The Shangri-Las Biography
The Shangri-Las
by John Grecco
The first half of the 1960s was a period
where music was changing rapidly from the 1950s style of Doo Wop and Rock and
Roll to the innovative sounds of the 1960s. There were still many companies at
this time that would find songs, singers and producers in the usual and
sometimes unusual places.
The
Over in the borough of
Now
The girls were discovered by a
writer/producer called Artie Ripp. Artie was involved with a company called
Kama Sutra Productions who would sign and record groups, then license or sell
these tracks outright to various record companies in the hopes that one of them
would hit. He had given The Shangri-Las their first know in studio recording
session with a couple of songs called: "Wishing Well" and "Hate
To Say I Told You So".
The tracks themselves were not as polished
as later ones they would do, but "Wishing Well" in a way, helped seal
Mary's fate as the lead vocalist. It's has been said that Mary's older sister
Betty, did also have a very nice voice and would do some leads when they
performed early in their career in local clubs and dances. These two songs were
first released in very early 1964 on the
The girls were given a another chance with
a song called "Simon Says" which may have actually been recorded at
one of their local appearances, but the track itself wouldn't see the light of
day until about a year later.
The girls, who were still attending high
school in 1964 and ranged in age from fifteen to seventeen kept busy by singing
at record hops, school dances, area clubs and the like. Around the same time as
The Shangri-Las were trying to make a name for themselves, an aspiring writer,
George "Shadow" Morton, was also trying to make a name for himself.
Fate would have these two meeting up very
shortly thanks to a number of people, namely Shadow Morton, Ellie Greenwich
("THE" nicest person in the music business), Jeff Barry, Jerry
Leiber, and Mike Stoller. Back in the late 1950s and early 1960s both Shadow
Morton, and Ellie Greenwich lived in the same area,
When Shadow started considering a career in
the music field, he had remembered Ellie, and had also heard that she was doing
quite well for herself in the business with songs for The Crystals, Ronettes,
Darlene Love and the like. Through some arranging by mutual friends, Shadow was
able to re-introduce himself to Ellie, and tried to jump-start their casual
friendship into an"in" with the music industry.
Ellie's co-writer, partner, and husband at
this time was none other than Jeff Barry. When Ellie and Jeff arranged to meet
with Shadow, a type of rivalry had started between Jeff and Shadow at this
first meeting. It has been said that Shadow was kind of pushed into a corner by
his telling Jeff and Ellie how he was a songwriter, and had this group and so
on.
Shadow's bluff was called, and arrangements
were made to hear one of his writing efforts, which at this time, there were
none. So, determined, and probably not letting his pride get injured, Shadow
set out to write a song, get a group to sing it, and have a demo made all
within a matter of a few days. Shadow did get started on the song, and it was
going good, but needed a group.
Someone he knew had mentioned to him about
a group of girls that had a unique sound, and were making some noise with the
teenagers in the area, so with no other options, he tracked these girls down.
Now that he had a song and a group, he got some time at a local studio in
A few days later, with the demo in hand,
Shadow went to his meeting with Ellie and Jeff up at the
So Shadow Morton now has a record company
to work for, and The Shangri-Las are about to hit the big time, but all is not
well in paradise. Right before the release of "Remember (Walkin' In The
Sand)" Artie Ripp and his associates brought to the attention of Red Bird
records a little known fact that almost ended The Shangri-Las recording career.
It seems that when Artie Ripp had recorded the girls on "Wishing
Well" he also had them sign a contract to
At this point, negotiations took place to
include Artie Ripp in for The Shangri-Las recordings, since the girls were
still under contract with
During 1964, groups started to get more and
more exposure thanks to T.V. shows on the new fall line-up such as: Shindig,
Hullabaloo, Shivaree, Hollywood A Go-Go, Lloyd Thaxton plus the Soupy Sales
Show and The Shangri-Las were booked on to everyone of those shows, not to
mention that they would later appear on Ed Sullivan. They were one of the
hottest new acts of 1964, and were voted the #1 new female act of 1964 by Cash
Box. With "Remember" still on the charts, Shadow had to come up with
another song for The Shangri-Las.
