News Summary

• A couple of years after that, Blondie, whose lead singer Deborah Harry based much of her look and sound on girl groups, released their first album (which featured Greenwich on backing vocals)..
• The group reunited in 1976 under the aegis of Sire Records — helmed by Seymour Stein, a veteran of their era who’d worked for Red Bird during the group’s peak — but they were unhappy with the songs they recorded, which remain unreleased..
• He arranged the group’s first record deal with Kama Sutra, leading to their first recording in December 1963, “Simon Says.” But lightning struck when Phil Spector associate “Shadow” Morton tapped the girls to perform and record his song “Remember (Walking in the Sand).” The song reached No..
• Weiss was at the center of their sound and look, with a tart, youthful, yearning voice that burst out of transistor and car radios, and long blonde hair that made her the object of countless crushes during the era..
• Mary Weiss, the lead singer and focal point of the Shangri-Las — one of the truly legendary girl groups of the early 1960s, with hits like “Leader of the Pack,” “Great Big Kiss,” “Remember (Walking in the Sand)” and “Heaven Only Knows” — has died..
• Along with the Ronettes, the Shangri-Las epitomize the girl group era more than any others..