During the 1960s, the Brill Building revolutionized all aspects of the music industry. The operations of this one building turned the fledgling genres of rock and pop into a streamlined machine. In a matter of a few years, the building’s music businesses revolutionized the process of songwriting, recording, and promotion. On top of this, the building produced timeless hits of the 1960s and launched the careers of the biggest singer-songwriters in history. So how is it that a rather unassuming building in the heart of Manhattan could have such an immense impact?
Building the Brill
The origin of the Brill Building can be traced back to one man: Abraham Lefcourt. Lefcourt was born in Birmingham, England in 1876 but immigrated to Manhattan in 1882. He worked his way up through the ranks of New York City society, starting work as a shoeshine and newsboy. Lefcourt’s break came when he made his foray into the world of real estate. In 1910, he built a 12-story building housing garment businesses.
By 1930, he had developed 31 multi-million dollar properties throughout Manhattan’s Garment District. In 1929, Lefcourt turned his attention to a property on the corner of Broadway and 49th Street. This property housed the Brill Brother’s men’s clothing store, but Lefcourt had greater ambitions for it. He aspired to build the tallest building on Earth – a 1,050 foot skyscraper – on the site of the store. Lefcourt soon leased the property from the Brills and began construction on his $30 million colossus.
This plan was far from unique to Lefcourt. During the 1920s, Manhattan moved upward, with firms competing against one another to build the tallest tower in the city. The years following WWI saw the US population and economy boom, leading to a need for 10 times more office space than was available. On an island as small as Manhattan, the only choice was to build upward. As architect Louis Horowitz remembered, “Our bellwether was proven by the sudden hurry of many to lease offices from us-inland manufacturers of everything that fighting soldiers needed. Brokers, lawyers and a host of others signed up for space.”
A growing sense of optimism additionally fueled this upward movement as the US entered the “Roaring Twenties.” The US had become the world’s foremost economic superpower, leading in GDP and per capita income. In line with this was a trend of growing consumerism. More and more people could afford automobiles, radios, and tickets to movies – both silent and sound. In this period of unparalleled growth and prosperity, architectural projects likewise expanded, mirroring this growth.
As soon as there was demand for skyscrapers, there was also competition. By 1930, three Manhattan buildings were vying to be tallest in the world. The first completed was the Bank of Manhattan Trust Building at 40 Wall Street. With its upper pyramid reaching a staggering 927 feet, the building was the largest on record upon its completion in May 1930. The building however would not keep this title for even a year before the Chrysler Building topped it at 1,046 feet. As the legend goes, Chrysler waited for the completion of 40 Wall Street, before raising the Chrysler Building’s trademark spire, giving it the title. Again, within only a year, both towers had been dwarfed by the massive 1,454-foot Empire State Building. In spite of this, Abraham Lefcourt thought that his Brill Building stood a real chance at winning this architectural space race.
The Brill Building, however, was doomed at liftoff. First was the property’s miniscule layout. When constructing the tower, Lefcourt only had 13,000 square feet to work with. This was nothing compared to the Chrysler Building’s 37,000 square foot base, or the Empire State’s 91,000 square foot base. These much larger buildings had already run into issues on their upper floors, with elevators and utilities leaving next to no usable space.
As if the space constraints were not bad enough, the market crashed one month into construction. October 29th, 1929 – known as Black Tuesday – ravaged Wall Street, and kicked off the multi-year Great Depression. By 1932, the US stock market had lost 89% of its value, and unemployment rose to 25% as banks collapsed across the country. Lefcourt surprisingly viewed this as a blessing in disguise. He hoped that investors would abandon the stock market, and invest more in land, only emboldening his construction plans.
It was clear that construction constraints and the collapse of the global economy could not stop Lefcourt. However, personal tragedy in 1930 ended his architectural aspirations. On February 3rd, Lefcourt’s son Alan died of anemia, and within one month Abraham had stopped construction of the building at only ten stories. Abraham christened this new office building the Alan E. Lefcourt Building in honor of his late son.
While nowhere near as tall as its competitors, the Lefcourt building was an architectural marvel in its own right. The white brick tower embodied the Art Deco style of the 1920s standing in stark contrast to the other buildings on Broadway. In addition, it features ornate terracotta reliefs, and brass portrait busts of Alan Lefcourt.