Many times it's hard to top your first
success, but, the girls had nothing to worry about there, they would not only
top their first hit, they would eclipse it! The next release for them, as I'm
sure everyone knows, is "Leader Of The Pack". There have been
conflicting stories as to who actually wrote this song. In past interviews with
Shadow Morton, he has said to people that he wrote the song himself, but since
Ellie and Jeff had helped him get a start, their names were also put down as
writers. Ellie Greenwich has said, that she and Jeff definitely did write it
with Shadow, and at that time, Jeff had a motorcycle, and so did Shadow, bikes
were getting very popular at this time, and they all had a hand in the song.
This is not the only conflict with
"Leader Of The Pack", but also, Shadow at this time had come across
another girl group he wanted to record called "The Bunnies" later to
be known as "The Goodies". Shadow initially wanted The Bunnies to
record "Leader Of The Pack", but according to rumors, that idea was squashed
by Leiber and Stoller, and so The Shangri-Las were back in the studio.
In an old interview of Jeff Barry for
Billboard magazine, he recalled that Mary was a little shy in the studio during
the recording of "Leader Of The Pack" so he stood in front of her
mouthing the words to get her to sing.
"Leader Of The Pack" was released
in late September of 1964 and it took off like a rocket. Not only did it make
the top ten, it made the number one position on the charts! Again, beating out
the British Invasion groups. The only other girl group/vocalists at this time
that still had any real national chart action was Lesley Gore, The Dixie Cups,
The Supremes, and Martha & The Vandellas.
The Ronettes were still on the charts, but
in late '64 they were lucky to make it into the national top thirty. The
With all this going on, the field was clear
for The Shangri-Las to run with the ball, and run they did like the
The Shangri-Las were so hot at this time
that the old WMCA radio charts had both "Remember (Walkin' In The
Sand)" and "Leader Of The Pack" in the Top 10 at the same time!
Not bad for four girls from
Mary sang her heart out on this one. With
"Give Him A Great Big Kiss" the girls made numerous appearances on
Shindig, Hullabaloo, Lloyd Thaxton, Shivaree and
This first version can be found if you hunt
out an obscure compilation LP called Incense and Oldies on the Buddah label
from around late '69 early '70. If your lucky enough to find this old album,
you'll not only get this obscure track in real stereo, but you'll also get an
alternate take of "Remember (Walkin' In The Sand)" without the
seagulls, a different intro, sparse instrumentation, and real stereo to boot!
With two solid hits under their belt, and
"Give Him A Great Big Kiss" climbing the charts, Red Bird Records
released an LP entitled "The Shangri-Las" in February of 1965. The LP
contained all their hits up to this time, with their flip sides.
Side two, was supposed to be from a live
performance of The Shangri-Las, and is debatable as the "Maybe" track
sounds almost identical to the 45 version, but the 45 version had no crowd
noise, the Lp did. It is possible that this "live" performance may
have been recorded at none other than Bell Sound Studios and some crowd
enhanced effects added to the tracks, but at this point without definite
confirmation from Mary, Betty or Shadow, this is speculation.
Riding high with their hits, and public
performances, Mary and the girls were asked to indorse Revlon's line of
"Natural Wonder" make-up. They did the "How Pretty Can You
Get" commercials for Revlon and also did some public service announcements
for teens concerning dating etiquette. Not only was the record buying public
hearing The Shangri-Las blasting out of their radios, and seeing them on almost
all the teen music shows, The Shangri-Las were also honored with
"Shangri-Las Day" at the New York Worlds Fair! There was no escaping
the Shangri-Las, and who in their right mind would want to.
Their tour schedule was a busy one, aside
from the television appearances, they also traveled on some Dick Clark tours,
Murray The "K" shows, and just seven months after their initial hit
with "Remember (Walkin' In The Sand)" the girls from
With appearances scheduled for
Starting out with their first appearance in
England on March 7, 1965 in Newcastle, the girls did two shows a day hitting
fourteen different towns in fifteen days for a total of twenty eight shows, and
ending their tour on March 22nd 1965 in Glassgow, then it was back to the
states for more recordings and appearances. It should also be noted that in one
of their visits to
With their schedule moving at a very fast
pace, it may have started to take a toll on them, which is totally
understandable. Let's not forget that Red Bird was a small independent label,
so their acts didn't have the advantages of some of the major labels or for
that matter some of the larger independent labels such as Motown.
