The 1963 hit Be my baby is orphan of his singer. American Ronnie Spector, leader of the Ronettes group, died Wednesday at the age of 78. “Our beloved angel, Ronnie, peacefully left this world today after a brief battle with cancer,” his family announced.
Ronnie Spector was born Veronica Greenfield on August 10, 1943, in New York, to an African-American and Native American mother and father of Irish descent, in the neighborhood of Spanish Harlem. She formed the Ronettes with her sister, Estelle Bennett and her cousin Nedra Talley.
Married to Phil Spector
The group made a name for itself in the New York area, with its soulful love songs, before signing in 1963 with legendary producer Phil Spector, soon to be Ronnie’s husband. With their seductive eyes, XXL hairstyle and skirts above the knees, the Ronettes unrolled a series of hits in the early 1960s, including Baby, I love you, (The Best Part of) Breakin ‘Up, Where Be my baby, who was inducted into the 1999 Grammy Hall of Fame.
The song, emblematic of Phil Spector’s symphonic production style known as “Wall of Sound,” has been used as a soundtrack in films like Mean streets by Martin Scorsese (1973) or Dirty Dancing (1987).
A tour with the Beatles
Along with the Supremes, the Ronettes were one of the most popular groups of the time, and the only girl group to go on tour with the Beatles, opening their act in 1966. Upon the induction of the trio at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007, the guitarist of the Rolling Stones, Keith Richards, had remembered to him to have assured their first part in the years 1960. “They did not need anything. They touched my heart at that moment and they still touch it, ”he said.
The Ronettes separated in 1967 and the following year Ronnie married Phil Spector, known to have been one of the greatest rock’n’roll producers in history, but jailed for murder in 2009. The couple divorced in 1974 and Ronnie Spector recounted in an autobiography the years of suffering and abuse she suffered with her former husband.
After the Ronettes, Ronnie Spector continued a solo career, punctuated by several collaborations with artists such as Eddie Money and Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band. His album released in 2006, The last of the Rock Stars, included collaborations with Keith Richards and Patti Smith.