When the building opened in 1930, it hosted modern amenities that made it desirable as an executive office space. Upon its opening, the New York Times reported that it boasted “new automatic-stop, high-speed elevators,” and a shopping lobby. Lefcourt began by leasing out entire floors to firms which were to be later subdivided. While some law and accounting firms, as well as utility offices opened, this model was largely a failure. By 1934, many offices were still vacant, leading to a shift in strategy. Floors were divided up into small office spaces that were individually leased to tenants. This proved to be a success, attracting specifically the music industry to the building. Within only ten years, 100 music tenants had moved into the Brill Building.
The Origins of Popular Music in New York
The music industry within the Brill Building built off of a longer tradition of pop music in Manhattan. Since 1890, Midtown Manhattan had housed its own music industry known as Tin Pan Alley. The area along West 28th Street originally housed residential row houses, but shifted towards music with the establishment of M. Witmark and Sons publishing in 1893. By 1900, the block had the largest concentration of music publishers anywhere in the country. On top of this, Tin Pan Alley housed a large concentration of saloons and music halls that worked alongside publishers.
In many ways, Tin Pan Alley invented modern music promotion through the process of “plugging.” Plugging was the idea of having as many people as possible hear your song. In an era before radio, TV, or film, plugging required live performance. As a result, Tin Pan Alley publishers allied with local music halls to promote their compositions. These promotions included free sheet music, singalongs, and other events. Because of these plugging techniques, Tin Pan Alley was always alive with the sound of piano tunes. This lively atmosphere gave the area and industry its name, with “tin pan” being slang for the cheap pianos used in the area’s saloons.
Throughout its operations, Tin Pan Alley launched timeless hits and legendary careers. The Alley’s composers penned songs including “Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” “God Bless America,” and “Hello Ma Baby.” Many of these Tin Pan Alley hits transcend era and genre, remaining well known almost a century after their composition. In addition to hits like these, many of the alley’s composers became celebrities in their own right.
One such composer was a young Russian immigrant named Israel Beilin, who immigrated to Manhattan in 1893. Upon his naturalization, immigration authorities legally changed his name to Irving Berlin. At only 19, Berlin was composing songs for Tin Pan Alley publishers. With hits like “Alexander’s Jug Band,” and the aforementioned “God Bless America,” Berlin took over popular music. Throughout his career, he penned hundreds of songs, and topped the charts 25 times.
Tin Pan Alley publishers also revolutionized the music industry through the creation of dance crazes. capitalizing off past theater and ragtime hits, the alley’s composers began writing danceable novelty songs. These – like modern dance crazes – were meant to be fads, spreading quickly and aiding in the sale of sheet music to clubs across the country, Many of these Tin Pan Alley dances were just that, with the “Turkey Trot,” “Grizzly Bear,” and “Cubanola Glide” quickly gaining popularity then falling out of favor. One dance – The Foxtrot – became a craze unlike any other, growing into its own genre. These dance crazes foreshadow a technique that Brill Building songwriters would latch onto decades later. In fact, Brill Building writer Neil Sedaka argues that its songwriting infrastructure was a natural evolution of Tin Pan Alley plugging.
Despite its massive success and revolutionary methods, Tin Pan Alley did not last forever. For one, the local industry could not keep up with the technological advances of the 1920s. Much of Tin Pan Alley’s profits were directly tied to the sale of sheet music, which quickly became outdated as radio and recordings were becoming more widespread. Despite this, many publishers were able to persevere despite lowered sales. The invention of the sound movie – or “Talkie” – was what really ended the alley’s operations. The medium was a great vehicle for song promotion, leading to West Coast entertainment firms buying up many of the local publishers in the alley.
As Tin Pan Alley was dying down, a new genre called Jazz was exploding in Manhattan. During the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s, New York became a hub for African American musicians and artists. Jazz was not a new genre, with its roots originating from the musical tradition of America’s enslaved population. As the New York Times reported in 1926, “Jazz came to America 300 years ago in chains.” Despite this long history, the 1920s was when jazz really emerged onto the music scene. In Harlem’s speakeasies, like the Cotton Club, artists like Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong revolutionized the genre and introduced it to larger and larger audiences. As a result of these artists, the 1920s is often remembered as the “Jazz Age.”
