Shadow Morton

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George 'Shadow' Morton (b 3 September 1944, Richmond, Virginia) is an American record producer and songwriter best known for his influential work in the 1960s.

Growing up in Brooklyn, New York, and then Hicksville, Long Island, he formed a doowop group, the Marquees, at school. He became friendly with Ellie Greenwich, and contacted her and husband Jeff Barry when they were working in the Brill Building. Challenged to write a hit song, he wrote "Remember (Walking In The Sand)", recorded it with club act The Shangri-Las (according to Morton, with Billy Joel on piano) [1], and placed it with Jerry Leiber who was then setting up Red Bird Records. The record reached the top five on the US charts in 1964 and was a worldwide hit.

Morton was signed as staff producer for Red Bird, and was nicknamed "Shadow" by George Goldner because his whereabouts could never be pinned down. He was a key architect in creating the girl group sound of the mid-'60s, by continuing to write and produce hit teen melodramas for the Shangri-Las, including "Leader of the Pack", "I Can Never Go Home Anymore", and "Give Him A Great Big Kiss". These juxtaposed teen lyrics against a mixture of pop and R&B, with sound effects and inventive percussion.

In 1967, his successes continued after the collapse of Red Bird when his production of Janis Ian's "Society's Child (Baby I've Been Thinking)" finally became a hit record. The same year, he discovered a group called The Pidgeons, who became Vanilla Fudge, and produced their first two albums.

In the 1970s he worked with Iron Butterfly, and even though the group gave an interview to Mix Magazine crediting Morton with producing the hit track "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" that information is not widley known. He also worked with The New York Dolls, producing their second album Too Much Too Soon. Dolls guitarist Johnny Thunders would later cover his composition "Great Big Kiss" on his 1979 solo album So Alone. In 1972, Shadow produced the Boston comedy band Gross National Productions' album "P-Flaps and Low Blows".

Morton then disappeared from the music industry for several years, and was treated for alcoholism in the 1980s before attempting a comeback.

He was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame (www.limusichalloffame.org)on Oct 15, 2006