The lead singer of the Ronettes was Ronnie Spector (original name Veronica Bennett). She and her sister Estelle Bennett and cousin Nedra Talley formed the group in 1959. They achieved success through their collaboration with producer Phil Spector. He reshaped their image—incorporating the beehive hairdos that soon became characteristic of the girl-group genre—and applied his dense “wall of sound” production style to the trio’s music. The first single produced by Spector, “Be My Baby,” was a “wall of sound” masterpiece, and it became one of the defining songs of the girl-group era.
The Ronettes disbanded in 1966, and two years later Ronnie Bennett married Spector. The couple divorced in 1974, and in her 1990 memoir Ronnie Spector accused her husband of being abusive. She embarked on a solo career, and her biggest hit, “Take Me Home Tonight,” a duet with Eddie Money, reached number four on the Billboard chart in 1986. The Ronettes were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007. Ronnie Spector died in 2022 at the age of 78.