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“Be My Baby” Songwriter Ellie Greenwich Dead at 68

BASOAdmin — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 18:38:02 +0000

Photo: Michael Ochs Archive/Getty
Ellie Greenwich, a songwriter who along with producer Phil Spector and co-writer Jeff Barry crafted some of the biggest and greatest singles of the 1960s, passed away at the age of 68. The AP reports that Greenwich died of a heart attack in New York’s Roosevelt Hospital, where she was battling pneumonia. Among the most famous songs that list Greenwich as a songwriter are the Ronettes’ “Be My Baby” and “Baby, I Love You,” the Shangri-La’s “Leader of the Pack,” the Dixie Cups’ “Chapel of Love,” Tina & Ike Turner’s “River Deep, Mountain High” and the Crystals’ “Then He Kissed Me” and “Da Doo Ron Ron.” Each of those landmark tracks were listed among Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

Discovered by famed songwriters Leiber and Stoller, Greenwich’s other major hits include Manfred Mann’s “Doo Wah Diddy Diddy,” Darlene Love’s “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” and Tommy James’ and the Shondells’ “Hanky Panky.” Greenwich and Barry also helped nurture the career of a fledgling singer-songwriter named Neil Diamond, and Greenwich and Barry produced and contributed background vocals to Diamond hits like “Kentucky Woman,” “Girl, You’ll Be a Woman Soon,” “Cherry, Cherry,” “Red, Red Wine” and “I’m a Believer.”

Greenwich, along with Barry, was inducted into the Songwriters’ Hall of Fame in 1991. A Broadway show dedicated to songs co-written by Greenwich and based on her life called Leader of the Pack debuted on Broadway, where it was nominated for a Best Musical Tony in 1985. Greenwich also recorded her own solo album, Ellie Greenwich Composes, Produces and Sings, in 1968, and often sang backup for artists like Frank Sinatra, Bobby Darin and Dusty Springfield. The family asks that donations be made to the VH1 Save the Music Foundation.

Listen to a playlist of Greenwich’s definitive songs here:

The Shangri-Las: “Leader of the Pack”

The Shangri-Las: “Out in the Streets”

The Dixie Cups: “Chapel of Love”

Ike and Tina Turner: “River Deep, Mountain High”

The Crystals: “Then He Kissed Me”

The Crystals: “Da Doo Ron Ron”

Tommy James and the Shondells: “Hanky Panky”

Manfred Mann: “Do Wah Diddy Diddy”

Darlene Love: “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)”

Cyndi Lauper: “Right Train Wrong Track”

Eddie Money: “Take Me Home Tonight”

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By: andrew

admin — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 14:00:22 +0000

just a quick update to say that http://www.imusicmaker.com has added some new features which most singers ,songwriters and producers should find very useful for the promotion of their music

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Crosby, Stills and Nash on 40 Years of Music, Working With Rick Rubin

BASOAdmin — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 21:32:04 +0000

David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash are certainly aware they’ve been working together for a long time, but when Rolling Stone spelled out a number — 40 years — the figure still stunned the trio. “It certainly seems to have gone very quickly,” Nash told RS during a recent trip to our offices. “In my memory it’s like yesterday,” he said. “We love each other,” Stills added. Which is clearly what’s helped keep Crosby, Stills and Nash on the road and in the studio together for so long despite some major hiccups along the way.

The other major factor: creative synergy. “For me, it has to do with the music,” Crosby said. “I love both of them as human beings, but they keep coming to me with music that is absolute magic to me. It’s a completely different chemistry. Each human being has a completely different vibe, and the four of us [including Neil Young] is a completely different chemistry than the three of us or two of us or solo, and that’s fascinating and it keeps it fresh.”

The trio have been trying something kind of new during studio sessions with Rick Rubin for their upcoming covers album. “Stephen has been doing it on his solo tour and it really worked for him, and he said, let’s do it,” Crosby said. “It’s kind of a brave step, but it has been working.” Nash revealed the answer to the question, “What would be the audience’s reaction to Crosby, Stills and Nash doing other people’s stuff?” has been fantastic. And he says Rubin is a more “traditional producer” than people think. “He only concentrates on the music,” Nash said, describing how Rubin would insist on tinkering with chorus placement. And he listens “like nobody I ever saw,” noted Stills.

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Kris Allen Working With Fray Frontman, “Idol” Vets On Debut

BASOAdmin — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 17:33:05 +0000

Photo: PEX/FilmMagic
Last week Adam Lambert revealed he’s working with Lady Gaga producer RedOne on songs for his first post-Idol album. Now AI Season Eight champion Kris Allen is talking with Billboard.com about the producers and songwriters he’s recruiting for his debut disc, due out in the fall. So far, Allen has nailed down collaborations with songwriter Claude Kelly (Kelly Clarkson’s “My Life Would Suck Without You,” Britney Spears’ “Circus”), producer Salaam Remi (Amy Winehouse, Nas) and former Evanescence keyboardist David Hodges, who previously worked with Idol alumni Kelly Clarkson, Daughtry and David Archuleta.

“I’ve been writing a lot with a lot of different people, and it’s going well,” Allen told Billboard. “Each writing session has been a learning experience. I think that we are trying to figure it out and that it’s going the right way and I’m really excited about it. I can’t wait.” Despite the dance/rap influence of his current writing partners, Allen is reportedly hoping to make a disc in the Jason Mraz mold. Allen also recently spent time in Timbaland’s Virginia studio, not to work with the Shock Value producer, but to collaborate with the Fray’s Joe King, who inspired Allen’s Idol performance of Kanye West’s “Heartless.”

Hodges — whose fellow former Evanescence bandmates just last week recruited Idol Season Seven contestant Carly Smithson to sing in their new band the Fallen — will also reportedly work with Lambert on the runner-up’s first disc for 19 Recordings/RCA, Billboard reports. Hodges has essentially become Idol’s go-to producer, previously helping to co-write Clarkson’s “Because of You” and Archuleta’s “Crush,” plus tracks by Daughtry and Blake Lewis. Hodges is so far the only producer to work with both Allen and Lambert on their debuts.

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Be A Star Online » songwriters

“Be My Baby” Songwriter Ellie Greenwich Dead at 68

By: andrew

Crosby, Stills and Nash on 40 Years of Music, Working With Rick Rubin

Top Stories: June 22, 2009

Kris Allen Working With Fray Frontman, “Idol” Vets On Debut