#mary weiss

[musickickztoo]

RIP Mary Weiss 

December 28, 1948 – January 19, 2024

#mary weiss #the shangri-las #january 19 #december 28

[batteredshoes]

Farewell, Mary

#mary weiss #the shangri las

[20th-century-scrapbook]

Mary Weiss, in the foreground, with the Ganser twins on the cover of the Shangri-Las first album. The title track was a No. 1 single in 1964.

#Shanghai-Las #1964 #Leader of the Pack #Mary Weiss #Ganser Twins #1960s #album

[thesobsister]

The Shangri-Las, “Remember (Walking in the Sand)”

Lead singer Mary Weiss has died, age 75. The queen of teenage dramas in the pre-Woodstock music world, she lay down this classic tale of love and loss at the age of 15.

aav.

#mary weiss #the shangri-las #pop music #girl groups #obituary #Youtube

[mauricedelafalaise]

Farewell Mary Weiss - The Shangri-Las

the teenagers that inspired punk music

#mary weiss #the shangri las #vintage #60s #music

[poptartcrush]

R.I.P. Mary Weiss/ Lead Singer/

The Shangri-Las

#the shangri las #mary weiss #60s #leader of the pack #lead singer #girl groups #brill building #rock and roll hall of fame

[guessimdumb]

Mary Weiss - Stop and Think It Over (2007)

R.I.P. Mary Weiss

In 2007, Mary Weiss of the Shangri-Las recorded her first LP in decades with the Reigning Sound.

#Mary Weiss #Stop and Think it Over #Mary Weiss and Reigning Sound #Dangerous Game #Greg Cartwright

[gonetodash19]

RIP Mary Weiss, lead singer of The Shangri-Las

#mary weiss #the shangri las #Youtube

[lisamarie-vee]

#mary weiss #dangerous game #norton records #sunglasses #rock and roll hall of fame #roberta bayley

[geminicollisionworks]

An appropriately sad farewell to Mary Weiss (right), primary voice of The Shangri-Las, a much beloved group.

They were the pinnacle of melodramatic teen pop tragedy songs, and while Shadow Morton was the writer and creator of their sound, it was Mary's voice that sold the stories.

Here's a favorite:

#mary weiss #the shangri-las #girl groups #teenage death songs #queens #Youtube

[the-birth-of-art]

Fare thee well to Mary Weiss, "the tough gal with the angelic voice".

#mary weiss #the shangri-las #shangri las #out in the streets #give him a great big kiss #when i say i'm in love you best believe i'm in love l-u-v #girl groups

[20th-century-scrapbook]

Mary Ann Ganser, Betty Weiss and Mary Weiss of the Shangri-Las in 1965 / David Dalton

The Shangri-Las had six Top 40 singles between 1964 and 1966.

Songs like “Remember (Walking in the Sand)” and “Past, Present and Future” made the end of a young romance sound like an epoch-defining tragedy, but they masked their emotional desperation with an air of fearlessness. Wearing leather pants — as opposed to the formal gowns favored by female groups like the Supremes — they embodied 1960s bad-girl chic and inspired legions of other musicians.

#Shangra-Las #Mary Ann Ganser #Betty Weiss #Mary Weiss #1965 #1960s #music

[ludmilachaibemachado]

Mary Weiss RIp🙏💐

Via @isabelfufre on Instagram💐

#60s icons #girlsofthesixties #mary weiss #rip

[kdo-three]

Mary Weiss

Mary Weiss December 28, 1948 – January 19, 2024

American Singer | Lead Singer of The Shangri-Las

Mary Weiss, Lead Singer of the Shangri-Las, Dies at 75 - Pitchfork The pop singer was behind countless hits in the 1960s, including “Leader of the Pack”

Mary Weiss, Lead Singer of Sixties Girl Group The Shangri-Las, Dead at 75 - RollingStone Weiss vanished from the music industry for decades before returning in 2007 to release her first solo record

Mary Weiss, style-setting lead singer of the Shangri-Las, dies at 75 - Washington Post Ms. Weiss and The Shangri-Las brought a more street-smart twist with songs such as “Leader of the Pack”

Mary Weiss, lead singer for ‘Leader of the Pack’ girl group The Shangri-Las, dies at 75 - LA Times

Mary Weiss - Wikipedia

#Mary Weiss #The Shangri-Las #Girl Groups #Music History #Obituary

[weneverlearn]

Mary Weiss, me; outside Magnetic Field, Brooklyn, 2008 (photographer unknown)

Mary Weiss, R.I.P.

