The Shangri-Las were an American group of the 1960s, consisting of Mary Weiss, her sister Elizabeth ‘Betty’ Weiss and twin sisters Marguerite ‘Marge’ Ganser and Mary Ann Ganser. They met at high school and began singing in their early teens. After a few early records had been released to little acclaim, they met George ‘Shadow’ Morton.

Morton wrote and produced their most famous songs, such as ‘Remember (Walking in the Sand)’ and ‘Leader of the Pack’. The girls became the voices of the emerging teen explosion and played shows with the Beatles, the Stones and James Brown.

Lisa MacKinney has written an enthralling history of the group, the times and the supporting cast of characters. She is very clear that when the Shangri-Las were performing there was no such thing as a ‘Girl Group’, any more than there were ‘Boy Bands’. She argues that the use of those terms is not only lazy, but also another way to denigrate and diminish the achievements of all the so-called girl groups like the Shirelles, the Crystals, and so on.

MacKinney depicts, at times with excruciating and hair-raising detail, the characters that populated the music scene in the 1950s and 1960s. Gangsters such as Morris Levy have appeared in many books before, but in this one they are fully realised, and you can feel their menace.

The deep research achieved by the author is truly impressive and her writing is deeply engaging and assured. Most of the information in this book had, until now, been kept secret and reading the travails of these girls is sad and a testament to the judgement and skill of MacKinney, who never descends into prurience.

This is the best biography I have read since Plugger! The Tony Lockett Story.