Ronnie Spector R.I.P.

One of the greatest to ever do it.

Ronnie Spector, the lead singer of the classic girl group The Ronettes, has died at age 78. 💔 https://t.co/ImAsZQcuf2

— billboard (@billboard) January 12, 2022

;_;

I hadn’t heard “Be My Baby” in a while, and man.

RIP

It's always in my head somewhere, 24/7.

4 ever.

Loved her so much, great voice, great singer. I love her later stuff too, not that there’s that much of it. But she sounded great straight thru. Saw one of her Christmas concerts in New York in 2002, it was a blast. R.I.P.

Yeah, aside from the one-of-a-kind voice she was a fantastic performer. The one time I saw her in concert she literally brought tears to my eyes - which was embarrassing for me but I had to respect that ability

ugh fuck. rip.

I can guarantee the same would've happened to me if I'd ever been fortunate enough to see her. xp

.

She frequently posts on social media so it was quite a shock to see her family statement pop up about her brief struggle with cancer. That seems to be the sentiment across other accounts - Darlene Love, Brian Wilson, etc. so she probably kept it private.

This one really hurts. I even love it when the Eddie Money song comes on.

I was going to make a similar remark. Whenever I’ve seen her in any context (although never in person) I have that microsecond of preparing myself not to be disappointed because of comparison with the original records but then as soon as the attention is on her when she does a little shimmy and opens her mouth to do her trademark, borrowed from Sam Cooke vocal swoop I am completely hypnotized and thinking “Hal Blaine who?”

Just came across this thing called Legendary Ladies of Rock & Roll and the same thing happened, even with a baker's dozen of other no-slouch singers on stage with her.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14AXsKCnMJA
WIth apologies to La La Brooks.

Whereas with this one I am indeed thinking "Where's Bob Babbitt? Where's Owen Bradley?" But then "Ronnie!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0UKEpfy7AA

omg that's the cruise ship entertainment of my dreams

Forgot about this one — with the E Street Band! Wish they'd done a whole album.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJ72eejEcTQ

Lol, Josefa.

Have you guys heard the Marshall Crenshaw EP?

Feel like she had some kind of Elvis-level performance persona: completely charismatic stage presence and a great big voice, but also an incredible ability to control that voice.

Although for some reason no one ever really imitated her, her singing style at least, although obviously Amy Winehouse copied her look.

I was thinking about her singing, listening to the Ronettes' album today, and you're right that control is an important part of it. If you ask me what she sounds like, I think of a kind of sly intimacy — but she achieves that by way of big, wide-open swoops and calibrated vibrato. It's quite a trick, to feel like she's whispering to you even when she's belting.

Forgot about this one — with the E Street Band! Wish they'd done a whole album.

Steven Van Zandt just shared the sleeve cover, mentioning that the work was especially welcomed by the E Street Band, alluding to the financial strain caused by Springsteen's legal battle with Appel at the time.

Love this, written by George Harrison:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0xHx-6WmNg

This was good too - she listened to Johnny Thunders!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NO6_KarjPDU

Kind of a Marianne Faithfull vibe going on.

heartbroken by this, prob my favorite singer of all time.

The Johnny Thunders cover is from the EP Joey Ramone produced for her — man, Ronnie was a lot of rockers' dream date, huh? That EP also includes this sweet cover of "Don't Worry Baby," which she always said Brian Wilson wrote for her but jealous Phil wouldn't let her record.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DUzT1TD_RM

when i was a kid i thought eddy money was talking about ronald reagan in take me home tonight and wondered who the old lady in the video was!

I think Jim Miller's essay in the first Stranded led me to the first LP, available as a British import in the early '80s with a different cover. And I recall being very covetous of the exceptionally valuable original American release.

I always want to say Brian Wilson “returned the favor” by covering “I Can Hear Music” but of course that isn’t quite right, maybe I should say “proved his point,” not sure that works either, but in any case at this stage I never know whether I should consider it a Beach Boys or Ronettes song. Also always think a lot about the lyric concerning “the sound of the city.” Is that where the title of one of Ronnie’s friend David Bowie’s favorite books (and mine) comes from, I wonder. In context “the sound of the city” seems meant to be a bad thing that has to “disappear,” but I alway feel like there is a larger implicit subtext in which the sound of the city is a part of the music too, which makes it extra-grebt.

When I saw her in Manhattan in the ‘Beyond the Beehive’ tour of 2012 she performed both the George Harrison song and the Johnny Thunders song

That George Harrison song was produced by Phil wasn’t it?

co-produced by Phil and George Harrison

My heart, I loved her so much ;_;

Love her cover of “Work Out Fine” that she did with Keith Richards

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tq9NVoM4mXA

Thanks, Josefa. One of my ur-texts was a Beatles discography called All Together Now and that was in the section called The Beatles For Others or something, so that makes sense.

