Brill Building Songwriters: Top 20

Brill Building Songwriters: Top 20

The Brill Building is in Manhattan, New York, at 1619 Broadway in the historic Tin Pan Alley neighborhood. In the early 1960s, it was considered the center of the American music industry with 165 music businesses contained there by 1962. The “Brill Building sound” was significant in shaping music after rock and roll’s first wave. It was a throwback to the pre-rock era when the song was more important than the singer. In fact, a specific singer could generally be easily replaced with another singer. Of the famous songwriters who emerged from there, Carole King said, “Every day we squeezed into our respective cubby holes with just enough room for a piano, a bench, and maybe a chair for the lyricist if you were lucky. You’d sit there and write and you could hear someone in the next cubby hole composing a song exactly like yours.” WK See other lists of Acts/Music Makers by Categories. Gerry Goffin & Carole King 1. Carole King: Top 50 2. Barry Mann: Top 30 3. Cynthia Weil: Top 30 4. Gerry Goffin: Top 50 5. Jeff Barry 6. Ellie Greenwich 7. Doc Pomus 8. Jerry Leiber: Top 50 9. Mike Stoller: Top 50 10. Mort Shuman 11. Howard Greenfield 12. Neil Sedaka 13. Burt Bacharach 14. Hal David 15. Bobby Darin 16. Gene Pitney 17. Phil Spector 18. Paul Anka 19. Otis Blackwell 20. Laura Nyro Resources/Related Links: Dave’s Music Database: Lists of Acts/Music Makers by Categories WK Wikipedia: Brill Building First posted 6/24/2026.

 

Jeff Barry - Happy 80th Birthday! His Top 30 Songs

Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry, image from Cue Castanents! Blog

Jeff Barry Top 30 Songs

Pop singwriter Jeff Barry was born Joel Adleberg on 4/3/1938 in Brooklyn, NY. He often worked with his wife, Ellie Greenwich, as one of the famous Brill Building songwriting teams. Their song, “Be My Baby,” is featured in the DMDB book The Top 100 Songs of the Rock Era, 1954-1999. For a complete list of this act’s DMDB honors, check out the DMDB Music Maker Encyclopedia entry. Click here to see other acts’ best-of lists.

Awards:

Top 30 Songs Dave’s Music Database lists are determined by song’s appearances on best-of lists, appearances on compilations and live albums by the featured act, and songs’ chart success, sales, radio airplay, streaming, and awards. Songs which hit #1 on various charts are noted. (Click for codes to singles charts.) DMDB Top 1%: 1. Be My Baby (The Ronettes, 1963) #1 CB 2. Sugar, Sugar (The Archies, 1969) #1 US, CB, HR, UK, CN 3. River Deep, Mountain High (Ike & Tina Turner, 1966) DMDB Top 5%: 4. I Honestly Love You (Olivia Newton-John, 1974) #1 US, CB, HR, RR, AC, CN, AU 5. Chapel of Love (The Dixie Cups, 1964) #1 US, CB, HR, RB, CN 6. Da Doo Ron Ron (The Crystals, 1963) 7. Do Wah Diddy Diddy (Manfred Mann, 1964) #1 US, CB, HR, UK, CN 8. Leader of the Pack (The Shangri-La’s, 1964) #1 US, CB, HR, RB 9. Hanky Panky (Tommy James & the Shondells, 1966) #1 US, CB, HR, CN 10. Then He Kissed Me (The Crystals, 1963) DMDB Top 10%: 11. Tell Laura I Love Her (Ricky Valance, 1960) #1 UK DMDB Top 20%: 12. Take Me Home Tonight (Eddie Money with Ronnie Spector, 1986) #1 AR 13. Baby I Love You (The Ronettes, 1963) 14. I Can Hear Music (The Beach Boys, 1969) 15. A Fine Fine Boy (Darlene Love, 1963) 16. Teenage Sonata (Sam Cooke, 1960) 17. Jingle Jangle (The Archies, 1969) 18. Montego Bay (Bobby Bloom, 1970) Beyond the DMDB Top 20%: 19. Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) (Darlene Love, 1963) 20. Little Boy (The Crystals, 1964) 21. Wait ‘Til My Bobby Gets Home (Darlene Love, 1963) 22. Not Too Young to Get Married (Bob B. Soxx & the Blue Jeans, 1963) 23. I Got to Go Back and Watch That Little Girl Dance (The McCoys, 1966) 24. Nasty Girl (Nitty, 2004) #1 AU 25. I Have a Boyfriend (The Chiffons, 1963) 26. Chip Chip (Gene McDaniels, 1962) 27. All Grown Up (The Crystals, 1964) 28. Good Night Baby (The Butterflys, 1964) 29. Bang-Shang-A-Lang (The Archies, 1968) 30. Who’s Your Baby? (The Archies, 1970) Resources and Related Links: DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Jeff Barry DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Ellie Greenwich Dave’s Music Database: “Acts’ Profile Pages and Best-of Lists” First posted 12/15/2019; last updated 6/5/2022.