Motown would put their acts through their
version of charm school, plus having veterans like Cholly Atkins instructing
the performers on dance steps and stage performance, not forgetting their
management teams that would accompany their acts. Phil Spector would go to
great lengths that the Ronettes would be taken care of and watched over while
out of his vicinity. The Shangri-Las did not have these advantages, and quite
honestly they did not need it, they were survivors and self-sufficient. Aside
from road managers coming and going quite frequently, they finally got a Damon
Runyon type character named "Fat Frankie" as their road manager that
stayed with them for a while and looked after them.
If looking at the amount of personal,
television and promotional appearances they were making, aside from their
overseas tours and studio work, the most seasoned performer would be weak in
the knees from it. In some clips of their performances from around this time,
Mary and Margie seemed to be the only constants in the group. Some clips that
were viewed showed Mary, Margie, and Maryann, other clips showed Mary, Margie
and Betty, and then others would show all four girls.
When opportunity knocks, you have to answer
as you may not get another chance, but it doesn't mean that your going to be up
to everything that comes with it. Taking four young girls straight out of high
school, and throwing them into the entertainment field is hard when your just a
local hit, but with the impact their songs were making, plus their enormous
popularity with both girls and guys, The Shangri-Las career skyrocketed in the
U.S. and England.
While most girls around this age were busy
with dating, the girls were busy with club dates, television appearances and
tours. With most girl groups appealing mostly to the female buying public, The
Shangri-Las found a way to appeal to both sexes. What guy couldn't identify
with some of the themes of their songs with the girls parents and friends
objecting to the new boyfriend, plus the themes were more realistic for the
times, not just teen dribble like other groups were putting out at this time.
The Shangri-Las not only had the look that
could captivate you such as Mary's angelic looks, Betty's striking beauty, and
Margie and Maryann's doe eyes that you could get lost in, but these girls could
really and truly sing!!! Mary's voice was unique and unequaled, with a wide
range, Betty, Margie and Maryann's background vocals blended perfectly.
Just listen to the harmony on "Out In
The Streets" they don't miss a beat in their choir type vocals, or the
mixture of harmony on "Train From
Around late April of 1965 Red Bird released
"Out In The Streets", a Greenwich and Barry composition, which in a
way could be a follow up to Gene Pitney's composition "He's A Rebel"
recorded by The Blossoms under The Crystals name. The song tells of a street
smart rebel character going out with the good girl, and how he's changed since
he met her, but, his heart he really belongs out in the streets.
Although this may seem a mild formula for a
song in today's standards, back in 1965 it was a little risqué, and air-play
was there, but it seemed that no big push was on from any radio stations for
this song. With this against it, the song still managed to climb to the upper
forties nationally.
With a double-sided
Although the songs that the girls sang might
seem very melodramatic by today's standards, you have to take into
consideration of where they originated from and what was going on at that time.
With the girls, plus the writers and
producers all coming from the five boroughs, this period in time lent itself to
having teens hanging out on street corners, candy stores, school yards and
such. This was not an out of the ordinary thing back then and acceptable, not
at all like today's violent street gangs.
Sure most of the candy stores as we know
them are gone, giving way to kids hanging out at 7-11s, Wawa, or the mall, but
back then, those were the hang-out places. Plus teens with cars and motorcycles
have always been a volatile combination, but in the 1960s you were dealing with
muscle cars like GTOs, Grand Prix, Starfires, SS Impalas, T-Birds etc. not too
mention the bikes that were around like the now classic Harleys. Teens back
then, with all this horsepower at their disposal, would race any and everybody
that was willing or stupid enough to do it. Now, this doesn't mean that there
were drag-strips that everyone went to, to legitimately race, but rather they
would be red-lining it on boulevards around the area such as: Lefferts,
Jamaica, Queens, Rockaway and Cross Bay Boulevard, maybe seeing who could get
to The Big Bow-Wow drive-in first.
