Last week we took a look at the Girl Group sound of the early 1960s, but that sound wasn’t limited to girl groups. There were plenty of solo girl singers who put out records that mirrored that Girl Group sound, and we’re going to listen to some of them this week.
Let’s start with a singer named Ellie Greenwich. Music lovers know Ellie more as a composer who, along with then-husband Jeff Barry, wrote a ton of hits for other artists and were two of the chief architects of the Girl Group sound. Jeff and Ellie wrote tunes for the Crystals, the Ronettes, the Chiffons, the Jelly Beans, the Shangra-Las, and other Girl Groups of the day, including the big hits “Chapel of Love,” “Be My Baby,” and “My Boyfriend’s Back.” They also wrote my most favorite holiday song ever, “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” for singer Darlene Love, as featured on the legendary Christmas album, A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector.
It’s not surprising, then, that Ellie stepped out on her own and released the solo track, “You Don’t Know.” This song is a perfect example of the Girl Group sound that she and Jeff helped create. Ellie’s vocals, especially on the verses, are appropriately dramatic, almost like something you’d expect Mary Weiss to sing with the Shangra-Las. The production—and the drama—ramps up throughout the course of the song, a sure sign of co-producer Shadow Morton’s not-so-subtle touch. It doesn’t get much Girl Groupier than this.
“You Don’t Know,” which was written by Ellie Greenwich, Jeff Barry, and their friend and fellow Girl Group writer/producer Shadow Morton, was released in 1965, near the end of the Girl Group era. Unfortunately, it failed to chart. Ellie has said that they thought it had a real shot as it was going to be a “pick of the week” on New York station WMCA. Unfortunately, it lost that slot to Jackie DeShannon’s “What the World Needs Now Is Love,” admittedly a more deserving—and more contemporary sounding—tune.
Interestingly, Ellie did have a few solo hits, but not under her own name. She recorded, overdubbing all the female vocal parts (with Jeff providing the bass line), as the Raindrops. That “group’s” biggest hit was “The Kind of Boy You Can’t Forget,” which just cracked the Billboard Hot 100. The Raindrops also recorded the initial versions of two Barry/Greenwich tunes that became #1 hits for other artists: “Do Wah Diddy” (for Manfred Mann) and “Hanky Panky” (for Tommy James and the Shondells).
Ellie and Jeff, along with legendary songwriter/producers Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, founded Red Bird Records in 1964; the label became the home for several Girl Groups before folding in 1966. Ellie and Jeff, who were married in 1962 after collaborating for several years prior, divorced in 1965. She kept writing with other collaborators but never reached the level of success she had achieved with Jeff Barry.
That wasn’t the end of things for Ellie Greenwich, however. Leader of the Pack, a Broadway musical, opened in 1984, showcasing Ellie’s life and music; cast members included Darlene Love, Dinah Manoff, Patrick Cassidy, and Ellie herself. The show was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Musical and a Grammy Award for Best Cast Album. It won The New York Music Critics’ Award for Best Broadway Musical.
That wasn’t all. In 1991, Ellie and Jeff were inducted together into the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame. In 2009, Barry and Greenwich received the Ahmet Ertegun Award from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, specifically for helping to define the Brill Building sound.
Unfortunately, Ellie Greenwich didn’t live to receive that last reward. She passed away four months earlier, in August of 2009, of a heart attack. She was 68 years old.
