Ronnie Spector and the Ronnettes

Today would mark the 80th birthday of Ronnie Spector (Veronica Yvette Bennett, 1943-2022) had she not passed just a few months ago, and this year also marks the 60th anniversary of the signing of her group the Ronnettes by her future husband and tormentor Phil Spector, and the 50th anniversary of Martin Scorsese using “Be My Baby” in the opening credits to Mean Streets. The other two Ronnettes were older sister Estelle (1941-2009), and their younger cousin Neda Talley (b. 1946). The girls were from Washington Heights, New York. One of the earliest regular gigs was at the Peppermint Lounge.

I was thrilled to sit behind Ronnie Spector in a theatre once! Though I can’t remember if it was a movie opening or maybe a Tony Bennett concert at Carnegie Hall. In either case it would have been during the period when I was working for Mr. Bennett, circa 1990 when she was in the midst of a career revival and had just released her autobiography Be My Baby: How I Survived Mascara, Miniskirts, and Madness, Or, My Life as a Fabulous Ronnette. There’s an argument to be made for the Ronnettes as the greatest of the girl groups, certainly the greatest after The Supremes. Their hit singles included “Be My Baby” (1963), “Sleigh Ride” (1963), “Frosty the Snow Man” (1963), “Baby I Love You” (1964, with Sonny and Cher on backing vocals), and “Walking in the Rain” (1964). Their last charting single was “I Can Hear Music” (1966), which was later covered by The Beach Boys.

The Ronnettes split up in early 1967. Phil Spector married Ronnie the following year, making her a virtual prisoner in her own home. During this period, Spector experienced his own career revival, when he produced the final version of the Beatles’ record Let it Be (1970) and the early solo records of John Lennon and George Harrison. Harrison wrote the song “Try Some, Buy Some” for Ronnie, which was a minor hit for her in 1971. Later, Harrison took the same backing track and recorded his own vocal, and put it on his 1973 album Living in the Material World. That same year, Ronnie sang backing, along with Liza Minnelli, on Alice Cooper’s “Teenage lament ’74” (She had literally escaped from Spector’s clutches the year before).

She continued releasing new solo records through the ’80s and ’90s, performing with artists as diverse as Southside Johnny, Eddie Money, Patti Smith, the Misfits, and others. In the new century her all too obvious acolyte was Amy Winehouse. Cancer took Ronnie Spector in early 2022.