Shadow Morton
 He was raised in Hicksville, Long Island, where he formed a doo-wop group, the Markeys (later renamed "The Lonely Ones"). The group used Dynamic Sound to write, rehearse, and record demos. They had two singles released on RCA and one released on the Sir label in 1958-1959. Morton also wrote a couple of songs for Sal Mure. During the early 1960s, George recorded a few more solo singles, often using the alias Billy Kelly. In 1964, George Morton and Joseph Monaco wrote "Only Seventeen" for a local girl group, re-branded as "The Beattle-Ettes." Morton caught his big break when he learned that an old acquaintance, Ellie Greenwich, had co-written and produced a string of hit songs at Red Bird with her husband Jeff Barry. George called her and made arrangements to visit her office. He bragged about writing hit songs himself, and Jeff Barry challenged him to bring him one. George said he'd bring him a hit song the following Tuesday.  |
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"Then I called this studio, where my high school group The Markeys had hung out and done all this singing. It was in Bethpage (actually, Hicksville), off Bloomingdale Road down from Roy's Diner. This guy, Joe Monaco, had set up a small studio in his basement. He still had my old tape machine there. I said, 'George is getting me four musicians. I got a band. I got a record label in New York that wants to hear my material. I need a studio. How about Sunday?' 'OK,' he says." Tony Giannattasio (aka Tony Michaels) of The Markeys had been writing songs for a group called the Shangri Las, so Shadow asked them to make a record and they agreed. But come Sunday afternoon, he still didn't have a song to record, so he hastily wrote "Remember (Walkin' in the Sand)" on his way to the studio. "I walked down the steps to the basement where the studio was. George (Stermer) turned to me and said "You're late! Where the hell have you been?' That's when I turned to the piano player, who 30 years later I discover was Billy Joel, and said, 'Here, kid, play this. Play with one hand, not two. Bom-bom-bommmm.' I'm not gonna telll you how I treated him." "On Monday, I brought the tape to Ellie and Jeff, and my career began." The hit "Remember (Walkin' in the Sand)" was soon followed by "Leader Of The Pack," "Give Him A Great Big Kiss," and more. Shadow Morton went on to discover Janis Ian, Vanilla Fudge (previously known as the Pigeons), the Vagrants, and Iron Butterfly. In the 1970s, Shadow Morton worked with the New York Dolls. In The 1980s, Shadow Morton checked into the Betty Ford Center. After getting sober, he carried on writing, ostensibly working on a solo album with contributions from Marge Ganser of the Shangri Las, Leonard Berstein, David Baretto, and members of Vanilla Fudge - but this work, if completed, was never to be released. In 2006 Shadow Morton was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame, along with Vanilla Fudge and Billy Joel. He died on February 14, 2013. |