Needless to say, all these little runs
didn't go smoothly without a hitch. Just as you hear the police sirens blaring
in "Cops" on Saturday night T.V. back in
Now, I'm not saying this was the norm in
every state in the U.S. as I can only testify to what happened in Queens, but
I'm sure that this was also going on around this time in places like, Jersey,
Philly, LA, etc. As far as
With the success of "Give Us Your
Blessings", plus a new single that was going to be released soon, Red Bird
Records released the first incarnation of the LP "Shangri-Las 65".
For some reason using the artists name with the year around this time was very
popular, for instance other companies released "Beatles 65", and Fats
Domino 65".
With the charts at this time getting
saturated with British music and that driving beat from Motown, Shadow Morton
tried something new with the girls. Shadow acquired a song from the writing
team of Batman, Moseley it was a Motown sounding tune called "Right Now
And Not Later".
Up to this point the girls had not done a
tune like this, but after listening to the song, you'll see they not only
pulled it off, but made it their own. In a way it showed the diversity of all
the girls singing abilities, here you have a group of girls that were known for
singing songs on teen love and tragedy, doing a love song/warning that would
fit the vocal talents of Martha and The Vandellas or Four Tops. "Right Now
And Not Later" had the driving drums, the steady bass line, sax riffs, and
no-nonsense vocals, the only thing missing was the Motown label on the record.
One thing it did have going against it was another excellent song on the flip
side called "The Train From
Hindsight is 50/50 and looking back, if
this single was paired with a different flip, it may have done much better on
the charts. As a matter of fact, if the flip "The Train From
Also during this time, Shadow Morton was
still plugging away for the other group he liked, The Goodies, (originally
named The Bunnies). One of the tracks on The Shangri-Las new Lp was a catchy
song titled "The Dum Dum Ditty". The girls took a knockout, no-nonsense
approach to the song with great results, but Shadow decided to also use the
same backing track and now have The Goodies do a version of it. The Shangri-Las
version was unfortunately kept strictly as an album cut, while Shadow released
The Goodies version on a single and backed it with their cover of
"Sophisticated Boom Boom". The Goodies version, although decent,
failed to make any noise.
With The Shangri-Las version of "Right
Now And Not Later" fairing poorly on the charts, the girls were back in
the studio working on their next masterpiece. In October of 1965 Red Bird
Records released the single "I Can Never Go Home Anymore" first
backed on record with a track called "Sophisticated Boom Boom", then
later changed the flip side to the up beat "Bull Dog".
From the girls intro into the song, to Mary
picking up the lead vocals, you were held listening not to a song per say, but
a story. With Mary's story telling vocals unraveling the saga of a mother dying
of a broken heart, to Margie, Maryann and Betty's excellent haunting harmony's
on background, the listener was drawn into this tale to the very end.
This single shot The Shangri-Las back up
the hot 100 to the number 6 in November of 1965 and carried over into 1966, it
was also honored with another parody by The Detergents called "I Can Never
Eat Home Anymore". With the success of "I Can Never Go Home
Anymore" Red Bird Records decided at first to re-work The
"Shangri-Las 65" LP. They replaced the track "The Dum Dum
Ditty" with "I Can Never Go Home Anymore" and affixed a white
sticker on the cover heralding: "Included In The Album I Can Never Go Home
Anymore", most likely to use up the cover slicks that were already
printed.
Then came the third incarnation of the
"Shangri-Las 65" LP. A new cover slick was done showcasing an
excellent photo of all four girls seated in their stage attire and white go-go
boots, with bright green letters larger than life now titling the LP "I
Can Never Go Home Anymore". Even though there was a new cover, the labels
for the record itself still read "Shangri-Las 65", plus the liner
notes from the first pressing were now deleted completely with just song titles
appearing on the rear cover.
With "I Can Never Go Home
Anymore" just going off the charts, Red Bird released "Long Live Our
Love" in January of 1966, with The Shangri-Las performing it on Hullabaloo
on
Although this was a great single, which
contained another masterpiece called "Dressed In Black" on the flip,
the record only reached the mid sixties on the charts nationally, although
doing much better regionally. If one looks at a reason why this might have
happened, your drawn to the possibility that at this time Leiber and Stoller
were both in the process of either dissolving or selling Red Bird Records. In
this case Leiber and Stoller's interest in Red Bird was sold to George Goldner
for a minimal amount.
