Leaders of the pack

The Shangri-Las 'Remember... The Shangri-Las At Their Best' (1990)
The Shangri-Las started as two sets of teenage sisters from the Queens neighborhood of Cambria Heights -- Mary and her sister Liz (Betty), and the Ganser twins, Margie and Mary Ann. The girls began singing at local dances and soon came to the attention of multi-talented George "Shadow" Morton, who shot them into the charts with massive hits on the Red Bird record label including "Remember (Walking In The Sand)", "Leader Of The Pack", "Give Him A Great Big Kiss", "I Can Never Go Home Anymore", "Give Us Your Blessings" and "Out In The Streets", written by Morton and/or Red Bird's Brill Building staffers Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry. The Shangri-Las gave a voice to real teenagers, with Mary's explosive lead vocals delivering emotion packed melodramas that made them one of the most consistently exciting groups of the day. Their rise to fame was truly meteoric, with three Top Ten records -- eleven Top 100 hits -- in a two year period, during which they were on the road constantly, crossing to England twice. The Shangri-Las played on bills with both the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, and even had a Shangri-Las Day declared during the NYC World's Fair in 1964. Their groundbreaking "Leader Of The Pack" hit #1 in October 1964, and even broke the Top Ten in Britain twice in the 1970's. Mary Ann Ganser passed away in 1971, three years after the group broke up. They last performed together in 1989, when they sang as a trio at Cousin Brucie's first Palisades Park Reunion Show. Margie Ganser passed away in 1996. With regard to recording, Mary has not been heard on wax since 1967 except for an uncredited backup vocal on Aerosmith's 1979 version of "Remember (Walking In The Sand)". Although they received considerable press during their heyday, none of the members has spoken candidly until now, with Mary having made the decision to record and perform again. - Miriam Linna, Norton Records