voices to hear #6

Written by John from Altjiranga Mitjina

This week’s voice to hear started her recording career in the early 1960’s, but hasn’t released anything new since 1965. She’s Mary Weiss, the former lead singer of the girl group Shangri-Las. The Shangri-Las were the tough girl group that sang the hits “Remember (Walking in the Sand)” and “Leader of the Pack.” The Shangri-Las were the street tough girls compared to the other girl groups at the time. Their songs were melodramas of teenage alienation, loss, love and death.

The group consisted of Mary and her sister Betty and identical twins Marge and Mary Ann Ganser. They were signed to a recording contract when they were still in their teens and their first hits were produced by legendary producer Shadow Morton. Mary was 16 when she sang on their first hit “Remember (Walking in the Sand).”

In 1968 the group disbanded and Mary married and went to work as an interior designer and furniture store manager. Mary Ann and Marge have both died since the group disbanded. Mary and her sister have re-united a few times to do shows, but have went no farther with the group.

Recently Mary decided to return to singing. She’s signed to Norton Records and with the garage band the Reigning Sound she has recorded a new album. Mary has a powerful voice that just commands attention and she has lost none of that power over the years. As the album starts with the first cut it evokes memories of past sounds and you can almost hear the other members of the Shangri-Las singing in the background.

Mary doesn’t try to update her sound. Her songs from the past have been cited as influences by such groups as the New York Dolls and Blondie, so her sound really needs no updating. She sings straight ahead rock and roll that can get you to humming along and tapping your feet and finally singing along.

It’s great to discover new talent and encourage new singers on the path to stardom, but it’s nice to find some of the older artists and realize that they can be just as important to today’s music as they were in the past. In country music a lot of older performers are treated as irrelevant by today’s fans, artists such as Dolly Parton and Johnny Cash. This is beyond crazy, these artists made the genre what it is today and still can add much to it to legacy. We shouldn’t ignore our past while we look forward to the future.

After forgetting for the past couple columns John (who finds referring to himself like this weird) has remembered to write a bio. He’s just redesigned his blog, altjiranga mitjina so everyone should go check it out. Besides that he’s too busy with work and other things to do much else.