The Shangri-Las were another of the great 60's girl groups. They gained recognition not only for the content of their songs but also for their visual appearance.
Twenty-two year old producer George "Shadow" Morton -- so named for his habit of disappearing for several days at a time -- recruited two sets of sisters out of Andrew Jackson High School in Queens, New York to be the Shangri-Las. Mary Weiss and her sister Betty joined with twins Marge and Mary Ann Ganser to form the group. While the girls were still high school students the charismatic Morton conceived the idea of having them record Remember [Walkin' In The Sand]. He made a demo tape and took it to Kama Sutra Productions and Artie Ripp. Brill Building songwriters Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich were added to help with the actual production of the song [Greenwich had attended the same high school as Morton], the sound of seagulls screaching in the background was added, and it was leased to Red Bird Records. The song entered the charts in September, 1964 and peaked at the number 5 position. The Shangri-Las were on their way...
No comments:
Post a Comment