These pics I was sent a long while ago…. They look to me like stills taken from that footage on the girl groups doco. I have sat on images a very long time.

In the footage Mary is laying down what looks like a lead vocal while Mary-Anne, Margie and Betty are outside in another sound booth doing their vocals.

I have always wondered how much preparation the girls did before they went in to record. That would be a really interesting question for Mary.

The thing is  alot of people forget when they listen to music from the 50’s and 60’s was that the luxury of multi track recording  did NOT occur till the mid-late 60s. and even then it was bouncing down the recording to clear tracks to lay on another.  Bouncing down  meant mixing what you had on 3 tracks down to one track, then re recording over those 3 tracks with other parts and you hoped the balance was right.. Today the Multi Tracking goes 100+ tracks.

I remember reading a long time ago about Jimi Hendrix recording Are You Experienced on a four track ! Most computers have multi track recorders complete with pitch correction software if your singer likes to sing in various keys at once… and most bands today have access to this , but is the music any better, are the songs stronger and original ? In my view, not really.  Look at whats considered fresh today, and you will see its sound, style and feel were already performed a long while back.  I suppose I could be considered biased, but its not very often I hear something new that makes my ears twitch with excitement.

Lex

The guy looks familiar, but well, they all look so clean cut and cheesy back then that I don’t want to say who it could be. Especially when I know that most of  you would know immediately.

Post some details etc… so I can then put correct info to it.

Lex

from Alex : That is Don Webster, host of the TV Show Upbeat in Cleveland where the Shangri-Las made their final televised performance in 1967

edit.::   Heres another version of that pic as mantioned by Juan. Although its not a bad version of it.

Also on the lineup for those shows were: Chuck Jackson, Ben E. King, Patti Labelle, The Drifters, The Nashville Teens, Dionne Warwick and the Zombies. Thank you again to James Marshall for the photos.

 Her friends and fans will never forget this wonderful woman. Thank you for everything Margie. We love you and honor your memory on this day.
Marge in 1977. Photo by Roberta Bayley.

The photo above was taken when the Shangri-las had briefly reformed and were  recording in early ‘77, sadly for their own reasons they felt it wasn’t happening. Roberta took a bunch of great photos from this period and also some sweet shots of an inpromtu gig at New Yorks CBGB club.  Out of all the photos, the above is by far my favourite out of all the photos from the set.

Click the links below and check out more of Robertas’ work . The link to Redferns will take you to the site…. you will have to search “Shangri-las ” , the results will give you the whole set of Robertas Shangri-las images.

http://robertabayley.com

http://www.redferns.com – just search shangri-las

Enjoy. Lex

I asked Jeff to write a lil about the pics and explain what was going on…  Jeffrey Hedquist remembers…

The year was 1966. A concert at Union College in Schenectady, NY.It was a double bill: The Shangri Las and…The Animals. Kind of a Brill Building music meets British Invasion.

Ironically, the Animals hit “We Gotta Get Out of This Place” was Penned by Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann of the aforementioned building. But I digress.

Much of the audience, mostly from Union College and Skidmore College, with a smattering of local residents, thought they were much too hip for the music of the Shangri Las which represented another era of the ‘60’s, but the girls’ songs were too ingrained in our consciousness for us not to respond emotionally. Hey, these were the anthems of our teenaged youth!

I was a DJ at WRUC in ‘66, the college radio station that promoted the event and I got to introduce the performers.
Here’s a photo of me grinning backstage at the Union College field house with the girls. You can tell by their expressions what a thrill this was for them.  Also a photo of them onstage.

photos are copyright by.  Bob Saltzman of Niskayuna, NY.

The band had  a great following in Florida  They leaned heavily toward the stylings of such artists as: James Brown, Jimmy Reed, the Impressions, Lonnie Mack and Jerry Butler The coming of the “British Invasion” of the mid-60’s, took the band down a brand new path and the shows became a more or less 50/50 split of R&B and the English rock music of the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Searchers, Zombies, Animals, Dave Clark 5, etc..

As Ron and the Starfires’ popularity spread, the group branched out around Florida. They were one of the most used bands on the University of Florida campus during the mid-60’s.

Ron & the Starfires played as opening act for quite a number of sixties artists including: The Shangri-las, The Birdwatchers, Tommy Roe, The Nightcrawlers, John Fred & His Playboy Band and Rufus Thomas and often shared the stage when in Daytona with The Allman Joys .

What you have just read is a brief from the website for the band. Carl will be contacting the other members and also trying to locate the original clipping so I can post a better scan of the band. If you would like to read more about Ron and the Starfires click the link below or click the photos…. Many thanks to Carl Chambers for permission to post images here. Carl will be contacting the other band members to see if they can recall actual details of the gig, which I hope to post here later at some time.
Enjoy.

www.dizzyrambler.com

Mary looks very unlike the image you usually saw, the hair is not parted over the face. The bun or weave or wrap ? … I dont know what that style was called, but either way its pretty groovy. . Mary-ann just looks soo cool. and Margie, yeah she looks awesome too.

I like the image for many reasons, but essentially  it is not like the cliche image that is always shown of the girls. There are  no  stiletto heeled beehive wearing, gum chewing leather girls. This was  before all of that.  It shows, I think , something very real. Young girls, having fun and enjoying whats going on…  Mischief in Mary-annes eyes, thats for sure.

Enjoy.

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