As the US entered the 1930s, many Jazz artists began incorporating elements of Tin Pan Alley songs. Jazz bands were growing in size, featuring large horn and rhythm sections. Bandleaders began performing slower, lushly orchestrated jazz versions of the foxtrot. This type of swing music became known as “Big Band” due to the size of the ensembles performing it. Big Band soon became the defining sound of the era, with bandleaders like Count Basie, Benny Goodman, and Bob Crosby topping the charts.
The Brill Building Becomes a Music Hub
When Tin Pan Alley’s influence began to wane, many of its songwriters still remained in New York. Needing work, many publishers, songwriters, and promoters began to lease small offices in the Brill Building throughout the 1930s. Stars of the Harlem Renaissance like Cab Calloway and Duke Ellington, as well as big band stars Louis Prima and Nat King Cole all had offices in the building during the decade.
In addition to these big names, songwriters continued their work in the building, adapting the process of plugging for the radio era. These composers would take songs written in the Brill Building and present them to radio stations and orchestras to be made into hits. Brill Building songs were frequent features on Billboard’s Hit Parade radio program, with stars like the Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller, and Tommy Dorsey Orchestras performing them. The building’s operations during the Big Band Era established the framework that its songwriters perfected during the rock n roll age.
By the 1950s, Big Band and crooners were falling out of fashion with American teens, who were becoming enthralled by rock ‘n’ roll. Much like its predecessor jazz, rock originated from the musical tradition of enslaved African Americans in the South. This musical tradition, encompassing blues, country, and gospel slowly melded together to form something entirely new. Building off of guitar virtuosos like Robert Johnson, bluesmen like T Bone Walker and Muddy Waters began to incorporate electric instrumentation into their stylings.
These bluesmen established the electric guitar as the centerpiece of the genre, establishing the foundation for rock ‘n’ roll. In 1951, Jackie Brenston released “Rocket 88,” often considered to be the first rock record. The song is heavily indebted to the blues, being led by piano and saxophone with an underlying distorted guitar. The song hit #1 on the Billboard R&B charts, kicking off the rock era. By 1958, with the release of Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode,” rock had become the genre of American youth. Piggybacking off of this success, radio programs, jukeboxes, and American Bandstand all highlighted rock music.
It was this explosion of rock ‘n’ roll into the American mainstream that truly made the Brill Building. By the end of the 1950s, songwriters played a major role in rock music, penning tunes for rock stars to perform. Perhaps the most influential songwriters were the duo of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, who wrote Elvis hits “Hound Dog,” and “Jailhouse Rock.” With songwriters like these, there was a “professionalization” of the rock genre, with a streamlining of the songwriting, recording, and promotion processes.
The Brill Building quickly became the center of this professionalized rock industry. By 1962, the Brill Building housed 162 music businesses. In 1958, publishing duo Don Kirshner and Al Nevis founded Aldon Music, which quickly became the city’s paramount music business. The firm was originally located at 1650 Broadway – a block away from the Brill Building – but cooperated closely with the building’s businesses. Kirshner and Neivis recognized the importance of marketing towards America’s teens, and created an assembly line for rock music production. Aldon Music realized that teen songwriters could best understand the sensibilities that would appeal to the youth market. As a result they established a team of young writers to crank out pop songs.
“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”
– Carole King
This songwriting process was ruthlessly efficient. Writers would work in small offices, often adorned with only an upright piano, penning teen pop songs for hours each day. Once finished, writers would take their songs to the building’s publishers until someone bought them. On top of that, publishers could get arrangements, vocalists, and lead sheets all from within the building’s businesses. With all of those pieces, a demo could be recorded all within the same day. In many ways, the Brill Building was its own self-contained industry, containing all the ingredients needed for pop song writing, recording, and publishing.