The tiny label that was dominating the
airwaves and charts by storm for close to two years was now facing financial
difficulties. With the loss of The Dixie Cups to A.B.C. Paramount, the writing
and production team of Greenwich and Barry going to Bang Records, the
inexplicable refusal to sign acts such as The Young Rascals, and Neil Diamond,
it's safe to assume that there were limited funds to promote the single.
Although the single got very little promotion and exposure, it was really hard
to find a diner or pizza parlor in
The next and last single by The Shangri-Las
on Red Bird was released towards the summer of 1966 and was called "Past,
Present and Future". When advance copies of "Past, Present and
Future" were sent out to radio stations the flip was an incredible version
of Harry Nilson's "
Mary's vocals were very straight forward,
whereas Ronnie's vocals were still in that little girl style. When the
commercial release came out, "
With Red Bird Records success starting to
waver, Shadow Morton moved the girls and himself over to Mercury Records in the
latter part of 1966. With this move to Mercury also came the departure of
Margie, who opted to take a breather from show business for a while.
Although Margie may not have been the lead
singer, it is this writers opinion that she was a definite driving force in the
group. Kind of the glue that held them together. Margie's drive may have come
from the fact that she came from a large but close-knit family. Aside from her
sister MaryAnn, she also had another sister at home plus two brothers.
When you're one of five children, you
better speak up or you'll get lost in the crowd. The move to Mercury Records
may have appeared as a good idea at the time, for the girls and Shadow, but
once there, The Shangri-Las were no longer in the family-type atmosphere of a
small independent label, but just another group or number on the huge Mercury
roster.
Much like the fate of The
Although Lesley Gore would have another big
hit for Mercury in 1967 with California Nights, a great tune with exposure on
the Batman T.V. show, it didn't appear that any big push was on with her
singles either from Mercury.
Shadow Morton, it seems also started to
look at other singers and groups at this time possibly to broaden his horizons
and be a part of the new wave others were making in the music field. He made
one more attempt with The Goodies, now known as The Nu-Luvs. He had them cover
another Shangri-Las tune, originally called "Dressed In Black" but
now changed to "So Soft, So Warm". The single was released, and again
he didn't hit with them. The one thing you can say about Shadow concerning The
Goodies, is for whatever reason, he kept trying to make them a hit.
Others that Shadow had more success with at
this time was a singer named Janis Ian, and a group known as The Vanilla Fudge.
Janis Ian wasn't too much of a departure from The Shangri-Las with her
Society's Child (good girl loves wrong boy) but her songs did tend to lead much
more towards social issues in the headlines of the time with a slight touch of
folk rock flavor to some of them.
The Vanilla Fudge on the other hand were a
huge departure from Shadows previous productions and possibly he was following
that trend that others were setting with the more hard rock groups.
The Shangri-Las were now on a new label,
their producer was concentrating on other groups and not writing songs for
them, and Mercury it seems, was trying to cash in on their previous hits by
pushing a Golden Hits Lp. The Golden Hits Lp wasn't a totally bad idea, but
Mercury was too cheap to take the time to re-master the multi-track tapes into
Stereo, which was pretty much the standard at this time. It seems the only true
Stereo tracks on this Lp were the one's previously done over at Red Bird. Not
only that, but Mercury featured the girls biggest hit, Leader Of The Pack in
Stereo but edited!
Other tracks on the Lp got the low-budget
electronic stereo bit done to them. One would assume that a new albums worth of
material must have been in the working for their premier on Mercury, but alas,
it doesn't seem that this was true. The first release for The Shangri-Las was
"The Sweet Sounds Of Summer" written by none other than their
personal manager Larry Martire. The record was flipped with "I'll Never
Learn" a durge type melody, that was, in fact very catchy and listenable
and showed a different side to the girls.
"Sweet Sounds Of Summer" is also
a solid song, and if it were not for a pseudo-psychedelic bridge in it, it
might have done much better than it's very disappointing #123 on the national
charts. As big a fan I am of the girls music, I've had to edit that stupid
bridge out of the song for a tape in my car and it sounds much better without
it! But that is only my opinion.
