Nedra Talley Ross, Last Ronette, Dies at 80
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- Nedra Talley Ross died at 80, announced via The Ronettes' Facebook page, leaving her as the last surviving member of the group she co-founded with cousins Ronnie and Estelle Bennett in Spanish Harlem.
- "Be My Baby" spent three weeks at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1963; Brian Wilson has called it "the greatest record ever produced," and Martin Scorsese used it in the opening credits of Mean Streets.
- The Ronettes toured the UK with the Rolling Stones as their opening act, then opened for the Beatles in the U.S. two years later, before breaking up shortly after their 1964 debut album.
- Phil Spector produced all seven of the Ronettes' Hot 100 singles, including "Baby, I Love You" and "Walking in the Rain" (No. 23, late 1964), defining his "Wall of Sound" through the group's catalog.
- The Ronettes were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007, three years after joining the Vocal Group Hall of Fame, capping a catalog that has appeared in close to 100 films and TV shows including Dirty Dancing, Goodfellas, The Bear, and Priscilla.
Why it matters: Ross's death ends the last direct link to a group whose four-minute single helped invent modern pop production. With no surviving original member, control of the Ronettes' narrative and royalties now rests entirely with estates, making the 2007 Rock Hall induction the closing institutional record of a living trio.
