Mary Weiss, Shangri-Las singer who hit No. 1 with ‘Leader of the Pack,’ dead at 75

Mary Weiss, the lead singer of the Shangri-Las, the 1960s girl group who hit No. 1 with the teen angst song “Leader of the Pack,” has died at the age of 75.

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Weiss’ death was announced Friday in a Facebook post by Miriam Linna, according to the Los Angeles Times. Linna’s label, Norton Records, released Weiss’ only solo album, “Dangerous Game,” in 2007. No cause of death was given, the newspaper reported.

“Mary was an icon, a hero, a heroine, to both young men and women of my generation and of all generations,” Linna wrote in a social media post.

The Shangri-Las were the last of the girl groups before the British invasion in 1964. They also hit the charts with the top-five hit, “Remember (Walking in the Sand)” and “Give Him a Great Big Kiss,” according to Variety.

Weiss, who was born in the New York City borough of Queens on Dec. 28, 1948, was 15 when she teamed with her sister, Betty Weiss, and twins Marge and Mary Ann Ganser, to form the Shangri-Las, Rolling Stone reported.

They performed at talent shows in the New York metropolitan area and were introduced to producer George “Shadow” Morton, according to the magazine.

Their first hit, “Remember (Walking in the Sand),” recorded in mid-1964, rose to No. 5 on the Billboard charts. It was later covered by Aerosmith in 1979, the Times reported.

But it was the Shangri-Las’ next song, “Leader of the Pack,” that rocketed the group to No. 1 in late November 1964, according to Billboard. The teen-death tragedy was written by Morton, Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich. The group’s call-and-response about the lead singer’s bad-boy love interest and rumbling motorcycle engines in the background, resonated with America’s youth and spawned countless covers. There was even a parody song, “Leader of the Laundromat,” which was released in late December 1964 by The Detergents.

“Leader of the Pack” would be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2019, the Times reported. The song spent 12 weeks on the Billboard charts and five weeks in the top-five at the height of Beatlemania.

Their next song, “Give Him a Great Big Kiss,” was released in December 1964 and rose to No. 18 on the Billboard charts.

The group disbanded in 1968 due to legal issues and Weiss was unable to record for a decade, she told Rolling Stone in a 2007 interview.

“By the time it ended, it was all about litigation,” Weiss told the magazine. “My morn signed some really bad contracts,” she added.

Greenwich said the group’s tough, yet vulnerable image was genuine, Variety reported.

“Overall, the girl groups had very sweet images, except for the Ronettes and the Shangri-Las, who had a tougher, harder attitude,” Greenwich told the website Spectropop. “By today’s standards, they were as innocent as the day is long. Back then, they seemed to have a street toughness, but with a lot of vulnerability. Mary Weiss (had) the sweetest long straight hair, an angelic face, and then this nasal voice comes out, and this attitude -- the best of both worlds.”

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