Paul Payton '69
"Have Voice, Will Travel"
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From Paul - Late-breaking news bulletin:

[headline] Ellie Greenwich, Co-writer of "Chapel of Love," "Be My Baby" and
"Leader of the Pack," dies at 68.

By NEKESA MUMBI MOODY, AP Music Writer

NEW YORK -- Ellie Greenwich, who co-wrote some of pop music's most enduring
songs, including "Chapel of Love," "Be My Baby" and "Leader of the Pack,"
died Wednesday, according to her niece. She was 68.

Greenwich died of a heart attack at St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital, where she
had been admitted a few days earlier for treatment of pneumonia, according
to her niece, Jessica Weiner.

Greenwich, a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, was considered one of
pop's most successful songwriters. She had a rich musical partnership with
the legendary Phil Spector, whose "wall of sound" technique changed rock
music. With Spector, she wrote some of pop's most memorable songs, including
"Da Doo Ron Ron" and "River Deep, Mountain High." But Spector wasn't her
only collaborator.

She also had key hits with her ex-husband Jeff Barry, including the dynamic
song "Leader of the Pack" (years later, Broadway would stage a
Tony-nominated musical with the same name based on her life).

"He was the first male I could actually harmonize with," she once said.

Greenwich was a native of Brooklyn. While she garnered her greatest success
as a songwriter, Greenwich started out as a performer. She performed in
talent shows as a child, and by the time she was a teen, she had her own
group, called The Jivettes.

She went to college, where she met Barry, and shortly after graduation,
began working for songwriters Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, where she got
her break. She had her first chart success with the Jay and the Americans
song "This Is It," which she wrote with Doc Pomus and Tony Powers.

She also had success with Barry as the duo The Raindrops with the songs
"What a Guy" and "The Kind of Boy You Can't Forget."

Greenwich also worked as an arranger and singer, a role that saw her working
with artists including Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald.

She is also credited with helping Neil Diamond get his start and was a
co-producer of early Diamond hits "Cherry, Cherry" and "Kentucky Woman."

"Ellie Greenwich was one of the most important people in my career. She
discovered me as a down-and-out songwriter and with her then-husband Jeff
Barry co-produced all my early hits on Bang records," said Diamond in a
statement. "She has remained a great friend and mentor over the years and
will be missed greatly."

Among the more famous songs she wrote are "Baby I Love You," "Do Wah Diddy
Diddy" and "Look of Love."

Greenwich is survived by a sister, brother-in-law, nephew and her niece.

___

On the Net:

http://www.elliegreenwich.com/

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October 23, 1940 - August 26, 2009