“We had an office we worked out of with a piano. It was on the sixth floor and the window didn’t open and the air-conditioning didn’t work, and Hal smoked constantly”
– Burt Bacharach
The Aldon Music Staff
As previously mentioned, Aldon music employed many teenage songwriters, many of whom grew up in musical circles together. One such songwriter was a young Carole King. Born in Manhattan in 1942, King immersed herself in music at a young age, learning music theory and piano as a child. By the time she entered Queens College, she was already writing songs with her friend Paul Simon, who would also go on to work in the Brill Building. It was at Queens College that she met her husband and songwriting partner Gerry Goffin. Together Goffin and King penned countless Brill Building hits.
Their first was the 1960 smash “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow” by the Shirelles. The song combined doo-wop vocals, lush strings, and upbeat rock rhythms to create a new sound that would define the Brill Building’s hits. The song’s lyrics, discussing the impermanence of love, struck a chord with America’s teens, launching the song to Billboard’s no. 1 spot. This was the first time in history a song by an African-American girl group had achieved this feat. This song not only established the Brill Building’s firms as pop hitmakers, but also started the songwriting career of King and Goffin.
They would continue this success with a bonafide dance hit, building off the Tin Pan Alley tradition. In 1962, the duo penned “The Loco-Motion” sung by Little Eva. Prior to this hit, Eva Boyd was an aspiring singer working as a babysitter for King and Goffin. When Don Kirshner suggested the duo write a pop song akin to “Mashed Potato Time,” they quickly composed “The Loco-Motion,” and had Boyd record a demo of it. When they brought the demo to Kirshner, he decided it was ready to be released. The single soon rocketed to no. 1 on Billboard, spawning its own dance craze soon after. Later artists including Grand Funk Railroad and Kylie Minogue covered this song, spawning hits in their own right. Throughout their 10 year partnership, Goffin and King penned over 80 songs together.
One fellow writer for Aldon Music was King’s childhood friend and songwriting colleague Paul Simon. Simon was born in Newark in 1941, before moving to the Kew Gardens neighborhood of Queens as a child. Starting at the age of 13, Simon began to pen songs with his school friend Art Garfunkel. The duo, going by Tom and Jerry released their first single “Hey Schoolgirl” in 1957. The song was a minor hit, reaching no. 49 on the pop charts.
Simon continued his songwriting at the Brill Building under the alias Jerry Landis. Working for Aldon Music and his own Paul Simon music, he wrote over 30 songs until his departure in 1964. Unfortunately for Simon, none of his songs became radio hits. “The Lone Teen Ranger” was his highest charting song, released under the name Jerry Landis in 1962, reaching no. 97. As his career progressed, Simon grew more and more embarrassed of these early songs, even successfully suing to block their release in 1967.
Also originating from the same social circle as King and Simon was Neil Sedaka. The Brooklyn-born Sedaka was raised in Brighton Beach, where he picked up classical piano at an early age. It wasn’t until high school that Sedaka embraced rock music, founding the Tokens. This band later topped the charts with the classic “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” without Sedaka who left in 1958. Rock music most importantly led Sedaka to meeting his then-neighbor Howard Greenfield. Sedaka, alongside Greenfield, and his ex-girlfriend Carole King all went on to work together at the Brill Building. Greenfield and Sedaka became an especially prolific duo, selling over 40 million records in their time together.
The duo first hit the mainstream with their 1958 hit “Stupid Cupid” performed by Connie Francis. The song was a defining release of the Brill Building, featuring a clean, upbeat rock groove and handclap percussion. The lyrics are about being madly in love despite wanting otherwise – something extremely relatable for teenage listeners. Francis sings, “I can′t do my homework and I can’t think straight,” giving the song a specifically youthful bent. The song peaked at no. 15 on US charts, but went all the way to no. 1 in the UK.
Following the success of “Stupid Cupid,” Sedaka and Greenfield went on to pen countless hits performed by Neil Sedaka himself. Their countless hits from the Brill Building include “Oh Carol,” “Calendar Girl,” and “Breaking Up Is Hard to Do.” Even following their departure from the Brill Building, the duo continued to pen hits for Captain & Tennille, the Carpenters, and ABBA.
Other Brill Building Songwriters
In addition to the teen songwriting staff of Aldon Music, many other firms in the Brill Building had their own resident songwriters penning bonafide hits. One such writer was Kansas City-born Burt Bacharach. Growing up in Forest Hills, Queens, Bacharach was immersed in a musical family, learning piano, drums, and cello at a young age. During childhood, jazz was Bacarach’s true passion with him often using fake IDs to sneak into local jazz clubs to watch legends like Charlie Parker and Count Basie.
