Ronnie Spector, who brought edge to girl group sound, dies at 78
The First Art Newspaper on the Net    Established in 1996 Thursday, October 31, 2024


Ronnie Spector, who brought edge to girl group sound, dies at 78
Ronnie Spector performs at the Ponderosa Stomp in New York, July 30, 2011. Spector, the lead singer of the Ronettes, the 1960s vocal trio that gave a passionate, bad-girl edge to pop’s girl-group sound with hits like “Be My Baby” and “Baby, I Love You,” died on Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2022. She was 78. Michael Nagle/The New York Times.

by Ben Sisario and Joe Coscarelli



NEW YORK, NY.- Ronnie Spector, the lead singer of the Ronettes, a 1960s vocal trio that gave a passionate, bad-girl edge to pop’s girl-group sound with hits like “Be My Baby” and “Baby, I Love You,” died Wednesday. She was 78.

She died after “a brief battle with cancer,” according to a statement from her family, which gave no further details.

With high-piled hair, tight outfits and seductive looks, the three young women of the Ronettes — Ronnie, born Veronica Bennett; her sister, Estelle; and their cousin Nedra Talley — transformed the virginal model that had defined female pop groups since the 1940s.

“We weren’t afraid to be hot. That was our gimmick,” Spector wrote in her 1990 memoir, “Be My Baby: How I Survived Mascara, Miniskirts, and Madness, or, My Life as a Fabulous Ronette.”

“When we saw the Shirelles walk on stage with their wide party dresses,” she wrote, “we went in the opposite direction and squeezed our bodies into the tightest skirts we could find. Then we’d get out on stage and hike them up to show our legs even more.”

In songs like “Be My Baby,” a No. 2 hit in 1963, they sang with powerful voices of street-smart romance (“We’ll make ’em turn their heads everyplace we go”), over the swelling “wall of sound” production of Phil Spector.

“Be My Baby” was a classic of 1960s pop that seemed to reveal both innocence and grit, and it earned lasting admiration from fellow musicians. It appeared in Martin Scorsese’s “Mean Streets,” the hit 1987 television show “Moonlighting” and the title sequence of “Dirty Dancing.” The group’s look and sound made them a touchstone for women in rock music, from Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders to Amy Winehouse.

Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones, in his speech inducting the Ronettes into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2007, described hearing the group warming up backstage when they shared touring bills in the 1960s. “They could sing all their way right through a wall of sound,” he said. “They didn’t need anything.”

Later, Ronnie Spector detailed the abuse she endured while married to Phil Spector. When the Ronettes were inducted into the Rock Hall, they pointedly did not mention their former producer. Phil Spector, who was sentenced to prison for the 2003 murder of a woman at his home, died at 81 in January 2021.

The Ronettes racked up a string of hits through 1965, including “The Best Part of Breakin’ Up” and “Walking in the Rain,” and for a time they were ubiquitous stars. They were part of the Beatles’ 1966 American tour, and Estelle Bennett, Spector’s older sister, dated George Harrison and Mick Jagger.

The Ronettes disbanded in 1967, and Ronnie Spector married Phil Spector the next year. In her memoir, she wrote that he had essentially held her prisoner during their relationship, surrounding her with guard dogs and taking away her shoes, among other erratic and psychologically abusive behavior.

“I’d get drunk so I could go to rehab, just to get out of the house,” she told The New York Times in a 2000 interview.

In the late 1980s, the Ronettes sued Phil Spector for royalties, arguing that they had been paid less than $15,000 when they signed with his Philles Records in 1963 and that they never saw another payment. The court battle would last 15 years.




During the trial, Ronnie Spector said that her husband had stifled her singing career and threatened her into signing a 1974 divorce settlement that forfeited all future record profits. “He told me, ‘I’ll kill you,’ and said, ‘I’ll have a hit man kill you,’” she testified.

The group won an award of $2.6 million in 2000, but the decision was overturned on appeal two years later, and their families later said they wound up earning substantially less.

“I was so controlled by Phil, and now I have my own ideas,” Ronnie Spector said at the time. “With this lawsuit over, I’m only looking forward: to my future, to singing rock ’n’ roll.”

Veronica Yvette Bennett was born in New York on Aug. 10, 1943, and grew up in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan.

By her teens she was singing with her sister and cousin, inspired by Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers. Estelle Bennett, who had a job at Macy’s and attended the Fashion Institute of Technology, helped devise the group’s look of beehive hair, tight dresses and heavy makeup.

In a segregated era, the young women’s racial and ethnic backgrounds made them stand out. The Bennett sisters had Black, American Indian and Irish blood, while Talley was Black, Indian and Puerto Rican.

