Shadow Morton
| George "Shadow" Morton | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | George Francis Morton |
| Born |
September 3, 1941 Richmond, Virginia, US |
| Died | February 14, 2013 (aged 71) Laguna Beach, California, US |
| Occupation(s) | Songwriter, record producer |
| Associated acts |
The Shangri-Las Janis Ian Vanilla Fudge The New York Dolls |
George Francis "Shadow" Morton (September 3, 1941 – February 14, 2013) was an American record producer and songwriter best known for his influential work in the 1960s. In particular, he was noted for writing and producing "Remember (Walking in the Sand)", "Leader of the Pack", and other hits for girl group The Shangri-Las.
He was born in Richmond, Virginia but grew up in Brooklyn, New York, and then Hicksville, Long Island, where he met his high school sweet heart and future wife, Lois Berman and formed a doo-wop group, the Marquees. He became friendly with Ellie Greenwich, and did drop-in visits to her and her writing partner (later husband) Jeff Barry when they were working at the Brill Building.
According to a Biography episode on various 1960s Brill Building pop songwriters, including retrospective interviews with Greenwich, Barry and Morton among others, Barry said that at the time he was suspicious of Morton's overt attention to Greenwich. Disbelieving Morton was really the songwriter he claimed to be, Barry challenged Morton to prove his legitimacy and bring in samples of his recent work (expecting never to hear again from unheard of Morton). Morton stated in his interview that, with an empty song portfolio at the time, he felt sufficiently challenged by Barry, whereupon he left the Brill Building and drove his automobile to a Long Island Beach. Full of inspiration and determination, Morton spent the evening writing most of his first song, while sitting in the dark in his parked car & the rest of it in the shower back at home before heading back to Barry. Entitled "Remember (Walking In The Sand)", Morton then 'rolled the dice' and recorded a demo of his song with a long-shot, unknown girl-group local club act that he admired, The Shangri-Las (according to Morton, with the then-unknown Billy Joel on piano in the demo recording), and offered the demo recording to Jerry Leiber, who was then setting up Red Bird Records. The recording "Remember (Walking In The Sand)" by the Shangri-Las reached #5 on the US Billboard Hot 100 in 1964. Considering the scope of this accomplishment, Morton was transformed overnight from a credential-less industry 'wannabe' into a teen recording songwriter and recording producer. According to Steve Kurutz at Allmusic, "Morton's production work, which included brilliant sound effects and inventive percussion, carried the Shangri-Las to girl-group history."
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