Following music school, Bacharach was drafted into the US Army, where his career really took off. While stationed in Germany, Bacharach met crooner Vic Damone, becoming the conductor for his backing big band. For the next decade, Bacharach toured Europe with Damone and later Marlene Dietrich. Although Bacharach enjoyed these tours, his true passion was songwriting, returning to New York to pursue it full time. As Bacharach remembered in a 2014 interview, “I’d hear some of these songs that were being submitted to the Ames Brothers, and I thought they were so absurdly simple, and maybe very easy to write. So I left to come back to New York to write songs.”
After returning to the states, Bacharach quickly found work in the Brill Building, working for Famous Music. Working at this firm, Bacharach quickly became friends with lyricist Hal David. Bacharach and David quickly forged a legendary partnership, with Bacharach composing and David writing lyrics to countless songs. The duo was not immediately successful, however. Bacharach recalled “Hal and I wrote some very terrible songs early on. There was a song called ‘Underneath the Overpass,’ and another called ‘Peggy’s in the Pantry.’ Very bad songs.”
Despite these “very bad songs,” it was not long before the duo broke into stardom. The break came in 1957, as two of their songs became actual hits. “The Story of My Life” performed by Marty Robbins was the first of these hits. By early 1958, the song topped the Country and Western Charts, and was no. 15 overall in the country. Their second hit “Magic Moments” was a far cry from country. Sung by traditional pop legend Perry Como, the song rocketed to no. 4 on the Most Played by Disc Jockeys chart. While these songs were vastly different styles, they both highlight the magic of Bacharach and David’s partnership, featuring lush instrumentation and catchy lyrics.
A major turning point in Bacharach’s career came in 1961 with the recording of The Drifters’ “Mexican Divorce.” During the recording of this R&B track, a backup singer caught Bacharach’s eye. The singer Dionne Warwick had worked her way up in the industry, singing in a number of gospel groups and recording backing vocals for a number of soul tracks. Bacharach noticed her impressive vocals and stage presence and knew she was destined for stardom.
Within a year, Warwick released her solo debut single “Don’t Make Me Over” written by Bacharach and David shot to no. 21 on the Billboard Charts, beginning her path to superstardom. Her big break came in 1964, with her fourth single “Anyone Who Had a Heart,” which reached no. 8 hit and broke the top ten in five other countries.
Warwick and Bacharach’s magnum opus also came in 1964. “Walk On By” highlighted Warwick’s vocal prowess unlike anything else, with softly sung verses and a booming chorus. Bacharach’s lushly orchestrated instrumentation accompanies Warwick’s vocals. Piano, horns, strings, and staccato backing vocals drive the song forward. The centerpiece of the song comes with David’s lyrics about the pain of seeing a past lover you still hold feelings for. The song shot to no. 6 on the Billboard Charts, and spawned countless classic covers by artists like Isaac Hayes, Gloria Gaynor, and Seal. With Warwick, Bacharach and David sold over 12 million records.
The success of the Brill Building’s firms quickly attracted the original rock songwriters: Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. In 1964, the duo established Red Bird Records in the building, which quickly went on to become one of its premier record labels. The label employed the then-husband and wife songwriting duo of Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich. By this point, the couple had already made a name for themselves writing Brill Building pop songs.
In 1963, Barry and Greenwich reached success with the no. 3 hit “Da Doo Ron Ron” by the Crystals. The lyrics reflect a youthful crush, with the singer falling in love with a man named Bill during their walks home. Most importantly, this song marked the songwriting duo’s first collaboration with writer/producer Phil Spector. Spector co-founded Philles Records, and became the paramount producer of Girl Group songs. On tracks like “Da Doo Ron Ron,” Spector honed his iconic Wall of Sound production technique, layering percussion, backing vocals, and orchestral instrumentation.
