Ask anybody to name a great songwriter from the 60s, and they will namecheck the lyrics of Lennon, the melodies of McCartney, or the studio mastery of Spector.Few will plump for Ellie Greenwich, the blonde-haired, bright-eyed New Yorker who co-wrote some of the decade's most extraordinary songs – Be My Baby and Da Doo Ron Ron for the Ronettes, Leader of the Pack for the Shangri-Las, I Can Hear Music for the Beach Boys, and River Deep, Mountain High for Ike and Tina Turner.
Having passed away yesterday, at the age of 68, Greenwich's legacy is a catalogue of classic songs – and a contribution to pop that we should commemorate.
Jude Rogers, Thursday 27 August 2009
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2009/aug/27/ellie-greenwich+ http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-ellie-greenwich27-2009aug27,0,5623596.story
+ update 2009-09
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2009/08/thoughts-on-ellie-greenwich.html
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