The Shangri-Las

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The Shangri-Las
Origin New York, New York, United States
Genre(s) Pop
Years active 1963 to 1968
Label(s) Red Bird Records (1964-66)
Mercury Records (1966-67)
Associated acts Mary Weiss
Former members
Mary Weiss
Elizabeth "Betty" Weiss
Marguerite "Marge" Ganser
Mary Ann Ganser

The Shangri-Las were a "girl group", an American pop group of the 1960s. Between 1964 and 1966 they charted with a string of often heartbreaking teen melodramas, and remain best known for "Leader of the Pack" and "Remember (Walkin' in the Sand)".

Contents

[edit] Early career

The group was formed at Andrew Jackson High School in Cambria Heights, a part of Queens in New York in 1963. They consisted of two sets of sisters: Mary Weiss (lead singer) (born 1948 (age 59–60)) and Elizabeth "Betty" Weiss (born 1946 (age 61–62)), and identical twins Marguerite "Marge" (1947-1996 (aged 48–49)) and Mary Ann Ganser (1947-1970 (aged 22–23)[1]). More often than not the girls appeared in public as a trio, because Betty Weiss rarely appeared on stage with the other group members until 1966, preferring to avoid the rigors of 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[2].

Initially, the girls performed locally without a group name. But when they signed their first record deal, they began calling themselves the Shangri-Las, after a Queens restaurant.

Some discographies incorrectly list The Beatle-ettes and The Bon Bons, who both issued singles in 1964, as early versions of The Shangri-Las. However, they are completely different groups.[3]

[edit] Success at Red Bird Records

In April 1964, when the girls were still minors, their parents signed for them with Red Bird Records; Mary was 15, Betty was 17, and the Ganser twins were 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, an unknown working as a session musician at the time, played on the original demo recording of "Remember (Walkin' In The Sand)" [4]. The original demo recording was nearly seven minutes long, far too long for Top 40 radio airplay. Morton had originally hired the group to just perform on the demo, but Red Bird liked their sound, and decided to release a re-recorded version by them after cutting it down to proper length for a 45 RPM single. Rather than edit the original song, Morton simply faded the new version out around the 2:16 mark.

The group's recordings for Morton featured lavish production with heavy orchestration and sound effects, and their next and biggest hit, the renowned 'death disc', "Leader of the Pack" (U.S. #1, UK #11), climaxes with the sounds of roaring motorcycles and breaking glass. UK re-issues of the single peaked at #3 in 1972 and at #7 in 1976. The song epitomized the "death disc"; other examples of the era including Ray Peterson's "Tell Laura I Love Her", Jan and Dean's "Dead Man's Curve", and Twinkle's "Terry".

By the end of 1964 the group were an established hit act. They performed on a live bill 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 when he met them), 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[5].

Because Betty did not tour regularly with the group until 1966, and because she often and mysteriously did not appear in promotional photos despite the fact that she continued to sing on the records, many fans believed the Shangri-Las were a trio.

The group would alternate between touring with their own band, and hiring various local bands to back them. Among the latter were the Sonics, as well as the Iguanas, featuring a young Iggy Pop.

The Shangri-Las had a 'tough girls' persona that set them apart from other girl groups. Having grown up in a rough part of Queens, they were by nature feisty and outspoken, and far less demure than many of their contemporaries. Rumors about their supposed escapades have since become the stuff of rock and roll legend, including:

  • Angry at New York disk jockey Murray the K at a concert, the girls impishly moved his motorcycle up to the roof of the Brooklyn Fox Theater, and left it for him to try and figure out how to get it down again.
  • They allegedly "kidnapped" a young man in Philadelphia and held him captive in their hotel room.
  • Mary Weiss attracted the unwanted attention of the FBI for transporting a firearm illegally across state lines. In her defense, she has said since that someone tried to break into her hotel room one night, and for protection she bought a pistol.
  • Songwriter Ellie Greenwich supposedly got into a scuffle with one or more of the Shangri-Las in a recording studio restroom; after this incident, Greenwich has said, the group treated her with a great deal more respect.

Whatever degree of truth these stories may have, they were firmly believed by many fans in the '60s, and they helped cement the group's reputation. According to Weiss, that reputation helped fend off unwanted advances from various male musicians on tours.

The Shangri-Las continued to chart with a run of fairly successful U.S. hit records, specialising 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", "He Cried" and the spoken-word cult favourite "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) .

The group are generally recognized as distinctive purveyors of emotionally convincing melodrama. Among their titles that occasionally appear in music critics' all-time-favourites lists is the tragic ten-hanky drama "I Can Never Go Home Anymore", which recounts the story of a girl who leaves home for the love of 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". Memorable lines from "Give Him A Great Big Kiss" include the introductory "When I say I'm in love, you best believe I'm in love, L-U-V", and the much-quoted "Well I hear he's bad." "Hmm, he's good-bad, but he's not evil."

[edit] Disintegration and retirement

The group toured and appeared on several major TV shows, but in 1966 two of the Shangri-Las' three releases on Red Bird failed to crack the U.S. top 50 (although they remained popular in England and Japan). Mary Ann Ganser left for a short while, but returned when Marge — who, as the most outspoken member, was sometimes considered the group's leader[6] — decided to leave early in 1967. By that time, Red Bird Records had folded. The group recorded some more tracks with Morton (some of which remain unreleased) and signed with Mercury Records[7]. However, Morton had begun working with Janis Ian and Vanilla Fudge, diverting his attention from the Shangri-Las, and Mercury executives had little enthusiasm for the group. During their brief Mercury stint, the Shangri-Las had no further hits. In 1968, they disbanded amid a blizzard of litigation.

