Girl Groups

Crystals, The, Phil Spector: The Crystals: New to the Charts — Six Girls With Two Names!

Profile by Alan Smith, NME, December 1962

SO VAST is the American disc scene that quite often an artist or group can get high into the charts without anybody here knowing much ...

Shirelles, The: The Neglected Shirelles

Profile by Norman Jopling, Record Mirror, January 1963

"I MET HIM on a Sunday" sang Addie, Doris, Shirley, and Beverly. They were heard by a class-mate at Passiac high school during a rehearsal ...

Shangri-Las, The: The Shangri-Las: Shangris' Sensational Seagull Sounds

Profile and Interview by David Griffiths, Record Mirror, October 1964

THE LATEST gimmick in pop discs: sound effects! ...

Fanny: Fillmore East, New York NY

Live Review by Mike Jahn, New York Times, May 1971

Fanny, a Four-Girl Rock Group, Poses a Challenge to Male Ego ...

How the other half lives: The Best of Girl Group Rock

Guide by Greil Marcus, Let It Rock, May 1974

GIRL GROUP ROCK flourished between 1958 and 1965, and though, with the passing of the Brill Building and the coming of the sophistication of the ...

LaBelle: ...How The West Was Won — Nearly

Report by Penny Valentine, Sounds, April 1975

A few days in the life of LaBelle. Penny Valentine reports from America's West Coast where the critics are a harder nut to crack than ...

Kim Fowley, Runaways, The: The Runaways: Runaway Girls

Profile and Interview by Harvey Kubernik, Melody Maker, July 1976

RUNAWAYS: the Natalie Woods, Brigitte Bardots and Ann-Margrets of rock. ...

Supremes, The, Diana Ross: Diana Ross and the Supremes: 20 Golden Greats

Review by Mick Farren, NME, September 1977

IF THEY weren't the highest form, they sure as hell were the most refined. The three-piece girl vocal group is almost a dying art. Only ...

Runaways, The: The Runaways

Report and Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, November 1977

THE HOUR OF MY VINDICATION is at hand. I'm sitting in the lobby of a London hotel waiting for the Runaways to descend from their ...

Phil Spector, Ronnie Spector: Ronnie Spector Says Goodbye To Hollywood

Interview by John Tobler, Hot Wacks, Spring 1979

PHIL SPECTOR......aah, the magic that name still evokes, but what of the former Mrs Phil Spector. Veronica Benett, better known as Ronnie Spector, this is ...

Ronnie Spector, Phil Spector: 'I Wasn't Even a Housewife': Ronnie Spector's true confessions

Report and Interview by Mick Farren, NME, September 1980

SHE WAS supposed to be promoting her album, but Ronnie Spector’s first solo album isn’t the kind of thing that’s about to stop the world ...

Shaggs, The: The Shaggs: Better Than the Beatles (and DNA, Too)

Retrospective by Lester Bangs, Village Voice, January 1981

I HAVE BEEN getting whiny letters from a lot of you lately complaining about the general state of the art. "What is all this shit?" ...

Transistor Sisters: Alan Betrock's Girl Groups - The Story Of A Sound

Review by Barney Hoskyns, NME, 1982

"Conform to norm society; won't stand for impropriety; In the extreme of which you dream, you must always join the team . . . " ...

Leaders Of The Pack: Teen Dreams And Tragedy In Girl Group Rock

Retrospective by Greg Shaw, History of Rock, The, 1982

OF ALL THE musical fads that came and went in the early Sixties, the girl-group phenomenon has succeeded best in retaining its appeal. ...

Puppet On A String: Girl Singers Of The Sixties

Essay by Mary Harron, History of Rock, The, 1982

There were no bad girls in British pop music in the early Sixties — certainly nothing to compare with the most daring American girl groups ...

Shangri-Las, The: Leaders of the Teen Beat

Retrospective by David Quantick, NME, September 1983

Remember (walkin' in the sand) with the Shangri-Las ...

Bangles, The: Bangles For Sale

Interview by Iman Lababedi, Creem, June 1985

AT THE CBS building in Manhattan guitarist Susanna Hoffs (all black tights and mini-skirt) explains the Bangles' modus operandi:"It's hard to work keeping your sense of ...

Bangles, The: The Bangles: Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, Los Angeles CA

Live Review by Holly Gleason, Rolling Stone, June 1989

Heroines Take a Fall ...

Belinda Carlisle, Go-Go's, The: Belinda Carlisle!

Interview by Caroline Sullivan, Smash Hits, January 1991

• She used to live in the untidiest house in Hollywood!• She plays music to her plants!• She's had about half an hour's holiday to ...

Spice Girls, The: Taking On The Britboys: Spice Girls

Report and Interview by Paul Gorman, Music Week, April 1996

JUST WHEN BOYS with guitars threaten to rule pop life - Damon's all over Smash Hits, Ash are big in Big! and Liam can't move ...

Kenickie: Kamikaze! Karaoke! Kenickie!

Interview by Caitlin Moran, Melody Maker, November 1996

KENICKIE may barnstorm through life like kamikaze karaoke kids, but there's sadness in their madness ...

Kenickie: Electric Ballroom, London

Live Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, June 1998

HEY, LITTLE rich girl, where did you go wrong? The 'Nick should never have moved to London. Left home, met all these glittery chuckleheads, built ...

Ronnie Spector, Ronettes, The: Ronnie Spector: The Last of the Rock Stars

Press Release by Andy Schwartz, press release for High Coin Records, 2006

ONLY A FEW ARTISTS in history have been capable of defining an entire era in pop music. Ronnie Spector is one of those artists: the ...

The Orlons: Wah Watusi and South Street

Sleevenotes by Gene Sculatti, Collector's Choice, 2010

IF THEY'RE LUCKY, most decades get a handle–not right at birth, but usually by the time they grow up a little and let us know ...

Runaways, The: The Runaways: Wild Thing — How Sandy West Was Lost

Retrospective by Evelyn McDonnell, L.A. Weekly, March 2010

ON A SUMMER day in 1975, a 16-year-old girl carrying a Silvertone guitar took four public buses from Canoga Park to a two-story house in ...

Runaways, The, Kim Fowley: Sex sells: The Girl Band That Changed Pop Forever

Retrospective by Chris Salewicz, Independent, The, March 2010

IN EARLY OCTOBER 1976, the Runaways, an all-girl five-piece from Los Angeles, played a sell-out show at London's Roundhouse, their debut date in the UK. ...