The b-side of “Try Some, Buy Some” is “Tandoori Chicken,” which sounds like one of those classic Spector b-sides that are purposely designed not to be a hit (although w/ Leon Russell on piano)

man RIP. so many family road trips soundtracked by 80s-era oldies stations. def my first memory of her, even if I didn’t know who precisely who she was. i certainly watched that Eddie Money video approx 3.7k times in ‘87 tho and that’s who I’ll always have in my head

My head is exploding due to latest FB post from The Wrecking Crew.

https://fb.watch/avimbpZYMJ/
See text at the right.

Bowie, a Ronnie fan, covered "Try Some, Buy Some" in 2003 -- not well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSYb7IDRyAg

i saw somewhere on twitter that his only regret he ever expressed was not producing an album for her

That Wrecking Crew post is awesome.

Speaking of Bowie, he was the subject of what looks to be her last Facebook post: https://www.facebook.com/ronniespector/posts/488181225997626

There was a Rolling Stone interview with her I just came across that had some stories of them hanging out.

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/ronnie-spector-on-keith-richards-david-bowie-and-life-after-phil-181599/

i love Ronnies version of Say Goodbye To Hollywood w the E Street Band

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJ72eejEcTQ

She actually posted and commented on a photo of herself with Bowie just four days ago. I've never been around someone during the last days with cancer (but I have in situations involving other illnesses) and it's still shocking to me how quickly someone can go when they're sick from it.

apologies, tipsy mothra already posted about that upthread

Bowie, a Ronnie fan, covered "Try Some, Buy Some" in 2003 -- not well.

Yeah, not a highlight, but I think he did it also because George's death was fairly recent when he started recording. (If he had to pick something from Living in the Material World, I wish it was "Be Here Now" - that's a track that deserves rescuing. Great as background music in Scorsese's doc, but on its own, it needs something more to hold it together.) At least "Pablo Picasso" went over well.

Wait, “Pablo Picasso”?

oh yes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hk2hYnPo77M

Last week I was going down a Redd rabbit hole and came across this undercredited performance on an Arthur Alexander tribute album:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50w_FErFdfY

Cavaliere

That song is a trifle, a throwaway, never recorded before or since, songwriting credited to Arthur Alexander and Jon Tiven but still, coming across it and listening to it last week, hearing that voice and realizing who Veronica was still gave me that same shock of recognition, receiving the transmission that told me that there was life out there somewhere, maybe on Mars, even.

Earlier mention of "Try Some, Buy Some" by ILX0R Old Lunch:
i can't believe it's not ronnie spector: now with less awesome... but still!

Here is Ronnie's cover of "Something's Gonna Happen" from the Marshalll Crenshaw EP I mentioned earlier.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kn6E2tQIzFg

Before I forget, before I leave you again, didn't the run out groove for the LP of Let It Be used to say "Phil + Ronnie"?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GM5r0Ve8Las

#OneThread

Reading about Estellle yesterday evening. Pretty sad stuff.
https://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/17/arts/music/17rone.html

Wonder who is playing bass during "Sleigh Bell/Frosty the Snowman"? Sounds good!

Neil Jason, seems to be. Never heard of him. Only mentioned on ILX twice before, on a Dire Straits POLL threads.

Seems like he subbed with them over one hundred times and was also in the SNL house band for two years in the mid-eighties.

he plays on Roxy albums

Yeah, just saw that, thanks.

When I saw reunited Roxy they had another somewhat below the radar guy on bass named Zev Katz, who also played with Rosanne Cash so maybe you heard of him. Then another time I saw Bryan Ferry solo and he had some weird band. I was walking down the street and ran into a friend who was hanging with Sophie B. Hawkins and she told me that she had been in a better version of the band preparing for the tour but then a couple of weeks before it was about to start Bryan fired everybody and replaced them with worse (younger? cheaper?) players.

first line of your memoir

Because It sounds like Catcher in the Rye or something?

The first thing you'll probably want to know about James Redd is blah blah blah Ronnie Spector blah blah blah Emitt Rhodes blah blah blah Paul Griffin...

Jonathan Richman blah blah blah Joey Ramone's brother blah blah blah Alex Chilton blah blah blah

I'm almost certain I've heard it before, but damn, that "Say Goodbye To Hollywood" cover is majestic.

https://digital.olivesoftware.com/Olive/ODN/DailyGazette/shared/DLYGAZ-2018-10-22/image.ashx?kind=block&href=DLYGAZ%2F2018%2F10%2F22&id=Pc0210200&ext=.jpg&sk=BFFDEF26

The Ronettes w/guitarist Jimmy James.