The pinnacle of the Barry-Greenwich-Spector alliance also came in 1963. In August, the Ronettes released the timeless classic “Be My Baby.” The song skyrocketed to no. 2 on the Billboard charts, becoming the 35th most successful song of 1963. In addition to this commercial success, the song revolutionized the recording process. “Be My Baby” was the epitome of Spector’s Wall of Sound, featuring warm backing vocals, cellos, handclaps, shakers and countless other instruments from the legendary Wrecking Crew backing band. At the time of recording, engineer Larry Levine was especially moved by the production: “I love those strings, particularly at the end. They made me cry when I was mixing.”
Perhaps no one was as affected by the song as the Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson. Wilson was obsessed with the song, spending countless hours listening to the song to dissect its production. In 1964, Wilson even penned a response titled “Don’t Worry Baby.” The song reached no. 24 on the Hot 100 and marked the beginning of a more experimental era for the Beach Boys. Spector was not a fan to say the least, saying he would have liked “a nickel for every joint” Wilson smoked to understand “Be My Baby” in a 2008 interview.
Since its release, “Be My Baby” has been recognized as a high point in the history of pop music. Rolling Stone, Billboard, and Time have all independently ranked the song within the top 100 greatest of all time. Additionally, the Grammys Hall of Fame inducted the song in 1999.
To close out a year of countless hit songs, the songwriting team released one of the most iconic Christmas songs of all time. In November 1963, Spector’s Phillies Records released A Christmas Gift for You from Philles Records. On this record was the Barry-Greenfield penned “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” sung by Darlene Love. The song applied the Brill Building’s trademark angsty teen lyrics to the holidays. On top of Love’s singing is a lush Wall of Sound backing by the Wrecking Crew, which featured a young Cher on backing vocals. In 2010, Rolling Stone recognized this song as the greatest rock and roll Christmas song of all time.
Throughout the remainder of the 1960s, Barry and Greenwich continued to write iconic songs for Red Bird Records. Under this partnership, the duo continued to make a name for themselves as the premier writers of Girl Group hits. In 1964, they released their first song for Red Bird, “Chapel of Love” by The Dixie Cups. The song’s classic vocal harmonies shot it directly to no. 1 on the Hot 100, dethroning the Beatles.
Perhaps the duo’s greatest hit with Red Bird records was The Shangri-Las’ “Leader of the Pack.” The song eschewed the songwriting tropes of other girl group songs, discussing heartbreak and loss. The song tells the story of a girl named Betty who falls in love with Jimmy: the leader of the local motorcycle gang. While the song starts out like other girl group songs, discussing falling in love at a candy shop, it quickly changes tone. Betty’s parents force her to break up with Jimmy, who then dies in a motorcycle crash while speeding away in heartbreak. The song shot to no. 1 on November, 28th, 1964. Since its release, it has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and recognized as a timeless pop song.
As the 1960s progressed, Barry and Greenwich’s marriage deteriorated, with the couple divorcing in 1965. Despite this, they continued to pen songs together until the end of the decade, partnering with the recently-discovered Neil Diamond. The duo’s last Hot 100 hit “River Deep – Mountain High” was recorded by Ike and Tina Turner in 1966. While this version only peaked at no. 88, a 1970 cover by the Supremes and the Four Tops went all the way to no. 14.
Decline of the Brill Building
Despite its hit-making power, the Brill Building could not hold its stature at the top of the music industry forever. One of the biggest factors bubbling up through the 1960s was the rise of singer-songwriters. Rather than buying songs procured by professional salaried songwriters, new artists were increasingly performing self-written songs.
Aiding in this rise of the singer-songwriter was the folk revival of the 1960s. Audiences flocked towards artists like Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, and Neil Young. Bob Dylan specifically grew to become the voice of a generation with albums like Freewhelin’ Bob Dylan and The Times They Are A-Changin’. His self-penned songs included political critiques and social commentary that brought a new authenticity to the genre. As the decade progressed, music in this vein grew increasingly popular with the growing counterculture and anti-war youth.
Perhaps the group that aided the greatest in this shift away from Brill Building style songwriters was the Beatles. Bursting into the US with their 1964 American debut Introducing…The Beatles, they spearheaded the British Invasion. Soon young British bands were exploding in popularity across the US, performing often self-written songs. The Beatles specifically reached no. 1 on the charts a whopping 20 times with their songs. Ironically, songwriters, who were the driving force for the Brill Building system, aided greatly in its end.