All the members of the Shangri-Las then withdrew from the spotlight. Shadow Morton said "The Shangri-Las vacated, they vanished". Reportedly, they were angry and disillusioned by the fact that they received comparatively little royalty money over the years, despite the millions of records they had sold. Lead singer Mary Weiss moved first to New York's Greenwich Village, then to San Francisco. Returning to Manhattan a few years later, and legally prevented from recording because of ongoing lawsuits, she worked as a secretary while taking college classes. She then went into the architectural industry, starting out working in the accounting deparment of a New York architectural firm she eventually moved up to be the company's chief purchasing agent and later ran the company's commercial furniture dealership. In the late eighties she was the manager of a furniture store and a freelance interior designer. By 2001 she was working as a furniture consultant to New York businesses. [8] [9]. She married in 1974 and divorced her first husband in 1985; she married again several years later, and her second husband now manages her music career. Betty Weiss also married and had a daughter, she was the only member of the group to have a child, worked for a cosmetics company in Manhattan and later started her own business in Long Island. Mary Ann Ganser died on March 14, 1970 from an overdose of barbiturates.[citation needed] According to her mother, Mary Ann had been battling a heroin addiction for two years. Confusingly, many years later, Mary Weiss claimed that Mary Ann had died from encephalitis[10], brought on by a mosquito bite. Marge Ganser married (becoming Marguerite Ganser Dorste), worked for a telephone company, and succumbed to breast cancer on July 28, 1996 at the age of forty-eight[11].

The group declined offers to reform and tour the oldies concert circuit throughout the '70s, although they did a few random live performances from time to time. 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 the summer of 1977 in a New York City recording studio with producer Andy Paley. Paley has said the sessions went well, and the trio had fun being back in the studio again, but by the end, they weren't satisfied with all of the material, and they declined to release the record (the tapes now appear to be lost). They did, however, decide to give a spur-of-the-moment live performance at CBGBs; Paley quickly put together a band, including Lenny Kaye, and after only two hours worth 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 still toyed with the idea of signing with another label and trying to record again. But they were put off by the insistence of the record executives that they adapt themselves to be a disco vocal group, which was the prevalent musical trend of the day, and one which did not appeal to the group at all (Mary has said that she envisioned the proposed latter day Shangri-Las to be more like punk singer Patti Smith). Once again frustrated with the recording industry, the Shangri-Las split up and returned to retirement. However, since the 1980s the group has had to deal with a trio calling themselves the Shangri Las, who have nothing to do with the original group. The tribute act was put together by Dick Fox, who claimed to have bought the rights to the group's name, and resulted in years of legal actions 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 new solo album by Mary Weiss (backed by garage rockers, The Reigning Sound) called Dangerous Game.

[edit] Influence

The tough street-wise image of The Shangri-Las — which was initially set up as a promotional device for "Leader of the Pack"[12] — contrasted with many other "girl groups" of the 1960s, and they were cited as an influence by later bands and artistes, particularly 70s punk rock-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)." Interestingly, Debbie Harry of Blondie is older than any of the Shangri-Las. And 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!"

The opening line 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.

Although most covers and remakes of the Shangri-Las material focus on the groups well-known hit singles, some of the more adventurous acts have chosen instead to express the groups' influence on them by recording songs from The Shangri-Las catalog which were never released as singles by group. Among these, the Los Angeles area based rock group Red Kross covered "Heaven Only Knows," an album cut from The Shangri-las second album "Shangri-las '65," and the alternative rock group Superchunk recorded a version 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 also has cited the Shangri-Las as an influence in several interviews.

Faris Badwan of The Horrors has listed The Shangri-Las as an influence in The Horrors' sound and lyrics.

Kathleen Hanna of the feminist 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[13].

[edit] Discography

[edit] Studio albums

  • 1964: Leader of the Pack (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.

[edit] 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
  • 2008: Remembered

[edit] 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 Pack"/"What Is Love?" (U.S. #1, UK #11 (1965), UK #3 (1972), UK #7 (1976))
  • 1965: "Simon Says"/"Simon Speaks" (recorded in 1963/64, issued on Smash label)
  • 1965: "Give Him a Great Big Kiss"/"Twist And Shout" (U.S. #18)
  • 1965: "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)
  • 1966: "The Sweet Sounds of Summer"/"I'll Never Learn" (U.S. #123) (Mercury label)
  • 1967: "Take the Time"/"Footsteps On The Roof" (Mercury label)

[edit] References

  1. ^ See Category talk:1970 deaths and http://www.redbirdent.com/slas4.htm for evidence of 1970 rather than 1971 date of death.
  2. ^ The Shangri-Las!
  3. ^ Dicrography
  4. ^ Shadow Morton-4
  5. ^ The Shangri-Las!
  6. ^ The Shangri-Las!
  7. ^ The Shangri-Las!
  8. ^ Welcome to Norton Records!
  9. ^ The Shangri-Las: Leaders of the Pack – Sixties Music Remembered
  10. ^ http://http://www.redbirdent.com/slas4.htm
  11. ^ Obituary
  12. ^ The Shangri-Las!
  13. ^ http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1111419

[edit] External links

[edit] Listening