50 years ago: Ike & Tina Turner charted with “River Deep, Mountain High”

River Deep, Mountain High Ike & Tina Turner

Writer(s): Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich, Phil Spector (see lyrics here) First Charted: May 28, 1966 Peak: 88 US, 91 HR, 1 CL, 3 UK, 57 CN, 14 AU, 2 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 0.2 UK Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 18.1 video, 85.36 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Producer Phil Spector has said this was his best work. WK He wrote the song with the famed writing writing time of Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry, who also wrote “Do Wah Diddy Diddy” and “Leader of the Pack.” Spector was known for his “Wall of Sound” technique in which songs had layers upon layers of sound. The approach made for “very dense recordings that required a strong vocalist to cut through.” SF The song was written specifically for Tina Turner because he knew “her flamethrower voice could handle it.” SF Spector wanted total control over the production, which meant using his own session musicians. As a result, he paid Ike Turner $20,000 to stay away from the sessions, although his name still appeared on the record. SF Because Spector was such a perfectionist (and abusive), he made Tina sing the song repeatedly for several hours. WK The result? Record World called it “perhaps the greatest single of all time.” WK George Harrison declared it “a perfect record from start to finish. You couldn’t improve on it.” WK At the time of its release, however, the song didn’t exactly storm the charts. It only reached #88 on the Billboard Hot 100. Ike Turner said “because Tina Turner’s name was on it, the white stations classified it an R&B record and wouldn’t play it. The white stations say it was too black, and the black stations say it was too white, so that record didn’t have a home.” WK Spector was reportedly so disillusioned with the song’s poor performance that he retreated from the recording industry for two years, largely becoming a self-destructive recluse and only returning to the studio intermittently after that. WK The song did reach the top 20 on the U.S. pop charts and top 10 on the R&B charts in 1970, but it was a version recorded by the Supremes with the Four Tops. The Animals, Neil Diamond, Celine Dion, Deep Purple, and Darlene Love have also recorded the song. A version was recorded for the television show Glee reached #41 on the Billboard Hot 100. Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Ike Turner SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 10/7/2021; last updated 7/11/2023.

50 years ago: The Ronettes charted with “Be My Baby”

Be My Baby The Ronettes

Writer(s): Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich, Phil Spector (see lyrics here) First Charted: August 31, 1963 Peak: 2 US, 11 CB, 2 HR, 4 RB, 4 UK, 2 CN, 1 DF (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): -- US, 0.4 UK Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 2.0 radio, 67.4 video, 185.31 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: This “staple of oldies radio” AMG represents “the quintessence of the ‘girl group’ aesthetic of the early 1960s” NRR but also served as “the Rosetta stone for studio pioneers such as the Beatles and Brian Wilson.” RS500 He called the song his favorite RS500 and even recorded an answer song, “Don’t Worry Baby,” with his group the Beach Boys. SF The song is also one of the best examples of the wall of sound NRR a method introduced by producer Phil Spector of layering multiple instruments to create “a slow-burn pop symphony.” AMG Ronnie Bennett, the only Ronette to sing on the song, RS500 has speculated that her then-blossoming romance with Spector may have inspired the song. SF They would marry in 1968, but when they split six years later, the song actually figured into the divorce settlement with Bennett denied the right to sing the song on TV. SF In 1986, though, she did revive parts of it in Eddie Money’s top 10 pop hit “Take Me Home Tonight.” SF Ironically, “Spector’s most grand most grandiose production to date” was crafted around “the least polished vocalist in his stable.” AMG He “built a rock and roll cathedral around what little her voice had to offer” MA by making Bennett rehearse for weeks and then doing 42 takes once in the studio. RS500 Despite her vocal shortcomings, “Be My Baby” actually works because “her voice radiates pure baby-doll sexuality.” AMG The song has remained a music fixture for movie soundtracks, most effectively used in the opening credits of Martin Scorsese’s Mean Streets and in the 1987 blockbuster Dirty Dancing. AMG Resources: DMDB Encyclopedia entry for The Ronettes DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Jeff Barry DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Ellie Greenwich DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Phil Spector AMG All Music Guide review by Jason Ankeny MA Dave Marsh (1989). The Heart of Rock and Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made. New York, NY; New American Library. Page 22. NRR National Recording Registry RS500 Rolling Stone (2011). “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time” SF Songfacts.com First posted 8/20/2012; last updated 11/3/2022.