was a key architect in creating the sound of the famous girl groups of the mid-'60s. After the demise of Red Bird,
.
When the wildly successful production team of
Lieber and
Stoller decided to leave Atlantic Records in 1964, opting to form their own label, they enlisted the help of some of the top names in the business, including A&R wizard
George Goldner and Brill Building songwriters
Ellie Greenwich and
Jeff Barry. Included in that team was eccentric producer
Shadow Morton. It was
Morton who, as Red Bird's chief producer, was instrumental in the success of the short-lived label. He juxtaposed teen lyrics against a mixture of pop and R&B designed to appeal to both the black and white youth marketa. This was done to greatest effect with the girl group the
Shangri-Las. Producing all three of their Top Ten hits -- "Remember (Walking In the Sand)," "I Can Never Go Home Anymore" and the classic "Leader of the Pack" --
Morton's production work, which included brilliant sound effects and inventive percussion, carried the
Shangri-Las to girl-group history. For a relative newcomer to the industry,
Morton's studio expertise, particularly on the mini-opera "Leader of the Pack," was filled with a brilliance that rivaled his own bosses' production work.
The Red Bird days are seen as
Morton's claim to fame, yet after the label's demise in the late '60s, he did go on to produce the
New York Dolls and Isis in the '70s. In recent years,
Morton lost a lawsuit he filed against Polygram for what he felt was unauthorized use of the Shangri-Las' master tapes for the 1990 film Good Fellas.
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Steve Kurutz, Rovi