Biography
In her teenage years, Ellie Greenwich made her recording debut in 1958 under the pseudonym Ellie Gaye. Issued by RCA, the single paired “Cha-Cha Charming” with “Silly Isn’t It,” a pairing that offered scant indication of the songwriting prowess she would later display at the Brill Building even though both tracks carried her own authorship. The A-side emerged as an overly saccharine pop-calypso confection, whereas the B-side unfolded as a teen-idol ballad lightly touched by rock elements reminiscent of contemporaries such as Paul Anka. Early efforts notwithstanding, the release supplied a modest credential while she persisted in composing and pursuing musical studies at college. Accounts indicate that a faculty member at Queens College publicly disparaged the RCA single during one of her classes, prompting her to transfer institutions. The two selections later resurfaced on the likely unauthorized double-CD anthology Brill Building Sounds: Recordings 1958-1985, released by the Brill Tone label and credited to Ellie Greenwich.