Ellie Greenwich

Some people may have missed it in the news of the deaths of Edward Kennedy and Dominick Dunne, but Ellie Greenwich also passed away.

The Music's Over listed some of the songs Greenwich wrote or co-wrote:

Either on her own or with such songwriting partners as her one-time husband, Jeff Barry, Greenwich penned such gems as “Be My Baby” (The Ronettes), “Then He Kissed Me” (The Crystals), “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” (Darlene Love), “Hanky Panky” (Tommy James & The Shondells), “River Deep, Mountain High” (Ike & Tina Turner), and “Do Wah Diddy Diddy” (Manfred Mann).

The New York Times, while mentioning another song ("Leader of the Pack"), talked about the environment in which Greenwich worked:

Ms. Greenwich was among the songwriters, music publishers and producers working at the Brill Building, at 1619 Broadway in Manhattan, which (along with 1650 Broadway, across the street) became a center of pop music in the early 1960s. The buildings were home to Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, Burt Bacharach and Hal David, and Carole King and Gerry Goffin, among many others, and from their offices and studios came a flood of teenage anthems, story songs and achy love songs fraught with the hormonal angst of the young.

And the Guardian mentions a message at her website that sadly, as of this evening, has not been updated.

*To all the High School students performing "Leader" across the country, don't be shy about contacting me (See link on the Home Page), you'll get my personal response; just give me some time.

Sadly, there's no time left to take advantage of her insight. And her webmaster is obviously consumer with other duties at this point.