Various Artists - The Legendary Ladies of Rock and Roll, Latin Quarter, New York City, 2-19-1987

In the late 1980s, the cable TV network Cinemax arranged a series of about five concerts that brought together many musical legends. Each one was organized around a theme. The theme for this one is obvious in the title: "The Legendary Ladies of Rock and Roll." And that wasn't just hype. For only one concert, a truly impressive collection of famous female singers came together for just this one time: Lesley Gore, Freda Payne, Shirley Alston Reeves, Mary Wells, Ronnie Spector, Brenda Lee, and Martha Reeves. They were joined by Grace Slick and Belinda Carlisle, who didn't do much singing themselves (at least in the edit of the concert we have, that got broadcast on Cinemax), but served as co-hosts.

The only name I didn't recognize at first is Shirley Alston Reeves. That's because she was the lead singer for the Shirelles in the early 1960s, under the name Shirley Owens. By the time of this concert, she'd married for a second time, and changed her name. Also, if you don't know Ronnie Spector, she was the lead singer for the Ronettes, also in the 1960s.

Weirdly for a concert celebrating famous female singers, this begins with two songs sung by men. That's because they were opportunities to give the backing band a chance to warm up with their own spotlight. The band was led by Jimmy Vivino, and prominently featured Clarence Clemons of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band on saxophone. They played on all the songs even though though they only both get credited on the first one. I'm not sure how Chubby Checker (famous for "The Twist" and other early 1960s hits) got involved, but he sang the second track here, a medley of three rock classics.

Apparently, those first two songs didn't make the TV special, but somehow were saved at the same quality for the audio bootleg. Thus, the show really began with the third track, where the two hosts, Grace Slick (of Jefferson Airplane/ Jefferson Starship) and Belinda Carlisle (of the Go-Go's) began introducing the other acts. Then, typically, each singer sang two songs. However, Freda Payne only got to sing one, her biggest hit "Band of Gold," and she did it with Carlisle, who released a cover of it in 1986. For "Soldier Boy" in the middle of the concert, all the other singers came on stage to help with the backing vocals. Then they came out again for the last couple of songs. 

This concert is unreleased in any audio format, as far as I know. However, it was released on video. One can find a copy of that on YouTube as I write this in August 2026, but with only middling quality. Luckily, I found a different source, so the sound quality is excellent. 

01 Shotgun (Jimmy Vivino with Clarence Clemons)
02 Good Golly, Miss Molly - Hound Dog - I Saw Her Standing There (Chubby Checker with Clarence Clemons)
03 talk (Grace Slick & Belinda Carlisle)
04 [Love Is like A] Heat Wave (Martha Reeves)
05 I'm Ready for Love (Martha Reeves)
06 talk (Belinda Carlisle & Lesley Gore)
07 It's My Party (Lesley Gore)
08 You Don't Own Me (Lesley Gore)
09 talk (Grace Slick)
10 My Guy (Mary Wells)
11 talk (Mary Wells)
12 You Beat Me to the Punch (Mary Wells)
13 talk (Belinda Carlisle & Shirley Alston Reeves)
14 Will You Love Me Tomorrow (Shirley Alston Reeves)
15 Tonight's the Night (Shirley Alston Reeves)
16 Soldier Boy (Shirley Alston Reeves with Everyone)
17 talk (Belinda Carlisle)
18 Band of Gold (Freda Payne & Belinda Carlisle)
19 talk (Grace Slick)
20 I'm Sorry (Brenda Lee)
21 talk (Brenda Lee)
22 That's All You Gotta Do (Brenda Lee)
23 talk (Belinda Carlisle)
24 I Can Hear Music (Ronnie Spector)
25 talk (Ronnie Spector with Belinda Carlisle & Grace Slick)
26 Be My Baby (Ronnie Spector with Belinda Carlisle & Grace Slick)
27 talk (Grace Slick)
28 Da Doo Ron Ron (Ronnie Spector with Everyone)
29 Dancing in the Street (Martha Reeves with Everyone)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/VwHeN1Rb

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/lcAOdJky9fTo1Be/file

The cover is a photo showing all the stars of this concert, presumably taken just before or after the show. Here are their names from left to right, by row. Top row: Lesley Gore, Freda Payne, Shirley Alston, Mary Wells, and Ronnie Spector. Middle row: Grace Slick and Belinda Carlisle. Bottom row: Brenda Lee and Martha Reeves.

I'm pleased how I managed to make cover, as I learned a new technique along the way. I found a color version of this, but it was very low-res. I also found a black and white one with much better resolution. I was able to use Photoshop to get the color while keeping the resolution of the black and white version.