation of an object into two through acutely directed force-Mathematics:* Cut * Branch cut, a concept in complex analysis* Dedekind cut, a partition of rational numbers* Cut-elimination theorem...
.
The Bat For Lashes
Bat for Lashes
Natasha Khan , also known by her stage name Bat for Lashes, is an English musician. She sings and plays the piano, bass, guitar, harpsichord and the autoharp....
song What's A Girl To Do? has been widely acknowledged as a Shangri Las pastiche.
Kathleen Hanna
Kathleen Hanna
Kathleen Hanna is an American musician, feminist activist, and punk zine writer. In the early- to mid-1990s she was the lead singer and songwriter of Bikini Kill, before fronting Le Tigre in the late 1990s and early 2000s...
of the electropunk group Le Tigre
Le Tigre
Le Tigre is an American electroclash band, formed by Kathleen Hanna and Johanna Fateman in 1998. It also featured Sadie Benning from 1998 until 2001, and JD Samson for the rest of the group's run...
has mentioned that the "one girl calling another" motif and the opening sound of seagulls on the track "What's Yr Take on Cassavetes?" were inspired by The Shangri-Las.
The Shangri-Las were imitated by groups like The Nu-Luvs, who had a hit with "So Soft, So Warm", which was originally recorded by The Shangri-Las as "Dressed In Black" and used as the b-side to Jay and the Americans' original, "He Cried". Others included the Pussycats and the Whyte Boots, who scored big with their single "Nightmare", originally intended for The Shangri-las, and written, produced and performed by Lori Burton and Pam Sawyer
Pam Sawyer
Pamela Sawyer, an American-based songwriter from Romford, East London.Sawyer worked with artists at Motown Records from 1967 to 1977. Before Motown she had been involved in hit records for the Young Rascals and Lulu, and wrote with Lori Burton with whom she also recorded as the Whyte Boots.Sawyer...
. The Goodees
The Goodees
The Goodees were an American pop music girl group who enjoyed brief popularity in the late nineteen-sixties...
had a hit in early 1969 with "Condition Red", a "Leader of the Pack" inspired tale about a girl who wants to be with her long haired, bearded boyfriend despite her parents' objections.
The Detergents
The Detergents
The Detergents were an American music group consisting of Ronnie Dante, Danny Jordan, and Tommy Wynn. The group's speciality was parody songs, as with their first and best-known hit record, "Leader of the Laundromat", written and produced by Paul Vance and Lee Pockriss...
had hits with "Leader of the Laundromat" and "I Can Never Eat Home Any More", both of which parodied The Shangri-Las.
Giddle Partridge and Boyd Rice
Boyd Rice
Boyd Blake Rice is an American experimental sound/noise musician using the name of NON since the mid-1970s, archivist, actor, photographer, author, member of the Partridge Family Temple religious group, co-founder of the UNPOP art movement and current staff writer for Modern Drunkard...
recently covered "Past, Present, and Future."
Brooklyn band Vivian Girls
Vivian Girls
Vivian Girls are an American band from Brooklyn, New York.- History :Vivian Girls, named after the magnum opus of outsider author Henry Darger, started in Brooklyn, NY in March 2007 as the trio of Cassie Ramone ; Katy "Kickball Katy" Goodman; and Frankie Rose...
cite The Shangri-Las as one of their influences.
Finnish rock band HIM is using "Dressed in Black" as an intro song for their current tour promoting their latest album Screamworks: Love in Theory and Practice
Screamworks: Love in Theory and Practice
Screamworks: Love in Theory and Practice, Chapters 1–13 is the seventh studio album by Finnish rock band HIM, released on February 8, 2010 in the United Kingdom and France. It was later released in the United States on February 9, Japan on February 10, and Germany on February 12. The first single...
.
