The Shangri-Las' Mary Weiss Became a Star at 15 but Said She Didn't Enjoy her Teenage Years

Mary Weiss, the lead singer of the Shangri-Las, achieved fame at 15 with the hit song "Leader of the Pack." Her personal life wasn't easy, though, and she put a lot of her own emotions into the song.The Shangri-Las had their very first hit in 1964 with "Remember (Walking in the Sand)." Weiss was 14 at the time. By 1968, the group had disbanded amid legal disputes. The photo of Weiss accompanying this episode was cropped from a group publicity shot taken in 1964 and distributed by Red Bird Records. It's available on Wikipedia. If you want to hear "Leader of the Pack," you can find a version on YouTube. Sheldon Zoldan's tribute to Weiss is one of 41 stories that the longtime journalist has written about the music notables who passed away in 2024. He's written these tributes for other years as well. You can listen to the ones for 2023 on Everyday Creation. Sheldon also created Song of the Day, which was a daily feature delivered to an email list of subscribers. He ended it in early 2026 which, I suppose, means that Song of the Day deserves a tribute of its own. The good thing is that the tributes to music makers live on. Each is a snapshot of the life of one music maker whose work made an impact on the lives of many.Send us Fan MailThis is Kate Jones. Thank you for listening to Everyday Creation®, available on YouTube and in podcast directories including Apple, Spotify, iHeart and Audible.