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The Brill Building isn't just an art deco structure in midtown Manhattan — it’s also the name of a musical genre. Throughout the early and mid-1960s, the “Brill Building sound” became synonymous with groundbreaking pop music.
- The Chiffons – One Fine Day
- Ben E King – Stand by Me
- Bobby Vee – Take Good Care of My Baby
- Elvis Presley – Jailhouse Rock
- The Shangri-Las – Leader of The Pack
- The Righteous Brothers – You’Ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’
- The Clovers – Love Potion No9
- Manfred Mann – Do Wah Diddy Diddy
- Dionne Warwick – Walk on by
- The Carpenters – (They Long to Be) Close to You
For the follow-up to their 1963 hit “He’s So Fine,” this New York four-piece girl group turned to Brill Building pop songwriters Gerry Goffin and Carole King. Sticking with the “fine” formula, the husband-and-wife songwriting team came up trumps with “One Fine Day.” Almost two decades later, King took the song top 20 for a second time, when she “co...
The unexpected addition of Latin rhythms and sensibilities to what is essentially a southern soul record owes its origins to the Cubano-Ricano club nights around Broadway in New York. Monday Mambo at the Palladium was a haven for the Brill Building songwriters – including Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller, who penned this classic that’s been covered by...
The songwriters Gerry Goffin and Carole King followed up their success with “Will You Love Me Tomorrow?” on this number one hit for Bobby Vee. Born Robert Thomas Velline, Vee was first noticed as a stand-in for Buddy Holly, and, for a while, boasted a young Robert Zimmerman (later better known as Bob Dylan) as a member of his backing band. This son...
The Brill Building pop songwriting team of Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller connected with Elvis Presley over a shared passion. As Mike Stoller explained, before meeting Elvis, he and Lieber “thought we were the only two white kids who knew anything about the blues.” In his pioneering work of rock criticism, Mystery Train, Greil Marcus calls Jailhouse...
It may sound morbid, but for a while around the end of the 50s and start of the 60s, there was something of a craze for songs about teenagers dying tragic deaths. These teenage tragedy records were known as “death discs,”or more gruesomely as “splatter platters.” George Morton came up with the idea for this one, which he finished off with Jeff Barr...
After successful appearances on the TV show Shindig, Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield were signed by Phil Spector, who decided they were the perfect act to front his Wagnerian “You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling,” a deserved smash hit around the world. Written by Spector alongside Mann and Weil, it was chosen by the RIAA as one of the 25 Songs of the Ce...
Hailing from Washington, DC, The Clovers owed a debt to The Coasters stylistically, and even secured a top 30 hit with a song originally written for the latter group. In a first and, presumably, last for pop music, this Leiber and Stoller number tells the bizarre tale of how the singer bought an over-strong aphrodisiac from a gypsy and ended up kis...
As if by way of illustrating that the British Invasion had well and truly usurped homegrown talent in the US, when The Exciters recorded the Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich number “Do Wah Diddy Diddy,” it did nothing. But when the London beat combo Manfred Mann covered it shortly after, it became a worldwide hit, topping the chart on both sides of t...
Dionne Warwick recorded one Bacharach and David song after another. “Anyone Who Had a Heart” was her first hit, followed by the devastating heartbreak of “Walk On By,” and a string of others. “The more Hal and I wrote with Dionne, the more we could see what she could do,” explained Bacharach. Hal David added, “There was nothing that Burt could writ...
Proving that a great song refuses to go away, “(They Long To Be) Close To You” was originally released by Richard Chamberlain in 1963, then recorded by Dusty Springfield in 1964, although her version was shelved until 1967. It became a worldwide hit The Carpenters in 1970. As Richard Carpenter explained, “That record, that song, the arrangement, al...
Brill Building (also known as Brill Building pop or the Brill Building sound) is a subgenre of pop music that took its name from the Brill Building in New York City, where numerous teams of professional songwriters penned material for girl groups and teen idols during the early 1960s.
The flagship company of Brill Building pop music (actually located across the street at 1650 Broadway) was Aldon Music, founded by Al Nevins and Don Kirshner.
- Reebee Garofalo
Nov 19, 2017 · Brill Building music is a subgenre of girl-group and teen idol pop originating in the 1960s and named after the Manhattan building that produced it.
The Sound of Brill Building Pop · Playlist · 114 songs · 3.7K likes.
Listen to the Brill Building Pop Essentials playlist on Apple Music. 49 Songs. Duration: 2 hours, 7 minutes.
