by Erika Cox
Backed by Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound, the Ronettes became one of the
most popular girl groups.
Their style was different than most of the
other girl groups, their hair was combed in the beehive style that was
popular back then, they wore dark eye makeup and short, stylish dresses
to present a sexy but sweet look.
The Ronettes consisted of two sisters and a cousin, Ronnie and Estelle
Bennett and their cousin Nedra Talley. Their ages ranged from thirteen
to sixteen.
They all grew up in the Washington Height’s section of New
York City listening to the music most teenagers listened to back then,
rock and roll and pop.
The girls would especially listen to the boy groups that were famous at
the time like Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers and Little Anthony and the
Imperials. They would sing together at their grandmother’s home
practicing with records and songs on the radio and calling themselves
the Darling Sisters.
Eventually, they took their act to the Apollo theater appearing on its
amateur contest. The amateur contest at the Apollo was very popular and
is the place where many black artists got their start.
The group won the
amateur contest and their grandmother started getting the girls signed
up for singing lessons.
The group was able to get a manager and from there they started
performing at talent shows, teenage hop shows and charity shows around
New York.
One night, they decided to dress up in tight skirts and fancy
hairstyles and attend a club, luckily they were mistaken for one of the
performing groups and let in to perform at the club.
They performed Ray Charles’ song “What I’d Say” with their own
arrangements and took the crowd by storm. All of sudden they were a hit
and were booked to perform at other clubs around New York.
Murray Kaufman, a talent scout and producer, saw the girls perform and
immediately signed them as dancing girls for his touring show.
Their manager set them up to do a recording session at Colpix Records
and their first single called “I Want A Boy” in 1961 was released. While
recording their next song their manager decided to rename them the
Ronettes, after Ronnie’s name. They also got opportunities to record a
number of songs as back-up singers for some of the popular male teen
idols.
At one point, the girls were introduced to Phil Spector he liked what he
saw and believed he could work with their image and sound to produce a
successful girl group.
Spector had been searching for talent because he
was developing his production business and needed artists to record.
Because of the way the girls wore their hair and dressed, Spector felt
their image would get them noticed if he put their pictures on the cover
of their 45 singles.
Up until then girl groups rarely had their pictures on 45s but that
changed with the Ronettes.
Their first single on Spector’s label “Be My Baby” was a huge hit, with
Ronnie’s strong voice and the group’s seductive sounds the song climbed
to number two on the Pop charts and even received international success
reaching number four on the English charts.
With Spectors’ Wall of Sound, the group’s sound propelled them to
success and immense popularity throughout the 1960’s.
In 1968, Ronnie married Spector but the marriage didn’t last and the
couple divorced in 1973. In 1973, the group eventually fell apart when
Estelle and Nedra married and Ronnie, divorced from Spector, faced an
uncertain and declining career. However, Ronnie continued to sing and
perform as a solo act and worked with a number of artists throughout the
1980’s.
In 2000, Ronnie sued Spector for royalties and eventually won the
royalties and rights to the group’s music. The Ronettes contributed to
some major changes in rock music, they changed the way female groups
looked and performed.
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