This shift towards the singer-songwriter was not the only factor working against the Brill Building industry in the 1960s. Possibly the biggest force was the larger movement of the entertainment industry to the West Coast. By the early 1970s, most of the building’s music tenants had moved westward, leaving only a select few in the building. Of those remaining were Paul Simon Music, St Nicholas Music, which specialized in Christmas songs, and Broadway Video, founded by Lorne Michaels of SNL fame. Along with these businesses went the Brill Building’s songwriting staff. By the early 1970s, Carole King, Jeff Barry, and Neil Diamond had all made the move to Los Angeles.
Legacy of the Brill Building
Although the Brill Building was only briefly at the helm of pop music, it left a lasting impact felt to this day. Firstly, the Brill Building paved a way for women in pop music, especially women of color. The 1950s and 60s was a time of immense racial and sexual discrimination in the United States. Following World War II, women were increasingly forced into the domestic sphere, as men returned from the war. Societal expectations placed women in a secondary role, expecting them to lose all sense of personal identity as they focused on household duties.
In addition to this, racial discrimination plagued the United States during this period. Throughout the South, Jim Crow laws were in effect, segregating public places and restricting African American voting rights. Even outside the South, racial discrimination permeated life, especially in New York City. In 1964, at the height of the Brill Building’s fame, riots shook Harlem caused by police violence and economic discrimination against the city’s African American population.
In this context of extreme discrimination, the Brill Building provided a vehicle for women – especially African American women – to fight the discrimination and social expectations of the era. Artists like Dionne Warwick, Little Eva, and the Ronettes all became superstars, reaching number-one on the charts. Musical feats like this were something unimaginable only a decade earlier. Ronnie Spector of the Ronettes especially reflected this change. During this time when women were expected to be “good girls,” Spector made a name for herself as the original “bad girl of rock and roll.” In a period when girl groups – and women more generally – were expected to conform, she forged a distinct public image, dazzling audiences across the world.
On top of performers, the Brill Building provided an avenue for female songwriters to rise to fame. While women like Patti Page and Rosemary Clooney had reached the top of the charts throughout the 50s, their songs were more often than not written by men. The Brill Building changed all of this. Women like Carole King and Ellie Greenwich wrote songs for women from the perspective of women. This helped cement the concept of professional songwriters and proved that women played an outsized role in the field. With this shift also came a growing maturity and professionalism in the genre of rock and roll. This trend helped shift rock from a genre marketed towards young people towards a more adult-oriented movement.
“Stylistically, its innovations can be credited with much of the responsibility for the increased presence of women as performers and producers of popular music”
– Ian Inglis, Music Historian
While the rise of the singer-songwriter worked to kill the Brill Building industry, the Brill Building also worked to create some of the most famous singer-songwriters of all time. Perhaps the first to make it big independently of the Brill Building was Paul Simon. In 1963, Simon reunited with his former Tom & Jerry bandmate Art Garfunkel. Now going by their real names, the duo recorded their debut Wednesday Morning 3 A.M. The album was unfortunately overshadowed by British Invasion bands such as the Beatles and Rolling Stones, and sold poorly. Due to this, Simon temporarily shelved the project. That was until 1965, when an electric rerecording of “The Sound of Silence” unexpectedly shot to no. 1 on the charts, propelling Simon & Garfunkel into nationwide stardom.
Throughout the remainder of the 60s, the duo recorded 4 more studio albums, culminating with 1970’s Bridge Over Troubled Water. This album represents a pinnacle of the folk and singer-songwriter genres, spawning classics such as “Cecilia,” “The Boxer,” and “Bridge Over Troubled Water.” The importance of this record was recognized upon its release, with it winning the 1971 Grammy for Album of the Year. Since its release, countless publications have included it as one of the greatest albums of all time, including Rolling Stone who ranked it at no. 51.
Following the breakup of Simon & Garfunkel, Paul Simon continued to revolutionize American popular music. Throughout his solo career, Simon repeatedly incorporated aspects of world music, helping to introduce the musical traditions of various cultures to American audiences. This began with his self-titled post-breakup debut in 1972. The album kicks off with “Mother and Child Reunion” – a full fledged reggae track recorded in Kingston, Jamaica, recorded with the legendary reggae group the Maytals. Upon its release, the song shot to Billboard’s no. 4 spot, becoming many Americans’ first introduction to reggae.
