Indispensable for her hit “Be my baby”, flagship title of the film “Dirty dancing”, and leader of the group Ronettes, singer Ronnie Spector died yesterday at the age of 78, “after a brief battle with cancer” .
A disappearance announced by his family who greeted “a beloved angel”. “Ronnie has lived his life with a sparkle in his eye, a spirited demeanor, a fierce sense of humor and a smile on his face,” said those close to him.
Born on August 10, 1943 in New York, from an African-American and Native American mother and a father of Irish origin, she had marked the 1960s with her group the Ronettes.
Leader of the Ronnettes group
A girl band that Ronnie Spector had formed with his sister Estelle Bennett and his cousin Nedra Talley. After a debut in New York, the Ronettes signed in 1963 with the legendary producer Phil Spector, who would become Ronnie’s husband five years later.
The only female group to have gone on tour with the Beatles, which they opened in 1966, the Ronettes appeared with Les Supremes, among the most popular groups of the time. They marked the 1960s, with a series of hits like “Baby, I love you”, “(The Best Part of) Breakin ‘Up” or “Be My Baby”.
The trio split in 1967, a year before Ronnie’s marriage to producer Phil Spector, jailed in 2009 for murder. They will separate in 1972 after a tumultuous relationship. In 1990, she returned to her career with Ronnettes in her memoir entitled “Be My Baby: How I Survived Mascara, Miniskirts, and Madness Or My Life as a Fabulous Ronettes” (Be My Baby: “How I survived the mascara, miniskirts and madness ”or“ my life as a fabulous Ronette. ”The trio joined the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007.
Ronnie Spector had also released three solo albums and covered, among other things, Amy Winehouse’s hit “Back to black”.