SHE DIED, SHE DIED BABY…
FFS, Gooseberry enema! I know writing obits for 60s musicians would be a reluctant perk of DDP co-hosting, but why did it have to be Ronnie first? 🙁
60s girl group icon Ronnie Spector has sadly died of cancer aged 78. Young Veronica Bennett grew up admiring Frankie Lymon’s output, which spurred her to pursue a musical career in tandem with sister Estelle and cousin Nedra Talley, who would become known as the Ronettes. They struggled to hit pop stardom until successfully enlisting Phil Spector as producer, leading to a stream of lush Wall of Sound classics including “Baby, I Love You”, “Do I Love You?”, “Walking in the Rain”, and of course “Be My Baby”. The Ronettes donned distinctive beehive hairdos and spunky demeanour and outfits that set them apart from their typically more elegant girl group contemporaries, with only the Shangri-Las several years later having a similar edge.
Ronnie Spector would have earned a spot in the pop music pantheon off “Be My Baby” alone. The Wall of Sound tour de force famously unlocked a creative obsession within Brian Wilson; without it the Beach Boys would never have transformed from catchy-though-simple surf and chicks type songs to “Good Vibrations” and “God Only Knows”. The iconic Hal Blaine drum beat already displayed its staying power when the Four Seasons utilised it in “Rag Doll” a year later, and countless songs have done the same since. I counted at least three songs that used it in the 80s countdown I listened to last weekend! However, the Wall of Sound technique, the otherworldly high of that chorus, and the Wrecking Crew backing orchestra still needed a stellar lead performance to tie everything together. Ronnie Spector gave just that, knocking it out of the park as she nailed the pleading lyrics with an assertive-yet-vulnerable tone. It is a hell of a song that justly endures, and Ronnie herself was a crucial component.
To think with all that legacy it only peaked at #2 on US charts! The Ronettes never hit #1 – a rarity among great 60s girl groups, yet the US listening populace let Milli Vanilli reach the summit thrice…
As the success of the Ronettes waned, Ronnie married Phil Spector. One cannot discuss Phil Spector’s musical genius without discussing the sheer monster he was, and no one witnessed more of that firsthand than Ronnie Spector. Phil forbade her from performing, effectively ending her career. She was subjected to intense psychological abuse that was frequently peppered with death threats, and could rarely ever leave the prison-guised-as-a-mansion that she lived in. It was only due to a carefully planned escape with her mother’s help that she evaded an early death at his hands. Phil Spector continued to stifle her for decades after the divorce with legal tangles over her royalties. While on trial for the murder of Lana Clarkson, he futilely tried to prevent the Ronettes from getting induced into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Because nothing shows a man has his priorities straight quite like being that concerned with who gets in the Rock Hall…
One last stipulation of his to note was that he forbade her from performing some of her best-known songs in concert, including “Be My Baby”. He continued to try to exert this from prison. But by that point – Ronnie goddamn Spector sang “Be My Baby” when she performed, full of personality and to great applause.
If Ronnie Spector became a recluse, or at the very least refused to discuss Phil Spector ever again, it would be hard to fault her. It is testament to who she was that she not only didn’t, but regained both her career and sense of self-worth and sure as hell wouldn’t let the nightmare define her. She remarried, this time happily so for 40 years until her death. She was not only candid about her past trauma, but was willing to talk about it with her trademark sassy humour while publicly revealing it all in her 1990 memoir. Showing that sometimes understatements puncture the hardest, she rather temperedly said Phil Spector was “a brilliant producer, but a lousy husband” after his death…
But enough about that sod Phil. With love and encouragement from Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, Ronnie Spector regained the confidence to perform again (recording “Say Goodbye To Hollywood” with them, itself a cover of Billy Joel’s tribute to the Ronette sound). She had two tickets to one last mainstream chart success when Eddie “goddamnit there goes my 2020 joker” Money enlisted her in a supporting role on his tune “Take Me Home Tonight”, and recorded several well-received albums with figures of note like Joey Ramone. Though (Money cameo aside) she never hit the chart heights she did in the early 60s, her voice remained stellar and her influence shone. Amy Winehouse’s beehived 60s image was especially influenced by Spector, and pretty much any female music act of the past 50 years with a spunky persona has the original bad girl of rock and roll to thank. Many of whom, from Debbie Harry to Joan Jett to Go-Go Kathy Valentine, were paying tribute on social media. Ronnie Spector was alive, thriving, and loved, and she knew and deserved it.
But alas, not alive anymore. While one hoped that she would outlive Phil Spector by Tina-outliving-Ike margins (14 years and counting!), instead we only had one glorious year where Phil Spector was dead and Ronnie Spector was alive. She was a talented singer and a lovely person who deserved so much better in her life, but did admirably overcoming what no one should have to endure. Her memory and music will fondly remain. Two teams gain the points, including time’s Rons.
Clack, cla-clack BOOM…
Ronnie Spector
10 August 1943 – 12 January 2022, aged 78
2 TEAMS (💀💀💀💀💀💀💀 7 POINTS)