Mary Weiss, the lead singer of the 1960s all-female vocal group The Shangri-Las, has died at the age of 75.
Miriam Linna, founder of the record company Norton Records, said on Sunday that Mme Weiss died Friday in Palm Springs, California. The cause of death has not been released. The magazine Rolling Stone had reported his death on Friday.
The group consisted of two pairs of sisters: Mary and Elizabeth Weiss, as well as twins Marguerite Ganser and Mary Ann Ganser. They had met in high school and began performing at school dances and teenage parties.
After being recruited by producer Artie Ripp, the four singers had immense success thanks to a tough image and songs recounting heartbreak. Their songs were heard many times on the radio in the mid-1960s.
The group’s name came from a restaurant in Queens, New York. An early hit, Remember (Walking in the Sand), reached number five on the Billboard charts in 1964. Mme Weiss was only 15 years old at the time. The song, later covered by Aerosmith, was composed by George “Shadow” Morton.
The following year, Leader of the Pack, a song co-written by Morton, Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, reached number one on the Billboard charts.
The group’s existence was brief. The group separated in 1968, mainly due to legal problems.
“I think many men were considered artists, regardless of whether we wrote the songs for them. Women were considered products,” recalled M.me Weiss in a 2007 interview.
After the group broke up, Mme Weiss moved to San Francisco and abandoned the singing career. She worked for many years in an architectural office. She made a comeback in 2007 with a solo album, Dangerous Game.