Ellie Greenwich
This article needs additional citations for verification. (August 2009) |
Ellie Greenwich | |
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Background information | |
Birth name | Eleanor Louise Greenwich |
Born | Brooklyn, New York City, U.S. | October 23, 1940
Died | August 26, 2009 Manhattan, New York City, U.S. | (aged 68)
Genres | Rock and roll, Brill Building |
Occupation(s) |
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Years active | 1958–2009 |
Website | elliegreenwich |
Eleanor Louise Greenwich (October 23, 1940 – August 26, 2009)[1] was an American pop music singer, songwriter, and record producer. She wrote or co-wrote "Da Doo Ron Ron", "Be My Baby", "Maybe I Know", "Then He Kissed Me", "Do Wah Diddy Diddy", "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)", "Hanky Panky", "Chapel of Love", "Leader of the Pack", and "River Deep – Mountain High", among others.
Early years
Eleanor Louise Greenwich was born in
By her teens, Greenwich was composing songs and said in a 1973 article, "When I was 14, I met
At 17, around the time she began attending Queens College, Greenwich recorded her first single for
Partnership with Jeff Barry
In 1959, still at college, Greenwich met the man who became her husband and main songwriting partner. Although it is possible they had been acquainted as children, since they shared a relative, the first time Greenwich and Jeff Barry met formally as adults was at a Thanksgiving dinner hosted by her maternal uncle, who was married to Barry's cousin. Greenwich and Barry recognized their mutual love of music. Barry was married at that time to his first wife, who was at the dinner, but he and Greenwich married several years later and became a songwriting duo recognized as one of the most successful and prolific among Brill Building composers.
Greenwich and Barry began dating after his marriage was annulled, but musically they continued separate careers.
Before marrying Barry, Greenwich wrote songs with different partners, including Ben Raleigh (co-writer on Barry's first hit as a composer, "Tell Laura I Love Her," in 1960) and Mark Barkan. She was also a session singer, recording so many demos that she became known as New York's Demo Queen.[5] Her biggest hits during this period were written with Tony Powers. The Greenwich-Powers team made the charts with tunes such as "He's Got The Power" (The Exciters), "(Today I Met) The Boy I'm Gonna Marry" (Darlene Love), and "Why Do Lovers Break Each Others' Hearts?" (Bob B. Soxx & the Blue Jeans, with Love on lead vocal). These last two were co-written and produced by Phil Spector, who had been introduced to the songs, and to Greenwich, by music publisher Aaron Schroeder.
On October 28, 1962, Barry and Greenwich married, and shortly afterward decided to write songs exclusively with each other – a decision that disappointed
When
However, the couple's marriage could not be saved; before the end of the year, Barry and Greenwich divorced. The couple continued to work together for much of 1966, partly due to Greenwich's discovery of a talented singer-songwriter named
Later career
During 1967, Greenwich formed Pineywood Music with Mike Rashkow,[8] and over the next few years the Greenwich-Rashkow team wrote and/or produced recordings for Greenwich herself as well as for Dusty Springfield, the Definitive Rock Chorale, the Other Voices, The Fuzzy Bunnies, and the Hardy Boys. Also in 1967, Greenwich recorded her first solo album, Ellie Greenwich Composes, Produces and Sings, released in 1968, which produced two chart hits, "Niki Hoeky" (#1 in Japan) and "I Want You to Be My Baby". Additionally, Greenwich continued to provide background vocals and vocal arrangements for diverse artists such as Dusty Springfield, Bobby Darin, Lou Christie and Frank Sinatra, as well as Electric Light Orchestra, Blondie, Cyndi Lauper and Gary U.S. Bonds. She did studio work for her ex-husband as well, singing backgrounds for Andy Kim, who was recording for Barry's Steed Records, and the Archies. [citation needed]
At one such recording session, Greenwich met Steve Tudanger, with whom she and Steve Feldman would later form the company Jingle Habitat to write and produce
Legacy
Greenwich's affiliation with Ellen Foley and Nona Hendryx indirectly led to a
In 1991, Greenwich and Barry were inducted together into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 2004, Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest rock songs included six Greenwich-Barry compositions, more than any other non-performing songwriting team.[17] In 1964 alone, the duo were responsible for writing 17 singles that reached the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
On December 15, 2009, The
On May 7, 2013, a "Garden of Ellie" that contains a statue of Greenwich was placed next to Hofstra University's music school. The sculpture was commissioned by Greenwich's family and created by Peter Homestead.[20]
Death
On August 26, 2009, Greenwich died of a heart attack at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital (
On September 20, 2009, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band dedicated "Da Doo Ron Ron" to Greenwich, while playing the song during a concert at the United Center, Chicago. Springsteen called Greenwich an "incredible rock and soul songwriter" before playing the song.