In 1961, the Ronettes were signed to Colpix Records, which released “I Want a Boy” and other singles under the name Ronnie and the Relatives. After an audition in 1963, Phil Spector signed the group to Philles. “Be My Baby,” written by Phil Spector, Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, was released that summer.

Throughout the 1970s, in an attempt to rebuild her career without her ex-husband, Ronnie Spector collaborated with Jimi Hendrix, Harrison, Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen. But she didn’t find major success again until 1986, when her duet with Eddie Money, “Take Me Home Tonight,” reached No. 4 on the Billboard singles chart and earned a Grammy nomination.

She later released music as a solo artist, including for the underground independent label Kill Rock Stars, and staged a biographical one-woman show, “Beyond the Beehive,” in 2012.

She played a regular Christmas show at the B.B. King Blues Club and Grill in New York, and she released a holiday EP in 2010. For longtime fans, it was a throwback to Phil Spector’s classic 1963 holiday album, “A Christmas Gift for You,” on which the Ronettes sang “Frosty the Snowman,” “Sleigh Ride” and “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus.”

Estelle Bennett died in 2009; after her death, Estelle’s daughter revealed that she had mental illness and been homeless for a time.

Spector is survived by her husband of nearly four decades, Jonathan Greenfield, who also was her manager, and two adult sons, Jason and Austin.

Her final two albums of cover songs — “The Last of the Rock Stars” in 2006 and “English Heart,” with renditions of “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” and “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart,” in 2016 — were received quietly. But she was happy to be the one choosing her material.

“Every song is a little piece of my life,” she said in 2007. “I’m just a girl from the ghetto who wanted to sing.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.










Today's News

January 13, 2022

Van Gogh Museum acquires four remarkable prints by Mary Cassatt

Met increases pay to guards to address COVID-19-related shortages

Netscape founder gives up $35 million in art said to be stolen

Ronnie Spector, who brought edge to girl group sound, dies at 78

Pace Gallery announces global representation of pioneering Korean artist Lee Kun-Yong

Artists of the WPA opens the winter 2022 season at Swann

Nationalmuseum acquires Rousseau landscape

William Shakespeare's First Folio now on display at the Vancouver Art Gallery

He lost fingers in an accident. Now it's inspiring his art.

Michael Lang, a force behind the Woodstock Festival, dies at 77

When Axel Webber was rejected from Juilliard, the internet stepped in

Magazzino Italian Art celebrates breaking ground on its second building: The Robert Olnick Pavilion

Seattle Gallery now representing Oscar Van Young Estate

Marcus Jansen's second solo exhibition with Almine Rech opens in London

San Antonio's latest public art project pays homage to African American culture at Martin Luther King Park

Exhibition of new paintings by Howard Smith opens at Jane Lombard Gallery

Phillips appoints Jean-Paul Engelen as President, Americas

Everson hires Director of Learning and Engagement

Jonny Greenwood: First Radiohead, now orchestras and film

James Mtume, whose 'Juicy Fruit' became a hip-hop beat, dies at 76

'Intelligent Life' review: Cecily Strong's 'awerobics' workout

Seattle maestro resigns by email and says he felt 'not safe'

Poitier and Bogdanovich: The defiant ones

Dissident poet, jailed by Iran for his writing, dies of COVID

How to prevent distracted driving

A List of Simple things to draw for beginners

The Recent Crypto Updates About Digital Eye Inventions

How to make a realistic garter tattoo

The Difference Between Hemp Gummies vs CBD Gummies

How To Know The Value Of Your Asian Art

Best Games to Play in a Casino

My Art Says My Stories: An Interview With Sidi He

Everything to know about a safety valve and its uses

Where does a gate valve is used?

What is scratch programming and its notable features?




Museums, Exhibits, Artists, Milestones, Digital Art, Architecture, Photography,
Photographers, Special Photos, Special Reports, Featured Stories, Auctions, Art Fairs,
Anecdotes, Art Quiz, Education, Mythology, 3D Images, Last Week, .

 



Founder:
Ignacio Villarreal
(1941 - 2019)
Editor & Publisher: Jose Villarreal
Art Director: Juan José Sepúlveda Ramírez
Writer: Ofelia Zurbia Betancourt

Royalville Communications, Inc
produces:

ignaciovillarreal.org juncodelavega.com facundocabral-elfinal.org
Founder's Site. Hommage
to a Mexican poet.
Hommage
       

The First Art Newspaper on the Net. The Best Versions Of Ave Maria Song Junco de la Vega Site Ignacio Villarreal Site
Tell a Friend
Dear User, please complete the form below in order to recommend the Artdaily newsletter to someone you know.
Please complete all fields marked *.
Sending Mail
Sending Successful