In 1967 Mercury released the second and
last single for the girls called "Take The Time". Believe it or not
the lyrics in this song are pro-involvement for the Vietnam War. I has messages
leaning toward it's our duty to serve so our country can be free. Needless to
say, it never even made a listing on the national charts. The only ones who
might have bought the record was probably kids in
The production of this song was off in the
fact that the music and lyrics were hurried, you would have to take a mighty
deep breath to keep up the pace on this one. Someone was definitely asleep at
the switch when the material was put together for this single, or they had
other things and groups on their mind and unfortunately didn't care.
Mary, Betty and MaryAnn were still touring
and doing a lot of college appearances at this time. Shadow Morton was working
on "You Keep Me Hanging On" for The Vanilla Fudge, plus Janis Ian's
"Society's Child". "Society's Child which was initially banned
from air play was now taking off with media coverage about the controversy of
the song, causing it to get plenty of air-play and sales. Although "You
Keep Me Hanging On" was recorded in 1967, it took over a year for the song
to take off and hit the charts, peaking at #6 in August of 1968. With the
persistence to make these two recordings hit, it seems very odd that nothing
more was done with The Shangri-Las.
Possibly they were thought of as being
passe at this time, which in itself is a travesty. After two disappointing
releases at Mercury and constant touring at different venues and colleges, the
girls disbanded. Mary it has been said took off for California for a while, and
Margie was going to finish her education.
A couple of years after The Shangri-Las
break-up, tragedy struck. Mary Ann Ganser took ill, she was diagnosed with a
disease called enchepillitus, and unfortunately in her case it was fatal.
Although it has been inaccurately written in various books and articles that
MaryAnn died from drugs, this could not be farther from the truth. The disease
she died from is contracted from a mosquito bite and once infected, it breaks
down your nervous system, eventually killing you. Mary Ann passed away in 1970 at
only 22 years old.
Although Mary Ann's passing was undoubtedly
and understandably taken hard by the Ganser Family and the girls, Margie would
eventually go on with her life. She continued with the education she took a
break-from to be in the group, successfully completing her courses and received
her High School Diploma in the early '70s. Margie also met Bill Dorste and they
were married in 1972, settling in Long Island.
Mary returned to the New York area, married
Tony "C", who worked behind the scenes in the '70s and '80s with Jay
Black & The Americans. Mary and Tony eventually divorced but even after the
divorce, Tony had only nice things to say about Mary. Mary married a second
time, to her current husband and is now known as Mary Stokes. Mary, a very
astute businesswoman opened a successful furniture business with her husband in
Manhattan and is still operating it to this day.
Betty Weiss, had also gotten married, first
to Jeremy Storch, a musician who may have had releases on RCA in the late 1960s
and early 1970s. Betty and Jeremy divorced and Betty married a second time and
is now known as Liz Nelson. She settled in the Long Island area and for a while
may have been running a small business.
It seems that none of the girls did any
more recording after 1967, but this may not be totally true. It has been said
that if you find a first pressing of Aerosmiths Lp "Night In The
Ruts" the liner notes or inside sleeve may credit Mary Weiss for
background vocals on their version of "Remember (Walkin' In The Sand). The
album was released on Columbia Records back in 1979.
In the 1980s there was a huge resurgence in
the music from the '60s. We started seeing successful movies pop up like
"The Flamingo Kid", "Losin' It", "Gremlins"
"Lethal Weapon" "Mean Streets" "Cooley High"
"The Wanderers" "The Outsiders" and a flood of others that
used music for the '60s as their backdrop. Groups and singers that we hadn't
seen in years started performing again, and one of the groups that started to
pop-up was The Shangri-Las, or were they?
On the popular television show
"Entertainment Tonight" there was a surprise for Shangri-Las fans in
the summer of 1989. Mary Heart is introducing one of the top stories and it's
about non-other than The Shangri-Las. One would hope that it was something
positive, but as the story unraveled during the broadcast, it seemed the girls
were in for the fight of their lives.
Entertainment Tonight's correspondent
Garrett Glaser starts the story with Mary, Margie and Betty watching a video of
a group calling themselves The Shangri-Las. The group in the video would go on
to say "our songs" "our hit" and other references that
would tend to lead an audience to believe they were the original singers of the
original hits. The girls definitely and understandably did not look happy.