Jonathan Richman blah blah blah Joey Ramone's brother blah blah blah Alex Chilton blah blah blah

I look forward to the day when someone famous writes a memoir where they simply list every famous person they ever met and nothing more.

Jonathan Richman blah blah blah Joey Ramone's brother blah blah blah Alex Chilton blah blah blah

good lyric

Thanks. But hey, enough of my yakkin' we have a very special guest waiting in the wings, Ronnie c'mon up!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0coQJBQy1n8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFNdYNEJ26s

Nice photo C. Grisso/McCain!

https://www.villagevoice.com/1999/03/09/ronnie-spector/

All Hopped up and Ready to Go, by Tony Fletcher, has a very clear telling of the very beginning of The Ronettes, which I had been a little confused about up until now.

WIth blurbs from the likes of Lenny Kaye, Simon Reynolds and Mike Stoller, to name just three, plus 101 (!) mentions of George Goldner, what's not to like?

Oops, forgot the #onethread tag

So in the Josh Alan Friedman piece about when he dated Ronnie Spector in 1977, entitled "Mr. Nobody" which is what she called him upon occasion, she is doing a package tour in which Eddie Fisher is the headliner. "Only Eddie gets a limo!" she is told. The tour is run by a creepy figure named Roy Radin. I had to look him up but he was a victim in something know as "The Cotton Club Murders," although I am not sure who else was killed to make it plural. Roy Radin's management clients included Pat Paulsen and (Grady) Demond Wilson of Sanford & Son. The latter had to testify. Producer Robert Evans took the Fifth.

As my own Ronnie moment is fading, it is sort of fun to see what shows up in my Facepalm feed and click through to see what other musicians, celebrity or otherwise, had to say, along with their likeminded friends, and to see new photos of her, candid or professional, like the one with Vini "Mad Dog" Lopez or the one shot by James Hamilton, to pick two examples.

One guy mentions the "Phil Loves Ronnie" Let It Be outgroove thing I slightly misquoted upthread. Not really much about it on the internet though.

Adding Caryn Rose's Vulture obit here for when I want to be reminded of it later. If you haven't already peeped it, do.

https://www.vulture.com/article/ronnie-spector-obit-best-songs.html

Nice! Some good detail in there, thanks.

https://nypost.com/2012/11/11/a-mob-tale-with-a-twist/

Ugh, maybe I shouldn't have posted before reading properly.

John Sebastian/Ronnie Spector/McGuinn: Literally The Most Un-Cool Song & Video In Rock History

I've watched the RoRHOF performance a few times. Really good, although apparently Estelle was not in a state to go on so one the touring Ronettes of the time sang instead and they had a lot of other backing singers anyway.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CedKCeccSew

The lead comments say "Probably the only time outside of the studio that Phil Spector's Wall Of Sound was recreated. I think Shaffer, who has always been a huge Spector fan, deserves a lot of credit for pulling this off." But Paul Shaffer was doing this pretty much every single year on Letterman when Darlene Love sang "Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home)." I even had a brief conversation once about it with somebody who did that gig because I had seen the Letterman show on his resume. I guess there were a few times at the beginning when it was just the World's Most Dangerous Band. See for yourself, go look for the two hour video on Youtube of all of them.

Just thought of another song on the Beach Boys/Ronettes Axis, which is "I'm So Young," originally done by The Students. I don't know if I've ever heard a third version, although they seem to be out there. Think I'll stlck with the ones I know.

not Ronnie related (rip queen) but saw some Neil Jason talk upthread... check out his solo on this at about 6:15 please.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKyJou39Kks

shd be a thread just for roxy bass players tbr

i once met one of the early ones at a friend's wedding but i don't now remember which

not Ronnie related (rip queen) but saw some Neil Jason talk upthread... check out his solo on this at about 6:15 please.

Beautiful Ronnie Spector story from John Lurie. pic.twitter.com/lYy2u59KkK

— 𝗞𝗮𝘁𝗵𝘆 📼 𝗙𝗲𝗻𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀𝘆 (@kcfennessy) January 13, 2022

aw! what a gal <3

Heard "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" in the car tonight: "Some boys take a beautiful girl/And hide her away from the rest of the world."

And that whole song she sings in a Ronnie Spector-ish voice

Never thought about that before but yeah

If I remember the video correctly, the lyric is matched to some silent-film footage.

I guess if you slow it down (but preserve the pitch) it would sound a lot like Ronnie Spector.