Marianne Faithfull
Marianne Faithfull
Marianne Evelyn Faithfull is an award-winning English singer, songwriter and actress whose career has spanned five decades....
has released a cover of "Past, Present and Future" on her 2011 album Horses and High Heels
Horses and High Heels (Marianne Faithfull album)
Horses and High Heels is the 19th solo album release by British singer and songwriter Marianne Faithfull.The 13 track album was released on 31 January 2011 in continental Europe and on 7 March 2011 in the UK on the Dramatico record label...
.
Studio albums
- 1964: Leader of the PackLeader of the Pack (album)Leader of the Pack is the 1965 debut LP by girl group The Shangri-Las. The album was produced to capitialize on the group's breakthrough hits "Remember " and "Leader of the Pack" which had been co-written by Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich...
(U.S. #109) - 1965: Shangri-Las-65!, re-packaged later the same year with a different cover under the title I Can Never Go Home Anymore.
Compilation albums
- 1966: Golden Hits of the Shangri-Las
- 1975: The Shangri-Las Sing
- 1994: Myrmidons of Melodrama
- 1996: The Best of the Shangri-Las
- 2002: Myrmidons of Melodrama (Re-issue)
- 2008: Remembered
- 2008: Greatest Hits
- 2009: The Complete Collection
Singles
All released on Red Bird label except where stated.- 1964: "Wishing Well"/"Hate to Say I Told You So" (Spokane label, later reissued on Scepter)
- 1964: "Remember (Walking in the Sand)"/"It's Easier to Cry" (U.S. #5, UK #14)
- 1964: "Leader of the PackLeader of the Pack"Leader of the Pack" is a 1964 pop song recorded by girl group The Shangri-Las. It became number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on November 28, 1964.-Original Shangri-Las recording:...
"/"What Is Love?" (U.S. #1, UK #11 (1964), UK #3 (1972), UK #7 (1976)) - 1964: "Simon Says"/"Simon Speaks" (recorded in 1963/64, issued on Smash label)
- 1964: "Give Him a Great Big Kiss"/"Twist and ShoutTwist and Shout"Twist and Shout" is a song written by Phil Medley and Bert Russell. It was originally titled "Shake It Up, Baby" and recorded by the Top Notes and then covered by The Isley Brothers. It was covered by The Beatles with John Lennon on the lead vocals and originally released on their first album...
" (U.S. #18) - 1964: "Maybe"/"Shout" (U.S. #91)
- 1965: "Out in the Streets"/"The Boy" (U.S. #53)
- 1965: "Give Us Your Blessings"/"Heaven Only Knows" (U.S. #29)
- 1965: "Right Now and Not Later"/"The Train From Kansas City" (U.S. #99)
- 1965: "I Can Never Go Home Anymore"/"Bull Dog" (U.S. #6)
- 1966: "Long Live Our Love"/"Sophisticated Boom Boom" (U.S. #33)
- 1966: "He Cried"/"Dressed in Black" (U.S. #65)
- 1966: "Past, Present and Future"/"Paradise" (U.S. #59)
- 1967: "The Sweet Sounds of Summer"/"I'll Never Learn" (U.S. #123) (Mercury label)
- 1967: "Take the Time"/"Footsteps on the Roof" (Mercury label)
External links
- The Shangri-Las.com
- Out In The Streets, The Story of The Shangri-Las, an extensive article by John J. Grecco]
- "Songs of The Stonewall Club" featuring Mary Weiss & The Shangri-Las
- Article by David Galassie
- Norton Records Mary Weiss' new label. Site includes extensive 2006 interview with Mary, and discography]
- Mary Weiss official web site
- Mary Weiss' page on MySpace
- Mary Weiss Guest List at Discollective
- Leader of the pack, and back
- August 2008 Interview with L.A. RecordL.A. RecordL.A. Record is an independent music magazine originally published weekly as a broadsheet poster. The poster usually depicts a local Los Angeles musicians and according to the magazine editors is meant to recreate an iconic album cover. In March 2008, it began publishing as a monthly magazine with a...
Listening
- Interview with Mary Weiss from Fresh Air radio program, NPR Podcast, March 6, 2007
- Interview with Mary Weiss from WFMU-FM, Real Audio archive, October 9, 2007