Music News

Marlena Shaw, the jazz and soul singer best known for her 1969 recording of “California Soul,” has died. She was 81.

Shaw’s daughter, Marla Bradshaw, confirmed her death in a video posted on Facebook on Friday (Jan. 19).

“It’s with a very heavy heart that for myself and our family, I announce that our beloved mother, your beloved icon and artist, Marlena Shaw, has passed away today at 12:03,” she said.

“She was peaceful,” she continued. “We were at peace. I know that you just saw posts of [a] birthday celebration just as soon as yesterday, and my twin sister and I were very grateful — and our family — that she was here in celebration for that.”

No cause of death was given at the time of publication.

“Right now, she’s at peace. She’s in Heaven. I do know that,” Shaw’s daughter added. She shared that “she went listening to some of her favorite songs.”

Born on Sept. 22, 1939, as Marlina Burgess in New Rochelle, New York, the singer has said her uncle Jimmy Burgess got her into music. Burgess was a jazz trumpet player.

Shaw (which became her stage name) is known for her release of “California Soul,” which was written by Ashford & Simpson and made available in 1969 under Cadet Records, a subsidiary of Chess Records. There, she released the albums Out of Different Bags (1967) and The Spice of Life (1969), the latter of which featured the oft-sampled songs “California Soul” and “Woman of the Ghetto.”

“California Soul” has been sampled by a number of artists, including Gang Starr and Stereo MC, and Diplo released a remix of the song in 2008. The track has also been licensed for use in several commercials, including ads for Dodge, KFC and Dockers.

“I think it’s great,” she said in a 2009 interview of hearing her music sampled. “I really do. Number one, I love the surprise of it and like to hear what somebody else’s idea is.”

“But this kinda makes me feel like I’m the sun, you know, and I shine on all kinds of things,” she added with a laugh.

Shaw also released several recordings under Blue Note Records, and music on labels including Columbia and Verve. Verve shared in a statement, “We are saddened by the passing of Marlena Shaw, a wonderful singer whose ‘California Soul’ is as popular today as it ever was and whose album It Is Love: Recorded Live at Vine St. helped relaunch the Verve label in 1987.”

Shaw has said that performing live “has been my saving grace.” She explained, “I really consistently worked live. All kinds of venues, the big bands, the small bands — because I love it.”

The singer’s family has shared an address for those who wish to send condolences:

Ms. Marlena Shaw & Family
P.O. Box 335774
N. Las Vegas, NV 89033

Mary Weiss, the lead vocalist of The Shangri-Las — the 1960s pop girl group behind the No. 1 hit “Leader of the Pack” — has died. She was 75.

A representative for Weiss’ record label, Norton Records, confirmed the news of her death to The Hollywood Reporter on Saturday (Jan. 20). Norton released Weiss’ only solo album, Dangerous Game, in 2007.

No cause of death has been reported.

“I think you’re born with music in you,” Weiss said at a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum event in 2007. “I sang from the time I could speak. I was always into music, always. My brother was a lot older than me and had an extensive record collection, and I listened to everything.”

In sixth grade, Weiss saw The Everly Brothers perform at a theme park and was inspired by their harmonies. “I always thought they were so underrated as far as what they provided for music and harmony,” she said.

With her older sister Elizabeth “Betty” Weiss, and friends Marguerite “Marge” and Mary Ann Ganser, twins whom the Weiss sisters met in grammar school, the group got together in the Cambria Heights neighborhood of Queens, New York. “We used to sing harmony on the street corner, in bathrooms, in tunnels — Central Park has some great tunnels if you want to sing harmony — and that’s pretty much how we started,” Weiss said during her interview with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. Together they performed at local talent shows and school events, being too young to appear in clubs.

In 1964, when Weiss was just 14, the group met producer and songwriter George “Shadow” Morton. Working with him, they broke through with their recording of “Remember (Walking in the Sand),” released in 1964 via Red Bird Records, followed by singles like the chart-topping “Leader of the Pack” and “Give Him a Great Big Kiss” the same year, and “I Can Never Go Home Anymore” in 1965.

As Weiss was a minor, her mother signed her contracts. The group released only two studio albums before shifting to Mercury Records and disbanding in 1968 amid litigation.

In 2007, Weiss recalled of the group’s busy years in the mid-’60s, “My entire life was a whirlwind … For four or five years, I would go to sleep and not remember what state I was in when I woke up because I would do a TV show in the morning and a radio thing in the afternoon, and be on a plane and be some place else. That was my life.”

“Initially, I loved the music. I didn’t like a lot of the things that came with it. I think it was very, very hard in 1964 to be a woman in the music business,” she said.

Weiss admitted that her “tough image kept a lot of people away, which was really important for survival.”

“It was very difficult back then because I truly believe that a lot of men were considered ‘artists’ whether or not other people wrote for them. Women were considered products,” Weiss explained. “I always found that difficult to accept.”

The Shangri-Las shared concert bills with The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, James Brown and more famed acts. Weiss recalled the time Brown booked the group for a show in Texas in a 2007 interview with Rolling Stone, saying, “When I walked out onstage, I thought he was going to have a coronary. He didn’t realize I was white.”

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame honored “Leader of the Pack” in its singles category in 2019.

After her time performing with The Shangri-Las, Weiss went on to pursue a career as a commercial interior designer and consultant in New York City.

Weiss is survived by her husband, Ed, and sister, Liz, who is the last living member of The Shangri-Las.