Personnel :
Mort Shuman
Willi Burke
Linda Laurie
Susan Yellin
Discography :
1958 - Sun Glasses / Undivided Attention ((Big Top 3003)
Biography :
The Shades was a fictitious label credit masking the lead singing of co-writer Mort Shuman with Willi Burke (aka Mrs Doc Pomus) and a couple of friends who may or may not have been Linda Laurie and Susan Yellin. "Sun Glasses’ was one of the earliest releases on New York's Big Top label, owned by publishers Hill & Range, for whom Pomus and Shuman were signed as staff writers. The flipside, written by Linda Laurie and Susan Yellin from Abraham Lincoln High School in Brooklyn, NY. was credited solely to the Knott Sisters, who were called that because they were not sisters.
They did get their picture on the sheet music of ‘Sun Glasses’, though, posing with two male models as the Shades. Another attempt to ride the coattails of the smash pop hit ‘Short Shorts’, this one did not do a lot of business, but in 1958 Pomus and Shuman had a long and successful career ahead of them. The next release on Big Top would be "White Bucks And Saddle Shoes’ by Bobby Pedrick Jr, also penned by the duo. Linda Laurie recorded solo sides from 1958-64 for a number of labels.
Songs :