Mary Weiss, who was the lead singer of the Shangri-Las hit No. 1 in 1964 with “Leader of the Pack,” extracting every ounce of passion and pathos available in a three-minute adolescent soap opera, died on Friday at her home in Palm Springs, Calif. She was 75.

Her death was announced by the author and television writer David Stenn, who had been collaborating with Ms. Weiss on a stage musical about the Shangri-Las. He said the cause was chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

“Leader of the Pack,” the Shangri-Las’ second and biggest hit, was narrated by a young woman who falls in love with a motorcycle-riding tough guy without her parents’ approval — “They told me he was bad/But I knew he was sad” — and is then left bereft when he dies in a road accident on a rainy night. Produced and co-written by Shadow Morton, the single featured call-and-response vocals, full-tilt teenage angst and motorcycle sound effects. It was excessive and melodramatic, requiring acting as much as singing, but Ms. Weiss sold it with her yearning performance. She was just 16 when it topped the charts.

“I’m kind of a shy person, but I felt that the recording studio was the place that you could really release what you’re feeling without everybody looking at you,” Ms. Weiss was quoted as saying in “Always Magic in the Air,” Ken Emerson’s 2006 book about notable songwriting teams of early rock ’n’ roll. “I had enough pain in me at the time to pull off anything and get into it and sound believable.”

The Shangri-Las had six Top 40 singles between 1964 and 1966, all produced with brio by Mr. Morton. Songs like “Remember (Walking in the Sand)” and “Past, Present and Future” made the end of a young romance sound like an epoch-defining tragedy, but they masked their emotional desperation with an air of fearlessness. Wearing leather pants — as opposed to the formal gowns favored by groups like the Supremes — they embodied 1960s bad-girl chic and inspired legions of other musicians.