James Beaty: OPINION: RAMBLIN' ROUND: The Shangri-Las: Bringing an edge to the Girl Groups

Oct. 13—A couple of things happened over the past week that brought to mind the many girl groups of the 1960s, including two of the best.

One was the passing of Katherine Anderson-Schaffner, who helped achieve a major musical milestone for Tamla Motown records.

Asked to name the first Motown artist to have a #1 record in the 1960s, some might figure it would be one of the label's more legendary artists.

Those would include The Supremes, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Martha and the Vandelllas, The Temptations, and Smokey Robinson, both with The Miracles and as a solo performer.

All of the aforementioned are major artists with legacies of their own, but none are the first Motown performer to hit #1.

That distinction goes to a girl group with a rotating list of members, The Marvelettes, who scored Tamla Motown's first #1 hit on Billboard's Hot 100 in 1961 with their recording of "Please Mr. Postman."

Not only did The Marvelettes hit #1 with "Please Mr. Postman," they and their song proved to be a major influence across the Atlantic with a band in Liverpool, which soon added the song to their repertoire.

When the British band finally scored a recording contract of their own, they included "Please Mr. Postman" on their second long-playing LP — literally titled "The Beatles Second Album" in the U.S., and titled "With the Beatles" in Britain.

With John Lennon taking the lead vocals, Paul McCartney and George Harrison did their best to emulate the background vocals of Anderson and the other Marvelettes.

Not only was "Please Mr. Postman" one of the best tracks on the album, their record company included it on a four-song 45 RPM EP release, selected to highlight songs from the album.

Thinking about the Marvelettes reminded me of what were called Girl Groups in the 1960s.

They also included The Ronnettes, The Shirelles, The Crystals, The Dixie Cups, The Chordettes, The Chantels and The Exciters to name a few — all falling under the general sobriquet of a Girl Group.

Unlike the all-female groups of later eras, which brought us the The Go-Gos and the Bangles, the 1960s Girl Groups didn't play their own instruments or write their own songs.

What they did excel in were vocal performances, often choreographed for maximum dramatic effect.

While checking out the video to guitarist extraordinaire Jeff Beck's tribute to the great Les Paul — yes! the progenitor of the Les Paul Gibson guitar and pioneering recording artist with his wife, Mary Ford — I came upon a reminder of one of my favorite Girl Group's of all time.

The Shangri-Las consisted of two sets of sisters from Queens: Mary Weiss and Betty Weiss, along with identical twins Marge Ganser and Mary Ann Ganser.

Still teenagers themselves, lead singer Mary Weiss was only 15 when the group made its first hit records, while her big sister, Betty Weiss, was 17. The Ganser twins were in between them, being only 16 at the time.

When the group obtained a new record deal with Red Bird Records, the girls were all so young that their parents had to sign their contracts for them.

Although they had made a few recordings for other labels before they signed to Redbird, none of their previous stints in the recording studio had resulted in a hit.

That was about to change in a big way.

A guy looking to break into the music business, named George "Shadow" Morton accepted an invitation to let Brill Building songwriters Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, who was a friend, hear some of his songs.

The only trouble was he hadn't written any songs at that time. It was later related how he went and parked his car at a beach, and the resultant sounds, such as crashing waves and the sound of seagulls, inspired him to write the song, "Remember (Walking in the Sand.)"

Once he came up with the song, he hired a local group from Queens named the Shangri-Las, to sing on the demo, with the studio musicians including a young, pre-fame Billy Joel on piano.

The Shangri-Las recut the song for Red Bird, with sound effects of crashing waves and squawking seagulls added.

Cast in a minor key, it stood in contrast to many of the more ebullient recordings made by other Girl Groups of the era.

Mary Weiss delivered an angst-filled, emotional vocal that belied her tender age of 15, in a rendition about a girl whose love has sailed away across the sea.

It connected almost instantly. Even with the airwaves filled with artists such as The Beatles and the Rolling Stones in that musical British Invasion year of 1964, "Remember (Walking in the Sand)" began its climb up the charts, finally peaking at #5, where it stayed for three weeks.

In addition to their distinctive vocals, the Shangri-Las offered a contrast to many other Girl Groups of the era, many of which dressed in high-style fashions.

The Shangri-Las were often decked out in boots and exuded a certain level of street-smarts, sort of what would come to be called a punk attitude in a later era.

Their followup to "Remember (Walking in the Sand)" proved to be an even bigger hit, when they took "Leader of the Pack" all the way to #1.

Still, for me, the ultimate Shangri-Las song will always be "Remember (Walking in the Sand.)"

Apparently, I'm not the only one; the song as been rerecorded by a number of other artists, including Aerosmith, who scored a #67 hit with it and included "Remember (Walking in the Sand)" on the band's "Aerosmith's Greatest Hits" album, where it comes just before Aerosmith's cover of The Beatles' "Come Together."

The Beach Boys also recorded an outstanding cover of "Remember (Walking in the Sand)" on their 1992 album, "Summer in Paradise."

Still, my favorite cover version of the song is the one by Jeff Beck and Irish singer Imelda May at the tribute to Les Paul.

During the tribute, with Beck on lead guitar and May on lead vocals, they mostly concentrated on songs by Les Paul and Mary Ford, such as "How High the Moon" and "The World is Waiting for the Sunrise."

They also threw in a few songs that had nothing to do with Les Paul, such as some rockabilly numbers and a smoldering version of "Remember (Walking in the Sand)" where both Beck and May excel — making that version one of my new favorites.

Unfortunately, we lost Jeff Beck earlier this year, shortly after he returned home from an American tour, where he was joined by his friend, Johnny Depp.

Shocked and saddened by his loss, but wanting to celebrate his music, Beck's friends put together a star-studded tribute to him on May 22-23, 2023, at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

Performers included artists such as Eric Clapton, Rod Stewart, Ronnie Wood, John McLaughlin, Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top, and Depp, along with Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks.

Tribute artists also included Imelda May.

I felt touched when I saw the song she chose to perform in tribute to her longtime musical friend — "Remember (Walking in the Sand.)"