Re: 1960's Girl Groups

That would help.

Jukeboxes would have been everywhere then too.

Re: 1960's Girl Groups

Now:

The Crystals - Da Doo Ron Ron (1963)



The song is the first collaboration in songwriting by Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich and Phil Spector. The song was composed over two days in Spector's office in New York. The title "Da Doo Ron Ron" was initially just nonsense syllables used as dummy line to separate each stanza and chorus until proper lyrics could be written, but Spector liked it so much that he kept it. Phil Spector did not want lyrics that were too cerebral that would interfere with a simple boy-meets-girl story line. The rhymes of the opening lines, "I met him on a Monday and my heart stood still ... Somebody told me that his name was Bill" was inspired by Bill Walsh, a friend of Spector who happened to visit Spector while the three were writing the song.

The Crystals, originally Barbara Alston, Mary Thomas, Dolores "Dee Dee" Kenniebrew, Myrna Giraud and Patricia "Patsy" Wright, formed with the help of Benny Wells, Alston's uncle, were an American vocal group based in New York City, considered one of the defining acts of the girl group era in the first half of the 1960s. Their 1961–1964 chart hits, including "There's No Other (Like My Baby)", "Uptown", "He's Sure the Boy I Love", "He's a Rebel", "Da Doo Ron Ron" and "Then He Kissed Me", featured three successive female lead singers, and were all produced by Phil Spector.

The new lead singer for the Crystals was Dolores "LaLa" Brooks, Mary Thomas and Myrna Giraud having left while Barbara Alston felt happier at the back.

Re: 1960's Girl Groups

We've got a lot to thank Phil Spector for.It's a shame he's so weirdly bonkers.

Re: 1960's Girl Groups

Not bad...ever hear-I'm Still Waiting[Patti Labelle And The BlueBells]or Is It Too Early[The Fawns]? if not-look em up and I'm sure you'll like em both.

Re: 1960's Girl Groups

I think "Ready Steady Go!" (1963-1966) was my most formative influence - initially introduced by Dusty Springfield then Cathy McGowan, the show hosted live performances by most successful artists of the era, including those on the Tamla-Motown labels (Dusty's favourites). IIRC, there weren't too many "girl groups", though - just The Supremes, The Shirelles, Martha & The Vandellas, The Ronettes and The Crystals - but, like many of the "new" artistes on the show, they were "eye-openers" - Stevie Wonder "guested" in 1963 and Phil Spector "appeared" in 1964 ..... !

Re: 1960's Girl Groups

IIRC, In the 1960's, Patti Labelle And The BlueBells were well-known in the USA but not in the UK (despite appearing on "Ready Steady Go!") where their first "hit", as Labelle, was 1974's "Lady Marmalade". Nevertheless, I have a couple of early singles and 1971's "Labelle" .....

The Fawns (East Coast group?) are a complete unknown to me.

Re: 1960's Girl Groups

Next:

The Crystals - He's A Rebel (1962)



Gene Pitney wrote "He's a Rebel" for The Shirelles, but they declined. Phil Spector learned Vikki Carr was to record it for Liberty Records as her debut, and wanted his own version on sale first. The Crystals were touring on the east coast of the USA at the time, so Spector had The Blossoms, a Los Angeles group, record the track. He credited The Crystals on the record; Mary Thomas recalled that "our mouths fell open" when she and her groupmates heard a disc jockey announce "the new Crystals song." The quintet was then obliged to add "He's a Rebel" to their live repertoire, even though lead singer Barbara Alston could not mimic Blossoms lead singer Darlene Love. For this reason, 15-year-old Dolores "LaLa" Brooks became the lead singer the following year with the follow-up "Then He Kissed Me".

"He's a Rebel" was released in late August 1962, with the b-side "I Love You Eddie." By November 3, "He's a Rebel" had reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The number two song was Pitney's "Only Love Can Break a Heart", giving him (as a songwriter or performer) the two top-selling singles in the U.S. (Pitney never hit the U.S. No. 1 spot as a performer). In the United Kingdom, "He's a Rebel" peaked at 19.

Re: 1960's Girl Groups

Now:

The Shangri-Las - "Past, Present and Future" (1966)



This song missed the Top 40 by a mile; effectively, it spelled the end of the group's brief life on the charts. The Shangri-Las created sweeping, desperately emotional radioscapes in which orchestras, sound effects, and wailing vocals gave grimness and grandeur to stories of teenage trauma and premature death. The Shangri-Las made true pop opera, and they were magnificent.

But "Past, Present and Future" was almost a self-parody. All the familiar elements came back dressed as gimmicks: dolorous narration, a waltz-time interlude, the solipsistic romance of doom. It was only the singing of Mary Weiss that kept kitsch from taking over. Her voice was cracked at the edges, and her hopelessness sounded too thick and unglamorous to register as a pop diva's fatuous showboating. In an act of some bravery, Weiss took an embarrassing lyric, stood dead-center of a musical setting that begged for parody, and made the whole thing mean something -- by, I imagine, never once assuming that either she or her audience was superior to the emotions the record sought to exploit.

While the narrative doesn't tell us what has happened in the woman's past, it's obvious that it is far more sinister than just a previous broken heart. The song is almost frightening in its bleakness and simplicity.

Re: 1960's Girl Groups

The Ronettes - Walking In the Rain (1964)



"Walking in the Rain" is a song written by Barry Mann, Phil Spector, and Cynthia Weil. The Ronettes' single reached number 23 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart in 1964. The single contains sound effects of thunder and lightning, which earned audio engineer Larry Levine a Grammy. Phil Spector produced the record - amazingly, Ronnie Bennett completed her vocals on the first take.

The Ronettes were an American girl group from Spanish Harlem, New York and consisted of lead singer Veronica Bennett (later known as Ronnie Spector), her older sister Estelle Bennett, and their cousin Nedra Talley. from New York City. One of the most popular groups of the 1960s, they placed nine songs on the Billboard Hot 100, five of which became Top 40 hits.

The girls had sung together since they were teenagers, then known as "The Darling Sisters". Signed first by Colpix Records in 1961, they moved to Phil Spector's Philles Records in March 1963 and changed their name to "The Ronettes". In late 1964, the group released their only studio album, Presenting the Fabulous Ronettes Featuring Veronica, which entered the Billboard charts at number 96. The Ronettes were the only girl group to tour with the Beatles.

Re: 1960's Girl Groups

Now:

The Shangri-Las - Remember (Walking in the Sand) (1964)



Allegedly, George "Shadow" Morton was looking to break into the music business, and went to the Brill Building in New York City to see an old girlfriend, Ellie Greenwich, who had become a successful pop songwriter. Morton and Greenwich's writing partner, Jeff Barry, took a dislike to one another. Asked what he did for a living, Morton replied "I write songs", although he had never written one. When Barry asked him what kind, Morton retorted, "Hit songs!" Barry said he would love to hear one of Morton's tunes, and invited him to come back the following week with something.

There are several stories as to how "Remember (Walking in the Sand)" was written. One is that Morton stopped his car on a spot next to the ocean beach and there wrote the song. Morton then hired a teenage group from Queens, The Shangri-Las, to sing on the demo, which he himself produced, incorporating recurring seagulls-and-surf sound effects. (A not-yet-famous Billy Joel is said by Morton to have played the piano chords that open the song.) Jeff Barry was impressed and Red Bird Records picked up the song for release and signed Morton and The Shangri-Las to contracts.

Apocryphal - maybe not .....