Perhaps the highlight of his career was 1986’s Graceland. Prior to its release, Simon had become enamored with South African mbaqanga music after receiving a bootleg cassette from a friend. Simon traveled to South Africa to collaborate with artists, most notably Ladysmith Black Mambazo, who sang alongside Simon on much of the album. This album was significant as it provided support for many Black South African artists during the period of Apartheid discrimination in the country. Additionally, Simon once again helped to introduce new music – this time traditional Zulu music – to American audiences.
The album was additionally very commercially successful. Upon its release, the album sold 16 million copies, becoming Simon’s best selling release of the 1980s. The album additionally spawned countless hits, such as “Graceland,” “Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes,” and “You Can Call Me Al.” In 1987, Simon also won the Grammy for Album of the Year. In 2006, the National Recording Registry added the album for its cultural and historic significance. Not too bad for a songwriter who got his start penning novelty tunes in the Brill Building.
If Simon was the most successful Brill Building songwriter to remain in New York, then Carole King was the most influential who moved to Los Angeles alongside the music industry. In 1968, King alongside her children moved to Los Angeles’ Laurel Canyon, which was a hub of songwriters. It was in Laurel Canyon that King came to know legendary singer-songwriters Joni Mitchell and James Taylor.
In 1970, King released her first solo album aptly titled Writer. Writer featured rerecordings of songs King had written at the Brill Building. Among the tracks were “Goin’ Back” originally recorded by Dusty Springfield and “Up On the Roof,” which had become a no. 5 hit for the drifters in 1962. This album, however, did not make much of a splash upon release, and King’s breakout had to wait another year.
In 1971, King entered A&M Recording Studios alongside her friends Joni Michell and James Taylor to record her sophomore album. With songwriting aid from her ex-husband Gerry Goffin, King penned and recorded twelve tracks for this new album titled Tapestry. Among the tracks were re-recordings of past King-written hits, including Aretha Franklin’s “(You Make Me Feel Like) a Natural Woman,” and the Shirelles’ “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow.” In addition to these were newly written tracks, including “I Feel the Earth Move,” and “So Far Away.”
King released Tapestry on February 10th, 1971 to immediate rapturous acclaim. Upon release, the album shot to Billboard’s no. 1 spot, where it remained for five weeks. Tapestry remained on the charts for a then-recordbreaking 313 weeks. Since then, Tapestry has been certified 14x platinum as one of the best-selling records of all time. In addition to this commercial success, the album received immense critical acclaim. King went on to sweep the 1972 Grammys, winning Album of the Year, Record of the Year, and Song of the Year. With her 1972 Grammy wins, King became the first woman to win the record and song of the year awards.
Since the release of Tapestry, King has been recognized as one of the greatest singer-songwriters of all time. King is an inductee in the Long Island Music, Rock and Roll, and Songwriters Halls of Fame. Tapestry is specifically recognized as a high point of the singer-songwriter genre. Both Rolling Stone and Apple Music ranked Tapestry within the top 100 albums of all time, at 25 and 38 respectively.
The Brill Building Today
The Brill Building, while less involved in the music industry, remains in operation to this day. Large electronic billboards cover the building’s original facade, advertising the newest Broadway shows. Where the eponymous Brill Brothers store stood now houses a CVS Pharmacy and TD Bank, a stark change from the bustling music offices that used to rule the building. With all of this change, there have been efforts to recognize the Brill Building’s importance and preserve its structure. In 2010, the New York Landmarks Preservation Comission named the building as a New York City Landmark for its importance to music and architectural history.
Today, while walking through Manhattan’s Theater District, people may not think to look twice at the Brill Building. It’s not the tallest, most modern, or most eye-catching building by any means. However, that unassuming facade hides a storied history dating back to the days of the roaring twenties. The Brill Building single-handedly changed the way popular music is produced and consumed, birthing countless timeless classics in the meantime. So next time you hear a Paul Simon song, or look at the Billboard charts, remember how one little building in Manhattan changed it all.
