Ronettes’ Last Surviving Member Nedra Talley Ross Passes Away at 80

Nedra Talley Ross, the last surviving member of the 1960s pop band the Ronettes, has died at the age of 80. Born in Manhattan in 1946, Talley Ross first began performing with her cousins Ronnie (born Veronica Bennett) and Estelle when they were teenagers. Ronnie formed the Ronettes in 1957. They earned a residency at a local club and a record deal, but early singles failed to chart.

Their careers took off in 1963 after Estelle cold-called the office of producer Phil Spector, who recently had a run of huge hits. According to Ronnie Spector’s memoir, when the trio launched into a version of Frankie Lymon’s Why Do Fools Fall In Love, Phil Spector jumped from his piano and exclaimed, “That’s the voice I’ve been looking for!”

Though the Ronettes released just one studio album, they were both popular and enduring. Their hits included their recording of Be My Baby, Walking in the Rain, Baby, I Love You and (The Best Part of) Breakin’ Up. Be My Baby was famously used in many films including Mean Streets and Dirty Dancing; the songwriters’ agency BMI once calculated that Be My Baby had been played in 3.9m feature presentations on radio and television since 1963, or “the equivalent of 17 years back to back”.

The Ronettes joined the Beatles on their final world tour in 1966, while Rolling Stones supported them on a Ronettes tour of the UK. “They could sing all their way right through a wall of sound,” Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards later said. “They didn’t need anything. They touched my heart right there and then and they touch it still.”

After the Ronettes, Talley Ross went on to work as a solo musician. The Ronettes were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007. Spector died from cancer aged 78 in 2022, while Bennett died aged 67 in 2009.