On February 3, 2010, Patti Smith dedicated an improvised arrangement of "Be My Baby" to Greenwich while playing a show on the Santa Monica Pier in California.
Discography
- The Raindrops by The Raindrops with Jeff Barry (1963)
- Ellie Greenwich Composes, Produces & Sings (1968)
- Let It Be Written, Let it Be Sung (1973)
Selected songs
Year | Song title | Artist | Written with | Recording date |
US Billboard Hot 100 | US R&B chart |
UK Singles Chart
|
Producer | Miscellaneous |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1962 | "Why Do Lovers Break Each Other's Heart" | Bob B. Soxx
and the Blue Jeans |
Phil Spector, Tony Powers | November | 38 | arranged by Jack Nitzsche lead vocal by Darlene Love[21] | |||
1963 | "Da Doo Ron Ron" | The Crystals | Jeff Barry, Phil Spector | March | 3 | 5 | 5 | Phil Spector | arranged by Jack Nitzsche[21] |
"(Today I Met) The Boy I'm Gonna Marry" | Darlene Love | Phil Spector, Tony Powers | March | 39 | Phil Spector | arranged by Jack Nitzsche | |||
"Why Don't They Let Us Fall in Love" | Veronica | Jeff Barry, Phil Spector | March | Phil Spector | arranged by Jack Nitzsche | ||||
"Then He Kissed Me" | The Crystals | Jeff Barry, Phil Spector | July | 6 | 8 | 2 | Phil Spector | ||
"Be My Baby" | The Ronettes | Jeff Barry, Phil Spector | July | 2 | 4 | Phil Spector | arranged by Jack Nitzsche | ||
"Baby, I Love You" | The Ronettes | Jeff Barry, Phil Spector | November | 24 | 11 | Phil Spector | arranged by Jack Nitzsche | ||
"Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" | Darlene Love | Jeff Barry, Phil Spector | 19 | 22 | Phil Spector | ||||
"Hanky Panky" | Tommy James and the Shondells | Jeff Barry | 1963/1966 | 1 | 2 | 38 | The song had been originally recorded by The Raindrops and the Summits. James recorded it in 1963 but it did not become a hit until 1966 | ||
He's Got the Power | The Exciters | Tony Powers | 57 | Leiber, Stoller | arranged by Teacho Wiltshire | ||||
"Do Wah Diddy" | The Exciters | Jeff Barry | 78 | Leiber/Stoller | arranged by Artie Butler | ||||
1964 | "Chapel of Love" | The Dixie Cups | Jeff Barry, Phil Spector | February | 1 | 22 | Mike Stoller ,Greenwich and Barry |
||
"Do Wah Diddy Diddy" | Manfred Mann | Jeff Barry | June 11 | 1 | 1 | John Burgess | |||
"Maybe I Know" | Lesley Gore | Jeff Barry | 14 | 37 | Quincy Jones | arranged by Claus Ogerman[22] | |||
"Leader of the Pack" | The Shangri-Las | Shadow Morton, Jeff Barry | 1 | 3 | Shadow Morton | ||||
"Look of Love" | Lesley Gore | Jeff Barry | 27 | Quincy Jones | |||||
1965 | "Out in the Streets" | The Shangri-Las | Jeff Barry | 53 | Shadow Morton | ||||
1966 | "River Deep – Mountain High" | Ike and Tina Turner
|
Jeff Barry, Phil Spector | March | 88 | 3 | Phil Spector | ||
"I Can Hear Music" | The Ronettes | Jeff Barry, Phil Spector | 100 | Phil Spector | |||||
1967 | "I'll Never Need More Than This" | Ike and Tina Turner | Jeff Barry, Phil Spector | 114 | 64 | Phil Spector | arranged by Jack Nitzsche | ||
1968 | "I Can Hear Music" | The Beach Boys | Jeff Barry, Phil Spector | October 1 | 24 | 10 | Carl Wilson | ||
1970 | "Chapel of Love" | Bette Midler | Jeff Barry, Phil Spector | 1970 | 40 | arranged & produced by Barry Manilow, Geoffery Haslam, Ahmet Ertegun |
two sided release flipped with Friends |
References
- ^ Profile Archived August 28, 2009, at the Wayback Machine, Theatermania.com; accessed January 15, 2014.
