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Book Summary and Reviews of But Will You Love Me Tomorrow? by Laura Flam, Emily Sieu Liebowitz

But Will You Love Me Tomorrow? by Laura Flam, Emily Sieu Liebowitz

But Will You Love Me Tomorrow?

An Oral History of the '60s Girl Groups

by Laura Flam, Emily Sieu Liebowitz

  • Critics' Consensus (5):
  • Published:
  • Sep 2023, 448 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

Featuring over 300 hours of new interviews with 100+ subjects, an oral history of the girl groups (such as The Ronettes, The Shirelles, The Supremes, and The Vandellas) that redefined the early 1960s

The girl group sound, made famous and unforgettable by acts like The Ronettes, The Shirelles, The Supremes, and The Vandellas, took over the airwaves by capturing the mixture of innocence and rebellion emblematic of America in the 1960s.

As songs like "Will You Love Me Tomorrow," "Then He Kissed Me," and "Be My Baby" rose to the top of the charts, girl groups cornered the burgeoning post-war market of teenage rock and roll fans, indelibly shaping the trajectory of pop music in the process. While the songs are essential to the American canon, many of the artists remain all but anonymous to most listeners.

With more than 100 subjects that made the music, from the singers to the songwriters, to their agents, managers, and sound engineers—and even to the present-day celebrities inspired by their lasting influence–But Will You Love Me Tomorrow: An Oral History of 60s Girl Groups tells a national coming-of-age story that gives particular insight into the experiences of the female singers and songwriters who created the movement.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Loud, long-overdue applause for some of pop music's most talented singers... 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... A fast-paced, welcome celebration of groups that have been 'at risk of erasure from the canon of pop music history.'" ―Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"A noble effort that will likely appeal to music scholars and the genre's fans." ―Library Journal (starred review)

"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… 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." ―Booklist

This information about But Will You Love Me Tomorrow? was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

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More Information

Emily Sieu Liebowitz is the author of National Park (2018), longlisted for The Believer Book Award, and she is the recipient of fellowships from the Iowa Writers' Workshop, Vermont Studio Center, and Wendy's Subway. Her writing can be found in The Believer, The Brooklyn Rail, Poets & Writers, Poetry Magazine, and other publications. Liebowitz splits her time between Brooklyn, NY and her hometown of Hayward, CA.

Laura Flam is a lifelong New-Yorker, writer, interior designer and principal of the firm Reunion Goods & Services. She's based in New York City.

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