Ellie Greenwich

Eleanor Louise Greenwich was born on October 23, 1940, in Brooklyn, New York, to William Greenwich, a painter turned electrical engineer of Catholic background, and Rose Baron Greenwich, a department store manager and later medical secretary of Jewish background. Both parents were of Russian descent, and Greenwich was not raised in either religion. She was reportedly named for Eleanor Roosevelt. The family relocated to Levittown, New York when Greenwich was ten, along with her younger sister, Laura.

Greenwich developed an early interest in music through the recordings her parents played at home, including artists such as Teresa Brewer, The Four Lads, and Johnnie Ray. She learned to play the accordion as a young child and was composing songs by her teenage years. At Levittown Memorial High School, she and two friends formed a singing group called the Jivettes, which expanded its membership and performed at local functions. Greenwich applied to the Manhattan School of Music after graduating but was rejected because the school did not accept accordion players, leading her to enroll at Queens College instead. She eventually taught herself to compose on the piano.

At seventeen, while attending Queens College, Greenwich recorded her first single for RCA Records, the self-written "Silly Isn't It," backed with "Cha-Cha Charming," released in 1958 under the name Ellie Gaye. One account holds that she chose the name as a reference to Barbie Gaye, singer of the original version of "My Boy Lollipop," while another claims RCA changed the name to prevent mispronunciations of Greenwich. A professor at Queens College belittled her for recording pop music, a response that led her to transfer to Hofstra University.

In 1959, still in college, Greenwich met Jeff Barry at a Thanksgiving dinner hosted by her maternal uncle, who was married to Barry's cousin. The two recognized a shared passion for music, and after Barry's first marriage was annulled, they began dating. On October 28, 1962, they married and shortly afterward agreed to write songs exclusively with each other. Before that exclusive arrangement, Greenwich had written with other collaborators, including Ben Raleigh and Mark Barkan, and had also worked extensively with Tony Powers. The Greenwich-Powers team placed songs on the charts, including "He's Got the Power" by The Exciters, "(Today I Met) The Boy I'm Gonna Marry" by Darlene Love, and "Why Do Lovers Break Each Other's Hearts?" by Bob B. Soxx and the Blue Jeans, the latter two co-written and produced by Phil Spector. During this period Greenwich also worked as a session singer, recording so many demos that she became known as New York's Demo Queen.

Greenwich's entry into the Brill Building came in 1962 when she traveled there to meet songwriter John Gluck Jr. While waiting in an office that turned out to belong to Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, she introduced herself to Leiber, who recognized her potential and agreed to let her use their facilities in exchange for first refusal on her songs. Leiber and Stoller eventually signed her to their publishing company, Trio Music, as a staff songwriter.

Once Barry and Greenwich committed to writing together exclusively, their output became one of the most successful bodies of work among Brill Building composers. Before the end of 1963, the pair had co-written and co-produced, alongside Phil Spector, songs including "Be My Baby" and "Baby, I Love You" for The Ronettes, "Then He Kissed Me" and "Da Doo Ron Ron" for The Crystals, and "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" for Darlene Love. Greenwich and Barry also recorded as The Raindrops, with Greenwich providing all female vocals through overdubbing and Barry singing bass backgrounds. Among their Raindrops recordings were "What a Guy," released as the group's first single on Jubilee Records, the U.S. Top 20 hit "The Kind of Boy You Can't Forget," and "Hanky Panky," which later became a hit for Tommy James and the Shondells in 1966. In 1964, their composition "Do Wah Diddy Diddy" reached number one in both the United Kingdom and the United States for Manfred Mann. The pair also wrote for Connie Francis and charted with two Lesley Gore hits in 1964, "Maybe I Know" and "Look of Love."

When Leiber and Stoller founded Red Bird Records in 1964, Barry and Greenwich joined as songwriters and producers. The label's first release was The Dixie Cups' "Chapel of Love," co-written with Phil Spector and originally recorded by The Ronettes, which reached number one on the U.S. chart. Barry and Greenwich continued producing hits for Red Bird, including additional Dixie Cups releases such as "People Say," as well as recordings by The Ad-Libs, The Jelly Beans, and The Shangri-Las. Among the Shangri-Las recordings was "Leader of the Pack," co-written with George "Shadow" Morton. In 1965, Greenwich recorded "You Don't Know" on Red Bird under her own name.

Barry and Greenwich divorced before the end of 1965, though they continued working together for much of 1966. During that period they were involved in the early career of singer-songwriter Neil Diamond, joining him to form Tallyrand Music to publish his songs. Diamond was subsequently signed to Bang Records and achieved several hits.

Greenwich's songwriting catalog, which includes "Da Doo Ron Ron," "Be My Baby," "Chapel of Love," "Leader of the Pack," "River Deep – Mountain High," and "Do Wah Diddy Diddy," among many others, formed the basis for the Broadway musical Leader of the Pack, in which she appeared in 1985. The production brought her work as a composer and performer to the Broadway stage. Greenwich died on August 26, 2009.