Margie voiced her opinion on the alleged Shangri-Las stating "they, (Mary,
Margie, Betty & MaryAnn) were the ones that worked hard to make the
name", "went on the road", "did the one-niters", and
"stayed in the lousy hotels".
This was done, not for the fun of it, but
logically this was done to further the girls careers, make the name a household
and world-known name. Betty (Liz), after seeing the video stated "We're
not teenagers anymore and we don't have to take it anymore and we're not taking
it anymore". Mary nodded in agreement with both of them.
The broadcast went on to show that Dick Fox
was the person involved with booking the non-original Shangri-Las. When
interviewed, Fox stated he "researched the name in Washington, nobody
owned that name". He also went on to say, "doesn't know if anyone
owned the name then", "it hadn't been used for so many years",
"and I just registered the name", "I own the name". Dick
Fox also stated in the interview on Entertainment Tonight that "If they
(Mary, Betty and Margie), decide, they came to me and said, Dick, we want to
come back and we want to do it, you got it, in a minute".
Richard Nader, (a concert promoter who
strives to put on shows that feature groups that contain original members) was
also interviewed on this same broadcast of Entertainment Tonight. Nader put it
best when he made some very good points in the broadcast. Nader stated:
"Why should three (3) individuals today, live off of the work product and
reputation of people who were really the pioneers of Rock and Roll, who really
had the hits 25 years ago".
Towards the end of The Shangri-Las segment
on Entertainment Tonight, it was stated that the girls, (Mary, Betty and
Margie) would reunite to perform again in the summer of 1989. One would think
that everything would be back to normal, but that would be wishful thinking.
The Shangri-Las (Mary, Betty and Margie)
were scheduled to perform in the Meadowlands in New Jersey for the Palisades
Park Reunion on June 3, 1989. The concert was promoted over the radio and in
papers, and got some very good promotion. What wasn't promoted was that The
Shangri-Las, (Mary, Betty and Margie) would be in court very shortly.
Papers were filed and The Shangri-Las
(Mary, Betty and Margie) went to The United States District Court For The
Southern District Of New York on May 23, 1989. According to the court papers,
two weeks prior to this date, (May 23, 1989), Fox Entertainment Corp., Dick
Fox, Mars Talent Agency (run by Larry Marshack) and Jane Does moved for a
preliminary injunction to block the scheduled June 3rd performance of Mary,
Betty and Margie as The Shangri-Las.
The court papers also go on to say that if
Mary, Betty and Margie are allowed to perform on June 3rd and if they are
allowed to continue to advertise in advance of that performance, any
opportunity to utilize the name Shangri-Las will have been dealt a mortal blow.
Fox Entertainment Corp., Dick Fox, Mars Talent Agency and Jane Does were
seeking exclusive rights to the name Shangri-Las.
Also in the papers Richard "Dick"
Fox's deposition was referred to. In Dick Fox's deposition, it was disclosed
that "he decided to use the name "Shangri-Las" at least in part
because he believed that name would be remembered by the public". "He
similarly admitted that the use of that recognized name would give him a
commercial advantage". This writers interpretation of this is that if the
public saw the name Shangri-Las advertised as performing in a certain place,
they would think they were getting the girls that originally made that name
famous and plunk down their money for a ticket to the show.
It was also stated in the court papers that
advertisements for appearances for the non-original members Shangri-Las had the
words "some personnel changes". The court papers went on to say:
"some personnel changes" does not adequately explain the situation;
not a single member of the original group has any relationship whatsoever to
the Fox Entertainment, Richard Fox, Mar Talent Agency or Jane Does group at
this time.
The girls were victorious and won the right
to perform at the Palisades Park Reunion. I was lucky enough, not only to
attend the show, but also to be there for the warm-ups of the acts. Everyone
was just about the hallways and lobby. Ellie Greenwich, her sister from The
Raindrops days, Richard Nader, and a whole host of others were just milling
about talking to everyone, it really was just like a reunion.