It was 2005, and I'd lived in NYC for less than a year. I somehow finagled my way into a listening party for the incredible new Rhino Records box set, One Kiss Can Lead to Another: Girl Group Sounds Lost & Found. It was at some small event space in midtown, I don't remember what it was called. Cool joint though...

I felt a bit overwhelmed in this packed room of esteemed scenesters, aging industry big wigs, and the incredible original performers from the box set they were able to round up and sing a few songs.

Luckily the ever-fun couple of Miriam Linna and Billy Miller (Norton Records) were there, scanning the room with eyes as wide as anyone's, and the two introduced me to a few heps, like Richard Gottehrer -- the amazing producer/songwriter who sprung form the Brill Building and ultimately produced some of my faves, like Richard Hell, the Go-Gos, and Marshall Crenshaw, among many.

Then I saw Sune Rose Wagner, singer/guitarist of the Raveonettes, one of my newer faves of the moment, and he was crying. I'd interviewed him over the phone a couple years earlier for a Cleveland mag, so I re-introduced myself and asked what was wrong. We hugged. He said that earlier in the week they'd played and had all of their instruments stolen afterwards, and he was so distraught he was thinking about quitting music. I told him no way, maybe they'll find the stuff, etc... He kind of perked up, and then once the women started singing with a live band, his teary eyes started shining from the glow of the stage taking over the pretty dark room. These women -- and I can't remember which acts they came from, but they were all on the box set -- were resplendent in glittering dresses, hair done big, and smiles wider than 5th Avenue.

I saw Billy and Miriam again, and they were chatting with Mary Weiss lead vox/face of the Shangri-Las -- arguably one of the top three acts of the whole mid-60s "girl group" scene. I was introduced quickly, but I let them get at their convo as I assumed the Norton nabobs knew Mary from way back.

However, Billy comes up to me later and tells me he had never met her before, that she was his first female musical star crush, and he absolutely sounded like a 16-year old trying to cram his melting heart back into his chest. I was pretty floored myself -- I always loved the Shangri-Las from first hearing them slip out of oldies stations growing up to when I first started diving into girl group sounds as a record-amasing teen. They, the Ronettes, and Darlene Love were the cream of the dreamy crop in my book.

The whole night was not unlike making your way through a Shangri-Las compilation: every emotion possible heaving up and down, surrounded by sounds lilting, swelling, crumbling, but always with that Big Beat bubbling, ready to shove you out of the sadness...

After the news of Mary Weiss' sad passing yesterday, of course many acknowledged her teen stardom of the mid-60s; the influence of the Shangri-Las' street-tough image and emotions on the New York Dolls (who used Shangri-Las producer, Shadow Morton, for their second album) and much of the early new wave of the mid-70s; the respect of her keeping a singing career going through the years, and the glorious third act she had in the late 2000s with the help of Norton Records and the great album, Dangerous Game, where Weiss, in excellent voice, was backed by the rulers of garage pop of that era, the Reigning Sound.

No, it wasn't some top 10 album, but it just oozed with a kind of vintage-to-ever cool that is so rarely captured in a "comeback." (And it definitely got her press and new young fans.)

In fact I think that album, and especially that incredible Rhino box set, brought back that '60s malt shop-meets-back-alley girl group ouvre to a whole new generation.

This was not front page news. Nevertheless loads of acts like King Khan & BBQ, Peach Kelli Pop, Shannon & the Clams, Hunx and His Punx, the Vivian Girls, Baby Shakes, Black Lips, A Giant Dog, and even the re-emergence of Nikki Corvette and Ronnie Spector to the stage brought the cloud-bound reverb and scruffy riffs of vintage girl groups back to prominence in the underground garage rock scene. And again, due to their sounds and looks, the Shangri-Las and the Ronettes were the template.

