Mary Weiss, an American pop music vocalist, best known as the lead singer of the Shangri-Las in the 1960s, has died at the age of 75.
No cause of death has been revealed. confirmed Miriam Linna of Norton Records, the label that released Weiss’ lone solo album, Dangerous Game, in 2007. “Mary was an icon, a hero, a heroine, to both young men and women of my generation and of all generations,” Linna told Rolling Stone.
Growing up in the borough of Queens in New York City, Weiss, her older sister Elizabeth (known as Betty), and her older brother George lived in Cambria Heights.
Mary appreciated such performers as Neil Sedaka and The Everly Brothers; she attended her first Everly Brothers concert in 1963 at Freedomland U.S.A. at the age of 14.
In 2019, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio honored the Shangri-Las’ “Leader of the Pack”, on which Weiss sang lead, in the Hall’s Singles category.
