RIP Ronnie Spector
On Monday I mentioned that it seems as though there have been a lot of celebrity deaths lately.
And now I see that pop singer Ronnie Spector has died:
Like burning magnesium, the Ronettes flared hot, brightly and quickly: Their string of hits, which began with 1963’s “Be My Baby,” had played out by 1966, as the producer’s interest in the group had run its course…
She was born in Spanish Harlem on Aug. 10, 1943; her mother was of African American and Native American descent and her father was white. She showed an affinity for singing at an early age; her mother, who split with her alcoholic husband when her daughters were still young, actively encouraged their professional career.
The Bennett sisters and their cousin Talley played New York sock hops and bar mitzvahs, performing material by Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers and the Shirelles, first as Ronnie and the Relatives and then, at Beatrice Bennett’s suggestion, as the Ronettes…
Granted an audition with Spector, the Ronettes, fronted by Ronnie, launched into a version of Frankie Lymon’s “Why Do Fools Fall In Love.” According to her autobiography, Spector instantly leaped up from his piano and exclaimed, “That’s the voice I’ve been looking for!”
It was the girl he’d been looking for, too – for a while, anyway. Their marriage of a few years was marked by the unbalanced Phil Spector’s abuse of his wife, but not before she’d become a big star for a while in classic early-60s hits like the following. Ronnie Spector looked like most of the girls in my junior high and high school – or maybe they looked like her. The accent she diplayed was the way everyone talked, too, although my New York accent wasn’t as strong (see this for the story of my New York accent). I didn’t have the beehive, but I certainly teased my hair to a formidable height, as well. You can get a feel for Ronnie’s effervescent personality here:
Here’s some history on the tune, which was not only produced by Phil Spector in the “wall of sound” style for which he became famous (“a Wagnerian approach to rock and roll”), it was also a song that obsessed Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys. To hear the wall of sound version, go here.
I remember the beehive hair. I didn’t do it much, myself. I was already 5’10″+.
Interesting on the accents. I read your link from 2010. Recent obituaries of Sidney Poitier say he did the same — he remade his voice entirely, listening to the radio and repeating speech. He eliminated his Bahamian accent. He also learned to read through the kindness of a Jewish waiter at the restaurant where he worked, who sat with him every night for months to read the newspaper with him until he could read it himself.
This should be here, no?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aJvIFK9-xk
That was a great time for pop music–maybe our last true time of innocence. My dad owned an open air dance hall on the beach in Asbury Park (NJ). My older sister, younger brother & I would spend many a summer night watching local teens (mostly girls) dance to the music of the early 60’s. Ronettes, Four Seasons, Beach Boys, Chiffons, early Beatles & British invasion. Now I feel really old.
Even after all the years, the urgency and good feeling — the sheer fun of this music — still shines through. I grew up (supposedly) in a Philly ‘burb just a few miles from American Bandstand, and we’d see the girls from West Catholic High waiting in line outside on Market Street, making sure the HS insignias on their uniforms weren’t visible, lest they incur the wrath of the nuns. Those kids could dance, and became idols copied by teens all over the country. (Ou sont les neiges d’antan?)
RIP Ronnie, lovely voice & body. So many boomer idols, and boomers.
Local teens in ’63. Only 4 years of boomer teens – already some 17 years old.
“Following World War II, the United States experienced a greatly elevated birth rate, adding on average 4.24 million new babies to the population every year between 1946 and 1964.”
Elvis & “rock ‘n roll” in the ’50s was before the early boomers were a cultural force, but starting in 1959, when the first ’46 boomers became (rebellious?) teens, boomer teens dominated young culture for the next two decades.
New TV culture, some in color. Radios everywhere, tho mostly mono.
In ’66, the Beatles’ Rubber Soul was mostly engineered for mono – stereo was for the few Hi Fi audiophiles. (everywhere by the ’70s – cool tech can move fast)
The “Sexual Revolution”, and cultural acceptance of non-married promiscuity, is destroying civilization. And I supported “responsible promiscuity” in my womanizing college & early work years. It was fun. It was hurtful. It was consensual, yet still sometimes hurtful. Usually, tho not always, not too hurtful to me.
Rod Dreher prints a long note on modern Orthodox: https://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/church-where-you-take-your-stand-benedict-option-catholicism-orthodox/
“4. But the main controversy today regards sexual morality. The Orthodox Church always has, and always will, teach that everyone is called to chastity. That term means, in the case of the unmarried, celibacy; for the married (heterosexual only), chastity means being faithful, and treating each other with love and respect.”
Free marketeers claim that transactions which both sides freely agree to are good for both sides, relative to non-agreement alternatives. This is true for all impersonal buy-sell consumption decisions.
Love is not one of those consumption experiences, altho sex can be treated that way, and increasingly is. That’s wrong. Love includes commitment – sex without commitment is not love. But sex is photogenic, and porno satisfying, yet not love satisfying.
DDunbar (do you know about the ~150 Dunbar number in a small org which can operate effectively with a min of organization, but breaks down at larger sizes?)
“Take me home tonight” (I don’t want to sleep alone) certainly is related to Ronnie’s message: “Be my, be my baby”.
Looking for love, just getting … “a come-on from the whores on 7th ave.”
Oh wait, we haven’t gotten to those two yet.
Tom Grey on January 13, 2022 at 4:48 pm
“starting in 1959, when the first ’46 [13 year old?] boomers became (rebellious?) teens, boomer teens dominated young culture for the next two decades.”
I didn’t start becoming rebellious until I started to read Neo’s blog! 🙂
Ronnie Spector said that it was Hal Blaine’s drum kickoff of that song that made it a hit.
As for Phil Spector, he wasn’t half the producer that Bert Berns was. Compare Spector’s forgetable take on Bern’s song, Twist and Shout, with the Top Notes to Bern’s own arrangement with the Isley Brothers (which was pretty much copied by the Beatles).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsDpc-8iR8g
vs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTaqn8_gMR0
Thanks, Neo, cute video. Covered from the neck to the knees, but still plenty of sex appeal!
So demure, the knee length skirts and matching jackets, the teased hair and the flirty voices full of youth and fun.
What a treat – thanks, Neo.
For some reason, Powerline had this very old post as one of their “Picks” today – serendipity, or as an oblique tribute to Spector?
They never give a reason for the articles they choose.
https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2005/12/15/will-you-love-me-tomorrow/
A very extended inspection of many bands and singers and songwriters of that era.
I turned a teenager the year that Be My Baby was released. That year was the one I listened to the radio the most. (Including country music from WCKY in Cincinattah- that’s the way my father said it. Picked up that signal from New England. ) Over the years, I have gone many times to YouTube to hear Be My Baby. Guess I like the song. After having listened to Ronnettes’ albums, Be My Baby remains my favorite of their songs. RIP, Ronnie, who showed a lot of moxie in getting away from Phil Spector.
Another good song from that era is Dee Dee Sharp singing I Will Follow Him.. In my opinion, her cover of the song is better than the original by Little Peggy March,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOMpFOwpn5M
Also the Shirelles performing Will You Still Love me Tomorrow?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHvoNmBLhVI
Though the Beatles came to Ed Sullivan when I was in 8th grade, in my current years I prefer listening to music from my elementary school years: Doo-Wop/ vocals ( Don’t consider Ronnie to be Doo Wop) to Beatles/Stones/psychedelic. Interesting because I listened very little to rock/pop/radio when I was in elementary school. An acquired taste.