This book was provided to me from Netgalley, so I can read and review it before it’s published.
My parents would often play the local oldies station in the car, and that is where my love of the 60’s music started for me. When I turned 13 in 1990, I purchased The Beatles box set (which was a collection of CDs of all of their albums, along with a CD called Frat Rock and Toga Rock – both containing some fantastic oldies music). Yes, The Beatles are my favorite band and at one point in my life, I had posters, bootlegs, memorabilia, books, magazines, stickers, and a few delicate items. I have a few things left, as I have given away most of it. If they weren’t my favorite band, I would have to say that any band from Motown or even The Rolling Stones could easily take their place.
So, I am very familiar with a lot of the girl groups of the 60’s and enjoyed reading there words directly. I didn’t realize how young some of the girls were when they recorded their hits and how they struggled to be compensated for everything they did. Most of the girls were under 16, and some were even younger than that when they recorded their songs. And most of them were black and they had to deal with segregation. A lot of the girls would record a hit, and then they were done. They got married, had kids, and did other things with their lives. Some of them did end up reuniting later on. There were even lawsuits about compensation and royalties after the fact.
I did find myself, asking Alexa to play lots of songs, as I was reading it. Oh, yeah, I can hear what they are talking about. I really liked reading about how they got together (family singers, school singers, or sidewalk singers) and how certain songs came to be.
I also enjoyed reading about the songwriting teams of Mike Lieber and Jerry Stroller, Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, and Carol King and Gerry Goffin. They wrote the majority of the hits.
Also interviewed were studio musicians, and other people from other bands who were involved with these 60’s girl groups.
Now, let me tell you some of the groups and songs that made them famous that were mentioned frequently throughout the book:
The Bobbettes (Mr. Lee) – Look at the soundtrack for Stand By Me.
The Chordettes (Mr. Sandman, Lollipop) – Look at the soundtrack for Stand By Me.
The Cookies (Chains)
The Crystals (He’s a Rebel, Then He Kissed Me) – He’s a Rebel was actually recorded by The Blossoms which included Darlene Love, but which was credited to The Crystals by Phil Spector.
The Ronettes (Be My Baby) – This was Ronnie Spector’s group and she was married to Phil Spector. This is the opening song in Dirty Dancing.
The Exciters (Tell Him)
The Marvelettes (Please Mr Postman) – This was the first hit for a girl group for Motown.
The Shirelles (Will You Love Me Tomorrow, Soldier Boy, Mama Said, Baby It’s You)
The Chiffons (He’s So Fine, One Fine Day)
The Dixie Cups (Chapel of Love, Iko Iko)
The Shangri-Las (Leader of the Pack) – Yes, it was a real motorcycle, and they had a super long mic cord from the studio to the street.
The Supremes (Where Did Our Love Go, Love Child, Baby Love, Come See About Me) – This was Diana Ross’s group.
Man, I am pretty confident that I have half of these songs on my iPhone!
Overall, this is by far one of the best music books I have read this year. It was easy for me to follow along as I always knew who was talking.
