But Will You Love Me Tomorrow?

Starred review from August 1, 2023

Fans of 1960s girl groups most likely remember the Supremes, the Ronettes, and the Shirelles, but many other groups have seemingly been forgotten. Songs such as "He's a Rebel" and "Will You Love Me Tomorrow?" were huge hits that helped bands such as the Crystals and the Shirelles to corner the market during the 1960s. Sadly, many of the artists who comprised those groups were young women who were considered interchangeable and fleeting investments. Writer/interior designer Flam and award-winning poet Liebowitz (National Park) believe the women of these singing groups, early influencers of the music and culture of today, deserve to be acknowledged. To create this fascinating and epic-sized oral history, the authors interviewed more than 100 people who sang, wrote, created, and popularized the genre, often left out of musical history. This book is also filled with reminiscences about the Brill Building, Phil Spector, Motown, and the early days of pop. VERDICT A noble effort that will likely appeal to music scholars and the genre's fans.--Rosellen "Rosy" Brewer

Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2023
Flam and Liebowitz's lively, entertaining oral history makes good use of dozens of interviews, most conducted recently but some from decades ago, to argue that "girl groups" from the fifties and after have played an overlooked but key role in the evolution of pop music. Many of the primarily Black singers from groups such as the Shirelles, the Ronettes, and the Crystals were only high-school students (or even younger) when they started out, and their stories of being swept up into the music business range from the exhilarating to the horrifying, due to exploitation, financial or otherwise. The authors also interview the musicians, notably including Carole King and Ellie Greenwich, who provided material for the groups. They neatly weave together different voices to provide perspective on compelling subjects in music history such as the dissolution of the Supremes and producer Phil Spector's influence. Anyone who ever swayed to "Chapel of Love," grooved to "Dancing in the Street," or mourned for the "Leader of the Pack" will be enchanted by this volume's clear-eyed nostalgia.

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Starred review from July 15, 2023
Loud, long-overdue applause for some of pop music's most talented singers. In this collaboration, Flam, a New York City-based writer and interior designer, and Liebowitz, author of the poetry collection National Park, unfold an extensive oral history of the many dynamic girl groups from roughly 1950 to 1970. These groups, usually comprised of young Black women, represent a powerful era of popular music that often goes unrecognized. Many readers may recognize such individuals as Darlene Love or Shirley Alston Reeves or recall groups singing backup for Sam Cooke, but the importance of these women to modern music has been downplayed. Groups like the Chantels, the Blossoms, the Shirelles, the Vandelles, and more performed an array of memorable songs. The authors state their purpose of applauding these young women who were often seen as "fleeting investments by a music industry that gave them remarkably shortened careers." Many of them experienced extreme abusive control from management as well as racism while touring. This oral history, based on more than 100 interviews, offers a well-selected, lively collection of interviews, and the authors allow the primary players to tell their own stories. Readers will form a fellowship with each of these young women as they rehash their compelling careers. Famous songwriters and performers such as Cher, Carole King, and Whoopi Goldberg chime in to either build on a particular story or to explain the relevance of a specific musician or group. Goldberg sums it up well: "I think that particular time with The Supremes, The Marvelettes, and Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, that was a really moving and shifting time in the country as well as in neighborhoods and realizing that there was no door that could keep you out if you were willing to knock the door open." A fast-paced, welcome celebration of groups that have been "at risk of erasure from the canon of pop music history."

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