- ^ ISBN 0143037773. Archivedfrom the original on July 23, 2016. Retrieved October 7, 2012.
- ^ Williams, Richard (August 27, 2009). "Ellie Greenwich". guardian.co.uk. Archived from the original on September 7, 2013. Retrieved October 9, 2012.
- ^ Powers, Ann (August 2, 2009). "Appreciation: Ellie Greenwich: mover and shaper of American pop". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on August 30, 2009. Retrieved August 26, 2009.
- ^ a b Brooks, Dave Lincoln (October 2003). "AN INTERVIEW WITH ELLIE GREENWICH". Retrosellers. Archived from the original on August 30, 2009. Retrieved August 27, 2009.
- ^ "Broadway show the story of her life". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. March 10, 1985. Archived from the original on May 18, 2016. Retrieved July 13, 2015.
- ^ a b "Gee Ellie Gee". chachacharming.com. Archived from the original on September 5, 2012. Retrieved October 9, 2012.
- ^ a b Greig, Charlotte. "Ellie Greenwich interview". Spectropop. Archived from the original on August 31, 2009. Retrieved August 26, 2009.
- The Telegraph (Nashua). May 5, 1973. Archivedfrom the original on May 13, 2016. Retrieved July 13, 2015.
- ^ a b Moody, Nekesa Mumbi (August 2, 2009). "Ellie Greenwich, 'Chapel of Love' co-writer, dies". Associated Press. Archived from the original on January 16, 2014. Retrieved August 26, 2009.
- ^ "Music News". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on April 17, 2010. Retrieved September 6, 2019.
- ^ "R.I.P. "Be My Baby" Writer Ellie Greenwich". Pitchfork. August 26, 2009. Archived from the original on August 28, 2009. Retrieved August 27, 2009.
- ISBN 0-8230-7677-6. Archivedfrom the original on June 9, 2013. Retrieved August 26, 2009.
- ^ Unterberger, Richie. "You Don't Know (Ellie Greenwich) review". Allmusic. Retrieved August 27, 2009.
- ^ Whitburn, Joel. The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits: Revised and Enlarged, Billboard Books, New York, 1992, p448
- ^ "'Leader of the Pack' roars in April". The Hour. March 27, 1992. Archived from the original on May 19, 2016. Retrieved July 13, 2015.
- ^ "Ellie Greenwich, who has died aged 68, co-wrote some of the most enduring pop songs of the 1960s and collaborated with the "Wall of Sound" producer Phil Spector on such classics as Da Doo Ron Ron, Be My Baby (both 1963), and River Deep – Mountain High (1966)". The Daily Telegraph. London. August 2, 2009. Archived from the original on March 19, 2010. Retrieved May 1, 2010.
- ^ "Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: Inductees". Rockhall.com. Archived from the original on December 23, 2009. Retrieved March 31, 2012.
- ^ "Rock Hall welcomes Genesis, ABBA, Iggy" Archived March 22, 2010, at the Wayback Machine by David Bauder, Associated Press via torontosun.com, March 16, 2010, 11:34 am. Retrieved March 16, 2010.
- ^ "Statue celebrates singer Ellie Greenwich WABC TV News May 7, 2013". Archived from the original on June 23, 2013. Retrieved November 6, 2018.
- ^ a b Phil Spector: Back To Mono 1958 – 1969, 4 CD box set, All Mother Bertha Music, 1991, liner notes
- ^ Lesley Gore, "Maybe I Know" single release Archived August 9, 2017, at the Wayback Machine, Discogs.com, Retrieved January 14, 2015
Further reading
- Browne, David, "Ellie Greenwich: Brill Building Legend", Rolling Stone magazine, September 17, 2009, p. 43.
- Kreps, Daniel, "Be My Baby songwriter Ellie Greenwich dead at 68", Rolling Stone magazine, August 26, 2009.
External links
- Ellie Greenwich at the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame
- Ellie Greenwich at the Songwriters Hall of Fame
- Ellie Greenwich – Daily Telegraph obituary
- [1] – An Interview with the late Ellie Greenwich