Ronnie Spector
(Veronica Yvette Greenfield (nee Bennett)) has died after a short battle
with cancer on 12 Jan 2022 aged 78. She formed The Darling Sisters with
her sister Estelle Bennett and cousin Nedra Talley in the late
50s.
Unbelievably this will be the tenth obituary I've posted in the last month (since 14 Dec) and there's quite a few more that I haven't done! Ralph Tavares (Tavares), Joe Simon, Wanda Young (Marvelettes), Paul Mitchell (The Floaters), R. Dean Taylor, James Mtume, Sonny Turner (The Platters), Fred Parris (Five Satins) and Marvin Holmes. Please let that be an end to it!
I'm not going to do an in depth feature on Ronnie as much of The Ronettes
material was early/mid 60s and veered towards the pop end of the
'Spectorum'.
The Darling Sisters later renamed themselves
Ronnie & The Relatives and then
The Ronettes and after a few unsuccessful singles (two on
Colpix and three on May between 1961-63) were signed by Phil Spector to
his Philles label in 1963. Their first single on the label proved to be
their biggest hit "Be My Baby" which peaked at #2 Hot 100 and #4 UK pop chart yet 'only' #4 R&B. They went on to have only four further entries in the US R&B chart
between 1963-65 without another top 10 R&B hit but achieved a total of 9
Hot 100 entries i.e. later recordings were pop hits but not R&B hits.
Ronnie married Phil Spector in 1968 and he put a stop to her performing
until they separated in 1972 when she began recording and performing again
as Ronnie Spector & the Ronettes before going solo in 1980 releasing her
debut solo album "Siren". She recorded a further three albums with the
latest released in 2016 but chart success eluded her.
Curiously, probably one of their more interesting singles to rare
soulies is "You Baby" which wasn't released as a single in the US but saw release in Europe
(UK, France and Belgium). It was on one of only two albums
released "...Presenting The Fabulous Ronettes Featuring Veronica" in 1964.
The song would later become a Wigan Casino 'monster' by
Len Barry
and was also played by Mrs. Tony Hatch i.e.
Jackie Trent. The first to cover it was another blue-eyed singer
Linda Scott. Other blue-eyed renditions appeared from
The Loving Spoonful, Sonny & Cher, Bev Harrell,
Salt Water Taffy
and
Monday Blues
and there was even a reggae version recorded by
John Holt
in 1973 which of course all no self-respecting soul collectors must have in their collections.
NB mentioned only out of interest and not soulful/musical merit!
