American Mary Weiss was the singer of the famous 1960s girl band The Shangri-Las.
American singer, lead soloist of the band The Shangri-Las, Mary Weiss has died at the age of 75. Weiss's death is reported by the record company Norton Records Varietyfor the magazine. The cause of death is unknown.
The Shangri-Las is one of the most famous girl bands from the early 1960s. It is remembered for its hits Leader of the Pack, Give Him A Great Big Kiss, Remember (Walking in the Sand) and Heaven Only Knows.
The group was at the top for only a short time, 1964–1965, but went down in history as the defining girl pop group of the era, alongside the Ronettes.
Mary Weiss was the most central figure in the group. With his youthful voice, he interpreted the melodramas of teenage culture and stood out from the other members with his long blond hair.
In addition to Weiss, the band included Mary Weiss' sister Elizabeth (Betty) Weiss and twin sisters Marguerite and Mary Ann Ganser.
Mary Weiss was born and raised in Queens, New York. The Weiss sisters went to the same high school as the Ganser sisters. The quartet performed at local nightclubs in 1963 and caught the attention of a producer Artie Rippin attention. The band got a recording contract in the same year for the Kama Sutra company.
The band's first hit was Remember (Walking in the Sand)which was published in the summer of 1964. Later that year, kiirin was released as number one in the United States Leader of the Pack, a musical piece with dramatic dialogue and motorcycle sounds.
The band quickly rose to superstardom. It performed with, among others, The Beatles and was on tour with the Rolling Stones. The band also appeared in numerous television programs.
Weiss was only 15 years old when the band rose to fame. Made songs for the band Ellie Greenwich has described in an interview that the members of the band had both innocence and a certain “toughness of the streets”.
“Mary Weiss had sweet straight hair, the face of an angel, and when her hard nasal voice came out with that attitude — it had the best of both worlds,” Greenwich has described.
The Shangri-Las disbanded in 1968. The members briefly reunited and recorded in 1976. However, they were not satisfied with the songs that were left unreleased. Mary Weiss stayed out of the public eye for decades. In 2007, he made his only solo album for Norton Records Dangerous Game.
Mary Weiss spoke openly about sexism in the music world of the 1960s, for example, in a nonfiction book about the girl bands of the era published last year But Will You Love Me Tomorrow?
The Shangri-Las inspire many artists to this day. Punk-rock pioneer New York Dolls made their own Great Big Kiss version, as well as the band's guitarist Johnny Thunders in his solo career. Aerosmith has made a cover of the band's first hit Remember (Walking in the Sand). In 2021, the song resurfaced via Tiktok, a rapper Capone as a song sample.
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