Nedra Talley Ross, Last Ronettes Founder, Dies at 80
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- Nedra Talley Ross died at 80, leaving the Ronettes — a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame–inducted trio she founded in the early 1960s with cousins Ronnie and Estelle Bennett — with no surviving original members.
- The Ronettes cold-called Phil Spector's New York office in 1963 and auditioned with "Why Do Fools Fall in Love"; Spector exclaimed "That's the voice I've been looking for" and their "Be My Baby" reached No. 2 nationally, later featured under the credits of Scorsese's 1973 "Mean Streets."
- Talley Ross and her cousins toured the U.K. in 1964 with the Rolling Stones as their opening act, then opened for the Beatles on the band's final 1966 world tour alongside the group's last chart entry "I Can Hear Music."
- Phil Spector effectively blocked the Ronettes' Rock Hall nomination for years as a Board of Governors member; the group was finally inducted in 2007 — introduced by Keith Richards — only after Spector was arrested and convicted of actress Lana Clarkson's shooting death.
- A judge ordered Spector to pay the Ronettes $2.6 million in 2000 over unpaid royalties after a decades-long legal fight, an order he appealed twice.
- Talley Ross was born in Manhattan on Jan. 27, 1946, of Black, Native American, Irish and Puerto Rican descent, and was married to radio personality Scott Ross from 1967 until his death in 2023; she is survived by four children.
Why it matters: Talley Ross's death closes the book on one of pop's most influential vocal trios, whose four-cousin lineup and Spector-produced "Wall of Sound" hits shaped girl-group and rock aesthetics for decades — and the article underscores that their legacy was hard-won, secured only after Spector lost his grip on the Rock Hall following his 2009 murder conviction.
