Bye Bye Baby, Thanks for the Music

Today's bummer is news that Veronica Bennett, known to music fans as Ronnie Spector, has left us at the age of 78.  With her glorious voice and stunning good looks, Ronnie was a pop music icon in a decade suffused with a cavalcade of girl groups.  Starting off as Ronnie and the Relatives, the Ronettes, composed of Ronnie, her sister Estelle, and cousin Nedra Talley, were known as much for their big hair and brassy attitude as they were for their glorious harmonies.  The trio got their first big break during an attempt to enter the Peppermint Lounge while underage- the club manager mistook them for the house band's background dancers, and bandleader David Brigati actually handed the microphone to Ronnie.  This led to Ronnie and the Relatives being hired by the Peppermint Lounge as regular house performers.

One of the earliest singles by the Ronnie and the Relatives was the 1962 release Silhouettes, a gorgeous song about unrequited love:

In 1963, Ronnie and her relatives auditioned for Phil Spector, who wanted to sign Ronnie as a solo act, but her mother insisted that the family members be signed as a package deal.  The band was then dubbed the Ronettes.

The Ronettes' first single, Be My Baby, was a smash hit, and an influential one (Brian Wilson wrote Don't Worry Baby as a tribute, and Billy Joel's Say Goodbye to Hollywood was also inspired by it).  To hear it is to fall in love with it:

The follow-up, Baby I Love You, was recorded by Ronnie backed by Sonny and Cher and Darlene Love, Estelle and Nedra, aided by their cousin Elaine, being obliged to tour across the US with Dick Clark's Caravan of Stars.  Again, while I prefer the yearning of Be My Baby, I have to say that Ronnie absolutely knocked it out of the park vocally:

In 1964, the Ronettes toured the UK, where they met the Beatles and had an obscure band called the Rolling Stones perform as their opening act.

Upon their return to the US, the Ronettes recorded Keep on Dancing, but Phil Spector refused to release the single (perhaps a harbinger of bad, horrible things to come).  It's a nice single, I can't imagine why Phil dinged it, but I'm not a control freak:

 

Phil was a violent, abusive control freak, he insisted that Ronnie remain in California when the Ronettes toured as an opening act for the Beatles in 1966.   After the tour, the Ronettes recorded I Can Hear Music, which inexplicably wasn't a hit, though the Beach Boys charted with a cover version:

 

The Ronettes broke up after a 1967 European tour.

Things got worse after Ronnie married Phil Spector in 1968- Spector kept her confined to their house in California and threatened to kill her if she left him.  Eventually, her mother was able to sneak her out of the house.  Not content with holding her captive and subjecting her to emotional abuse, Phil Spector also withheld royalties from Ronnie, Estelle, and Nedra.  He also used his industry clout to stymie any efforts by Ronnie to restart her career, though she did record some interesting songs, such as this George Harrison penned number:

And here's where I note that the local Indian restaurant closed over an hour ago...

In 1976, Ronnie sang a duet with Southside Johnny on a Bruce Springsteen composition, You Mean So Much to Me:

She also recorded a cover of Billy Joel's homage to her, Say Goodbye to Hollywood:

Although she had admirers and collaborators among up-and-comers like Springsteeen and Joel, a mainstream comeback was seemingly out of reach for the erstwhile chart-topper.  In the 1980s, her comeback came when journeyman rock-and/or-roller Eddie Money, looking to jumpstart a flagging career, insisted on having Ronnie Spector sing on his 'Hail Mary' comeback single.  Eddie recalled his phone conversation with a skeptical Ronnie Spector, still traumatized by her abuse by Phil Spector:

“I could hear clinking and clanking in the background,” he recalled. “I said, ‘Ronnie, what are you doing?’ 

She said, ‘I’m doing the dishes, and I gotta change the kids’ bedding. … I’m not really in the business anymore, Eddie. Phil Spector and all that, it was a nightmare.”

Thankfully, Ronnie Spector decided to sing backup on Money's Take Me Home Tonight, which hit number four on the American record charts, and brought her out of exile from the music industry and put her back where she belonged, at the top of the pops:

 

 Soon afterwards, the Ronettes won a lawsuit against Phil Spector for unpaid royalties.

Other collaborations followed Ronnie Spector's comeback, notably an EP produced by Joey Ramone, who also had his traumatic run-in with Phil Spector, though the extent of Spector's malfeasance in this paarticular instance (he did end up murdering a woman) may be exaggerated.  Here's Ronnie singing a duet with Joey Ramone on Bye Bye Baby:

Here's to Ronnie Spector- star, survivor, proof that second chances are possible.  Thankfully, she was able to overcome the obstacles set in her way and continue to record for decades after her return to the music industry.  She exuded graciousness and gratitude regarding her comeback, and she was very funny, despite the trauma she experienced:

What an amazing legacy... thankfully, we weren't totally robbed of it.