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.

 

Today in Music (1969): The Archies top the chart with “Sugar Sugar”

Sugar, Sugar The Archies

Writer(s): Jeff Barry, Andy Kim (see lyrics here) Released: May 24, 1969 First Charted: July 19, 1969 Peak: 14 US, 14 CB, 143 HR, 22 AC, 18 UK, 13 CN, 5 AU, 1 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 1.0 US, 1.02 UK, 6.0 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 2.0 radio, 142.46 video, 442.26 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: John I. Goldwater created the Archies comic strip in 1942. In 1968, Filmation Studios created a Saturday morning cartoon based on the strip. Don Kirshner, who’d helmed the Monkees, was hired to supervise music for the series. He hired Jeff Barry, who’d produced “I’m a Believer” for the Monkees, to write songs. Along with Ellie Greenwich, Barry wrote hits such as the Crystals’ “Da Doo Ron Ron,” the Ronettes’ “Be My Baby,” the Dixie Cups’ “Chapel of Love,” the Shangri-Las’ “Leader of the Pack,” and Manfred Mann’s “Do Wah Diddy Diddy.” Co-writer Andy Kim would land a #1 in 1974 with “Rock Me Gently.” To perform the song, Kirshner assembled a group of studio musicians. Ron Dante sang lead with accompanying vocals from Kim and Toni White. While working with Kirshner’s Aldon Music, Dante sang demos on multiple songs written by legendary songwriting teams like Gerry Goffin & Carole King, Barry Mann & Cynthia Weil, and Neil Sedaka & Howard Greenfield. He tried to launch a solo career in 1968 with no success. When Kirshner asked Dante to sing anonymously for scale on the Archies’ records, Dante agreed. FB The actual performers on the song were kept a secret. As Wine said, it was a trivia question for years about “what group never appeared together, never went on the road together, never interviewed together…and had #1 song?” SF In fact, it went to #1 in the U.S., Canada, South Africa, and the UK. It spent more weeks (22) on the Billboard charts in 1969 than any other song SF and was named song of the year by the magazine. Dante ended up having two simultaneous top-5 hits with “Sugar Sugar” and “Tracy” by the Cuff Links. He also went on to produce Barry Manilow’s 1975 #1 hit “Mandy” and Pat Benatar’s 1979 top-40 hit “Heartbreaker.” Meanwhile, critics weren’t particularly kind to “Sugar Sugar” although Dante and Barry defended the bubblegum sound as having a large audience. The song gained some credibility when Wilson Pickett covered it in 1970 and took it to #25. FB Resources: FB Fred Bronson (2003). The Billboard Book of Number One Hits (5th edition). Billboard Books: New York, NY. Page 258. SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 12/9/2020; last updated 5/17/2025.

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.

Today in Music (1966): The Monkees’ hit #1 with “I’m a Believer”

I’m a Believer The Monkees

Writer(s): Neil Diamond (see lyrics here) Released: November 12, 1966 First Charted: December 3, 1966 Peak: 17 US, 18 CB, 13 GR, 15 HR, 14 UK, 12 CN, 11 AU, 5 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 1.0 US, 0.4 UK, 10.0 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 4.0 radio, 21.28 video, 439.40 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Jeff Barry discovered Neil Diamond singing in a coffee house in Greenwich Village. FB They became two of the biggest talents for the hit-making machine known as the Brill Building. Diamond became one of the most successful singer/songwriters, ranking #3 all-time on the adult contemporary charts and in the top 25 for the pop charts. However, his biggest success came via a made-for-television group. That group, the Monkees, were modeled after the playful spirit of the Beatles’ movies. DJ While they fought to play their own songs, producers limited the Monkees to singing and brought in session musicians for the instruments. SF The show, which aired from 1966 to 1968, propelled the Monkees to the top of the charts with debut single “Last Train to Clarksville.” When publisher Don Kirshner was seeking a million-selling follow-up, he turned to Barry and Elle Greenwich, Diamond’s producers, after hearing Diamond’s top 10 hit “Cherry Cherry” on the radio. FB Kirshner picked out several songs Diamond was prepping for his next album, among them “I’m a Believer.” The head of Diamond’s record company couldn’t believe he’d give away potential number ones, but, as Diamond says, “I couldn’t have cared less because I had to pay the rent.” SF After all, Diamond intended to give the song to country artist Eddy Arnold. KL The song featured session guitarist Al Gorgoni, who had also played on Diamond’s “Cherry Cherry.” He would go on to play on two more of the most celebrated songs of the rock era – Simon & Garfunkel’s “The Sound of Silence” and Van Morrison’s “Brown-Eyed Girl.” RC The Monkees heavily promoted “I’m a Believer” through their TV series, racking up one million in advance sales. RC It went on top the BillboardHot 100 for 7 weeks and be the biggest hit of 1966 CPM and “one of the Hot 100’s finest specimens of pure pop genius.” BB Diamond still recorded the song, releasing it on his 1967 album Just for You and as a single in 1971, peaking at #51. The song resurfaced in 2001 when the alternative rock group Smash Mouth recorded it for the movie Shrek and took it to #25 on the pop charts. Resources: DMDB blog entry (9/12/1966). “The Monkees debuts on TV” BB Billboard (9/08). “All-Time Hot 100” FB Fred Bronson (2003). The Billboard Book of Number One Hits (5th edition). Billboard Books: New York, NY. Page 216. RC Rod Couch (2015). The Top 500 Songs of the Rock Era: 1955-2015. Pages 104-5. DJ David Jasen (2002). A Century of American Popular Music: 2000 Best-Loved and Remembered Songs (1899-1999). Routledge: Taylor & Francis, Inc. Page 95. KL Jon Kutner and Spencer Leigh (2005). 1000 UK Number One Hits: The Stories Behind Every Number One Single Since 1952. London, Great Britain: Omnibus Press. Page 129. SF Songfacts.com CPM Joel Whitburn (1999). A Century of Pop Music. Record Research, Inc.: Menomonee Falls, WI. Page 91. Related Links: First posted 3/1/2012; updated 4/21/2024.