I discovered the Shangri-Las in the summer of 1988, when my friend Rob and I had our minds blown by their greatest-hits album—late to the party by any objective measure, since their hitmaking days were twenty-plus years earlier, but nevertheless a long time ago now. Enduring favorite across the decades: the intense spoken-word song “Past, Present and Future,” which seems way too weird to have made it to #59, but nevertheless did.

In 2007, I had lunch at a Chinese restaurant with Mary Weiss, previously the Shangri-Las’ lead singer: she was promoting her first and only solo album, Dangerous Game. I wrote about that encounter for Rolling Stone; you can read the article here. She wasn’t going to read the fortune from her fortune cookie out loud until I asked her what it said: “Your beautiful voice gives deep and unforgettable impressions.”

Last week, sadly, Mary died at age 75. I had the honor of writing about her life for The New York Times: you can read that obituary here. A quote from songwriter Ellie Greenwich (who cowrote several Shangri-Las hits, including “Leader of the Pack”) about the group that we had to cut for space: “We would say ‘Not nice, you must be ladies,’ and they would say, ‘We don’t want to be ladies.’”

posted 25 January 2024 in Articles and tagged Mary Weiss, New York Times, obituaries, Shangri-Las. no comments yet