Mary Weiss

Mary Weiss
File:Mary Weiss of the Shangri-Las 1964 (cropped).jpg Weiss in 1964
Background information
Born	(1948-12-28)December 28, 1948 New York City, U.S.
Died
Genres	Pop
Occupation(s)	Singer
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	1964–1969; 1989; 2005–2024
Labels	Red Bird Norton

Mary Weiss (December 28, 1948 – January 19, 2024) was an American singer, best known as the lead singer of the Shangri-Las in the 1960s. She then vanished from the music scene for decades, returning in 2007 to record her first solo album with Norton Records.

Early life

Growing up in the borough of Queens in New York City, Weiss, her older sister Elizabeth (known as Betty), and her older brother George lived in Cambria Heights. She sang in school plays and choirs. Additionally, she listened to her brother and his friends perform popular songs of the day; George being an Elvis fan. Mary appreciated such performers as Neil Sedaka and The Everly Brothers; she attended her first Everly Brothers concert in 1963 at Freedomland U.S.A. at the age of 14.

Career

The Shangri-Las

After Weiss and her sister Betty became good friends with twins Mary Ann and Margie Ganser in grammar school, the four of them sang at local dances and hops. That brought them to the attention of local producer Artie Ripp, who later signed them on to Kama Sutra Productions. After recording demos and making it to the Brill Building in 1964 (and signing with Red Bird Records), they recorded songs: "Remember (Walking in the Sand)", which was their first hit, and "Leader of the Pack", which went to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts in 1964.

With their growing popularity, the Shangri-Las became a leading all Jewish girl group in the 1960s. After several years together, the group split in 1968. Weiss went to San Francisco to try a different lifestyle. She later came back to New York and occasionally gave shows with the Shangri-Las during the 1970s which led to a comeback attempt with Sire Records in 1977. In 1989, the Shangri-Las reunited one last time for a Cousin Brucie show at The Meadowlands in New Jersey.

In 2019, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio honored the Shangri-Las' "Leader of the Pack", on which Weiss sang lead, in its Singles category.

Solo

In 2005, Weiss left her job in commercial interiors to get back into music. In March 2007, Norton Records released Dangerous Game, a critically acclaimed solo album, on which she was backed by The Reigning Sound. She performed at different locations in the United States, as well as in Spain and France.

Personal life and death

Weiss took a job as a purchasing agent in New York City in Manhattan; as she later recalled, "I went to work for an architectural firm, and I was seriously into it. Then I got into commercial interiors, huge projects, buildings." She later moved up to be the chief purchasing agent and ran the commercial furniture dealership. In the late 1980s, she managed a furniture store and was an interior designer. By 2001, she was a furniture consultant to New York businesses.

Weiss died on January 19, 2024, at the age of 75.

External links

• Mary Weiss Biography by Mark Deming
• Mary Weiss discography at Discogs
• Mary Weiss at the Internet Movie Database
• Interview with Mary Weiss from Fresh Air radio program, NPR Podcast, March 6, 2007