The final curtain has fallen on an era for girl groups, with the news that the last surviving member of the Ronettes, Nedra Talley Ross, has died aged 80.
The news was broken by her daughter, Nedra K Ross who posted on social media yesterday: “This morning our mother Nedra Talley Ross went home to be with the Lord. She was safe in her own bed at home with her family close, knowing she was loved. Thank you Lord.”
The Ronettes' official Instagram later paid tribute to the singer, saying: “Nedra’s voice, style and spirit helped define a sound that would change music. Her contribution to the group’s story and their defining influence will live forever. Rest peacefully, dear Nedra. Thanks for the magic.”
Article continues belowThe youngest of the trio, Nedra joined her cousins Veronica (Ronnie) and Estelle Bennett in the band in 1957, but their career didn’t really take off until Estelle cold-called Phil Spector’s office one day in early 1963.
Spector was immediately smitten. By the end of the year, he and the Ronettes had recorded Be My Baby and Baby I Love You, and the group had recorded no less than three of the tracks on A Christmas Gift For You, the Phil Spector Christmas album, which to this day provides a soundtrack to millions of people’s festive celebrations.
Whilst the British invasion wiped out the careers of many of the girl groups (ironic, given that The Beatles were huge fans of the sound), the Ronettes thrived. They supported the Fab Four, as well as the Stones, and enjoyed a run of success that lasted until 1967, when they split up. Ronnie married Spector and, as we know, endured years of horrific abuse at the hands of the producer, whilst Nedra married a DJ, Scott Ross, and became a born-again Christian.
The singer had tired of the music business by this point. “I hated the ‘dog-eat-dog’ side of show-business,” she later explained. “I hated pushing for the next record and the feeling of failure if we didn’t get it. There was a continual demand on us to produce that I thought was unfair. My personality didn’t like that.”
The Ronettes never reformed, though Nedra and Ronnie did perform one more time under the group name when they were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame – Estelle was sadly too ill to make it.
On that evening in March 2007, it was Keith Richards who inducted them, describing them in his memoir Life as “the hottest girl group in the world”.
“They could sing their way right through a wall of sound,” he said at the ceremony. “They didn’t need anything. They touched my heart right there and then, and they touch it still.”
