Last surviving Ronette Nedra Talley Ross dies at 80
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- Nedra Talley Ross died at home Sunday morning at age 80, confirmed by her daughter and the Ronettes' official social media, making her the last surviving original after Ronnie Spector died of cancer in 2022 and Estelle Bennett died in 2009.
- The Ronettes' career launched in 1963 when Estelle Bennett cold-called producer Phil Spector, who reportedly leapt from his piano exclaiming 'That's the voice I've been looking for!' upon hearing the trio sing Frankie Lymon's Why Do Fools Fall In Love.
- Their signature hit Be My Baby reached the UK top five and has been played 3.9 million times on radio and television since 1963 — 'the equivalent of 17 years back to back,' per the songwriters' agency BMI.
- The Ronettes opened for the Rolling Stones on a 1964 UK tour, where Talley briefly dated Brian Jones, and supported the Beatles on their final 1966 US tour, with Talley taking lead vocals after Phil Spector forbade Ronnie from going.
- Talley left the group in 1967, citing her dislike of the 'dog-eat-dog' side of show business, her embrace of Christianity, and her desire to be a wife and mother; she married Scott Ross, a New York radio DJ, released a Christian solo album in 1978, and later worked in real estate.
- In a 2002 New York appeals court filing, Talley testified the Ronettes had earned less than $15,000 in royalties from their hits and claimed Phil Spector had 'totally cheated us for 35 years,' though the court ruled mostly in Spector's favor based on their original contract.
- The Ronettes were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007, with Talley performing alongside Ronnie Spector at the ceremony and calling the honor deeply emotional: 'I broke down and cried ... it had been emotions and feelings that I had just sort of put to the side.'
Why it matters: Talley Ross's death closes the book on the original Ronettes lineup and the girl-group era they helped define. Her story also crystallizes a stark injustice: a 2002 court filing revealed the trio earned less than $15,000 in royalties from songs like Be My Baby that BMI calculated had been played 3.9 million times — a contract Phil Spector's estate still controls.
