Ronettes lead singer and '60s icon Ronnie Spector dead at 78

Ronnie Spector, the cat-eyed, bee-hived rock 'n' roll siren who sang such 1960s hits as Be My Baby, Baby I Love You and Walking in the Rain as the leader of the girl group the Ronettes, has died. She was 78.

Spector died Wednesday after a brief battle with cancer, her family said.

"Ronnie lived her life with a twinkle in her eye, a spunky attitude, a wicked sense of humour and a smile on her face. She was filled with love and gratitude," a statement said.

No other details were revealed.

Tributes from fellow musicians

Tributes flooded social media, with Stevie Van Zandt saying it was an honour to produce her, and Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys writing on Twitter: "I loved her voice so much and she was a very special person and a dear friend."

The Ronettes' sexy look and powerful voices — plus songwriting and producing help from Ronnie's then husband Phil Spector — turned them into one of the premier acts of the girl-group era. They toured England with the Rolling Stones and befriended the Beatles.

Spector, alongside her sister Estelle Bennett and cousin Nedra Talley, scored hits with pop masterpieces Baby, I Love You, Walking in the Rain, I Can Hear Music and Be My Baby, which was co-written by Spector, Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich.

"We weren't afraid to be hot. That was our gimmick," Spector said in her memoir. "When we saw the Shirelles walk on stage with their wide party dresses, 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."

Spector, born Veronica Bennett, and her multiracial bandmates grew up in the Washington Heights area of Manhattan. They began singing and dancing in clubs as Ronnie and the Relatives, becoming noteworthy for their liberal use of eyeliner and mascara.

"The louder they applauded, the more mascara we put on the next time," she wrote in her memoir. "We didn't have a hit record to grab their attention, so we had to make an impression with our style. None of it was planned out; we just took the look we were born with and extended it."

In March 1963, Estelle Bennett managed to arrange an audition in front of Phil Spector, known for his big, brass-and-drum style dubbed the "wall of sound." They were signed to Phillies Records in 1963. After being signed, they sang backup for other acts until Spector had the group record Be My Baby and Baby I Love You.

The group's debut album, Presenting the Fabulous Ronettes Featuring Veronica, was released in 1964. Five of its 12 tracks had made it to the U.S. Billboard charts.

"Nothing excites me more than just being onstage, having fun and flirting and winking to the guys and stuff like that," she told People magazine in 2017. "I just have so much fun. It's just the best feeling when I go out and they say, 'Ladies and gentlemen' — my heart stops for a minute — 'Ronnie Spector and the Ronettes!' Then I just go out there and the crowd reacts the way they react and I can go on singing forever."

After touring Germany in 1967, the Ronettes broke up. Spector married Ronnie in 1968, then she said he kept her locked in their Beverly Hills mansion. Her 1990 autobiography Be My Baby: How I Survived Mascara, Miniskirts And Madness tells an unhappy story of abuse. The couple divorced in 1974. Phil Spector was sent to prison in 2009 for the murder of actress Lana Clarkson and died in 2020.

Influence transcended genre

Ronnie Spector's influence was felt far and wide. Brian Wilson became obsessed with Be My Baby and Billy Joel wrote Say Goodbye to Hollywood in Spector's honor. Amy Winehouse frequently cited Spector as an idol.

Martin Scorsese used Be My Baby to open his 1973 film Mean Streets and the song appears in the title sequence of Dirty Dancing and the closing credits of Baby Mama. It also appeared on TV in Moonlighting and The Wonder Years.

When the Ronettes were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones remembered opening for the trio in England in the mid-1960s. "They could sing all their way right through a wall of sound," Richards said. "They didn't need anything. They touched my heart right there and then and they touch it still."

After the Ronettes broke up, Spector continued to tour and make music, including Take Me Home Tonight with Eddie Money, recording Joel's Say Goodbye to Hollywood with Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, and recording the 1999 EP She Talks to Rainbows, which included her first ever recording of Don't Worry Baby, written for her by Brian Wilson.

In 2006, she released Last of the Rock Stars, her first album in 20 years and it featured appearances by the Raconteurs, Keith Richards, Patti Smith and the Raveonettes. In 2010 she released a doo-wop Christmas EP called Ronnie Spector's Best Christmas Ever and in 2016 released English Heart, her covers of songs from Britain in the '60s.

She is survived by her husband, Jonathan Greenfield, and two sons, Jason and Austin.