Ronnie Spector was the voice of all voices, and music’s great survivor

Sign up to Roisin O’Connor’s free weekly newsletter Now Hear This for the inside track on all things music Get our Now Hear This email for free Get our Now Hear This email for free SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. The lead singer of The Ronettes, she lent her unforgettable vibrato to their immortal 1963 single “Be My Baby” before marrying the song’s producer, Phil Spector. “I went right back, because I had people like Keith Richards and John Lennon and Billy Joel and David Bowie – even Springsteen – telling me ‘Ronnie, you have the voice of all voices.’” Born Veronica Yvette Bennett on 10 August 1943 in New York’s Spanish Harlem, Spector grew up surrounded by family and music. A quintessential example of Phil Spector’s dense and dramatic “Wall of Sound” production style, the song is widely considered among the finest ever recorded. “As I go down the stairwell, I hear this beautiful little chant set up by Nedra and Estelle, and I realise I’m listening to The Ronettes, and then that pure, pure voice over the top singing ‘Be My Baby’,” said Richards, offering the perfect riposte to anyone who would dare downplay the significance of Ronnie Spector.