The Shangri-Las were up next for their
warm-up set, and they proceeded to go through song after song, not missing a
beat or a note. They were in superior form both vocally and visually, and this
wasn't even the show!
The show was hosted by Cousin Bruce Morrow,
and also featured Little Anthony, Lesley Gore, Bobby Rydell, Freddy Cannon,
Lenny Coco and The Chimes, along with The Tokens. All the acts put on a great
show, especially Little Anthony Gourdine who's vocal delivery was outstanding.
But, the best was saved for the end. Picture if you will, the stage lights
dimming, the roar of engines, and Mary, Betty and Margie being brought on stage
by motorcycle. The crowd went wild with cheers. All three were dressed in
black. Mary in her black leather mini-skirt and spike heels, Betty, (along with
her hat) and Margie dressed in tight black slacks. The girls performance was
better than their warm-ups hours before, and those were pretty damn good! They
moved from one song to another, flawlessly, keeping their moves and vocals
picture perfect. It definitely was a night to remember.
The June 3rd, 1989 Palisades Park Reunion
is the last know performance where Mary, Betty and Margie ever performed as a
member of Shangri-Las in public. The Dick Fox, Fox Entertainment Corp., Mars
Talent Agency non-original member Shangri-Las are to this day still performing
throughout the U.S. as The Shangri-Las. Whatever arrangements or agreements
were made to allow this to still happen is best kept between all parties
involved.
To this day, the non-original Shangri-Las
are still performing, for instance they non-original group brought in the New
Year 2000 at the Riviera Hotel in Vegas and had their faces on $5.00 chips! I'm
sure those show tickets didn't come cheap. It is not only a shame, but also a
big disappointment to the fans of the original members who still number quite
high. They were and still are the sound of the sixties, the epitome of the girl
group sound, the sound of the city, a pioneer of rock, the precursor to punk,
opening the way for other girl rockers to get their chance at fame.
One can only hope that Mary and Betty may
one day perform again, not for the music business itself, but for the fans who
really appreciate them and would love to hear them sing once more.
During the years following the Palisades
Park performance, Mary went back to running the furniture business with her
husband, Betty moved from the Bronx to Long Island, and Margie went back to
Long Island and her job at Nynex.
Margie divorced her husband in the early
1990s and moved to Valley Stream where she continued to work for Nynex. In
1994, Margie was dealt a hard blow; she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She
battled the disease bravely for two years but lost her battle on July 28, 1996
when she passed away at Calvary Hospital in the Bronx. Margie's parents and
family had some of her ashes buried with her sister MaryAnn, and the rest were
scattered in Hampton Bays, Long Island.
Margie and MaryAnn will always be
remembered for their contribution to Rock 'N Roll, not to mention how pleasant
they were to their fans. Even during the height of their popularity weather you
saw them on the street or at Green Acres Shopping Center, they would stop and
say hello, not to mention, they were like a walking gum and candy factory!
Not only did all four girls give us some
great songs that will live on for years to come and memories that go with them,
but they gave a part of themselves with it. Sure, they achieved fame, but they
definitely did not amass a fortune back then. Performers from this time period
were lucky to get paid a minimal amount, unlike the demanding, pampered,
spoiled and many-times over-rated performers of today. While the girls could
have been going to the school football games, dating, going to the prom,
parties and dances, they were busy going from town to town making memories for
all of us, which we should be grateful for.
They have left us, and rock n' roll a
legacy from which many performers after them have drawn from and built on. One
can only hope that the companies that own the old films of the girls different
performances would release more than the miniscule few, (three) that have been
legitimately circulating in the retail sector, (not to mention the videos that
have been traded from various fans over the years). Let's also not forget the
record companies that have sat back for YEARS and not re-mastered ALL the girls
cuts into the Stereo format. These songs were all done on multi-track and can
be re-mastered into real stereo. Although a few have surfaced in stereo, what
about the rest of them, what is taking so long!
As recently as this past year, the girls
were in the news again, this time fighting for the use of one of their songs
that was included in a T.V. commercial for an investment company.
Hopefully, with all the research that was
done, not to mention the jogging of my memory, this article gives the reader a
good overview of The Shangri-Las along with answering some questions the reader
may have had about these legendary ladies and the great accomplishments and
contributions they made.