It has since dawned on me many times that Mary Weiss -- and the Shangri-Las as a whole -- have a nearly singular place in R'n'R history. Considering the admittedly limited catalog of songs, their outsized influence has spread from radio hits in the '60s to the underground proto-punk not ten years later; to the CBGB scene; early '80s new wave and power pop shadow-pep (like Blondie, Go-Gos, and many more); Aerosmith covered "(Remember) Walking in the Sand," and others of the big coif/high dramatics of hair metal had some Shangri-Las DNA in the hair spray; from transgressive filmmakers like John Waters to drag queen blueprints; to 2000s female neo-soul hitmakers -- arising at the same time as the aforementioned garage pop underbelly -- and even up to the recent talk/sing busted romance stylings of mega-popsters like Taylor Swift.

I saw Weiss at a couple shows over the next year or so. She was always so excited and grateful for all the accolades and thanks people laid on her. She played a remarkable show in Brooklyn that Lee Greenfeld booked, at the Atlantic Antic street fest in September, 2007 -- right outside Greenfeld's madly-missed club, Magnetic Field. We felt the Antic gig would be the first of many, but there were just a few more local gigs, if memory serves.

Somewhere in 2008, at an A-Bones / Yo La Tengo show at Magnetic Field, I chatted with Weiss for a bit afterwards. I can't express enough how inspiring was her love of music and hanging out at a small bar with a bunch of music obsessives knocking back cheap beers. At the 1 a.m. chime, she kissed my cheek, I laid one on her's, I walked home, and I will assume that if there is a Heaven, that moment should get me into the meetings where they discuss how to improve Heaven. It's a cinch it's improved today.

Variety obituary here.

From obituary:

The group’s tough-but-vulnerable New York City teen image was genuine. “Overall, the girl groups had very sweet images, except for the Ronettes and the Shangri-Las, who had a tougher, harder attitude,” Greenwich told the website Spectropop in an undated interview. “By today’s standards, they were as innocent as the day is long. Back then, they seemed to have a street toughness, but with a lot of vulnerability. Mary Weiss [had] the sweetest long straight hair, an angelic face, and then this nasal voice comes out, and this attitude — the best of both worlds.

“In the beginning, we did not get along,” she continued. “They were kind of crude, with their gestures and language and chewing gum and the stockings ripped up their leg. We would say, ‘Not nice, you must be ladies,’ and they would say, ‘We don’t want to be ladies.'”

From Chapter 33 of The Downtown Pop Underground — order online, or from a local independent bookstore

THE SHANGRI-LAS’ INFLUENCE ON PUNK LOCATION Brill Building The Shangri-Las were one of the common musical denominators that Blondie shared, and Clem Burke explained the Shangri-La’s proto-punk appeal: “They had their black leather vests and their tight black leather pants, and they sang ‘Give Him a Great Big Kiss.’ They sang about dirty fingernails, wavy hair, and leather jackets, and things like that.” The Shangri-Las cast a long shadow over glam and punk rock. The New York Dolls’ “Looking for a Kiss” borrowed the spoken word intro from their “Give Him a Great Big Kiss,” and another Dolls song, “Trash,” copped the campy “How do you call your lover boy?” line from “Love Is Strange,” a catchy 1956 hit by Mickey & Sylvia. The group’s final album, Too Much Too Soon, was produced by Shadow Morton, who had crafted the girl group classics “Leader of the Pack” and “Remember (Walking in the Sand)” for the Shangri-Las. As Burke recalled, “Bubblegum rock was part of the roots of the New York music scene. Some of the old-school guys like Richard Gottehrer or Marty Thau—who had some money and success in pop music—they understood the music because they were coming from that Brill Building mentality.” Thau was the New York Dolls’ first manager before McLaren took the job, and he had previously made a living as a record promoter for late 1960s bubblegum groups the 1910 Fruitgum Company (“Simon Says”) and the Ohio Express (“Yummy Yummy Yummy”). Thau recorded the Ramones’ first demos and released Suicide’s debut album on his independent label Red Star, and also formed the production company Instant Records with the old-school industry hit maker Richard Gottehrer. “Richie was part of that whole Brill Building rock thing,” Leon said, “which had a lot of nostalgia for us because we grew up with it on the radio when we were kids.”

#mary weiss #shangri-las #girl groups #rhino records #norton records #new york dolls #60s pop #reigning sound #leader of the pack #brooklyn #Youtube #blondie #punk influences #Queens #queens nyc

[aleprouswitch]

Mary Weiss of The Shangri-Las passed away, and part of me is depressed that younger generations only know of her from that irritating TikTok song that's just a sped-up version of "Remember (Walking in the Sand)".

#mary weiss #the shangri las #rip #i despise tiktok