Black Women Invented Rock & Roll: Pt 1. -- Ronnie Spector.
âWe were in a car, and they were in a bus following our car. They were a bunch of scraggly looking guys. But I loved them and I especially loved Keith, because I love that rugged look he had. Mick was, like, a pretty boy maybe. Keith used to say, âOh, we would have great babies because you have that black, thick hair and I have black, thick hair.â Now his is not so black. (Ronnie laughs) I remember Keith and Mick asking me about James Brown and I said, âI donât even know the guy.â â Ronnie, on touring with The Rolling Stones. (They were HER opening act in 1964.)
Veronica Yvette Bennett (later known as Ronnie Spector) was the daughter of a Black-Cherokee mother and Irish-American father. Her older sister, Estelle Bennett and their cousin Nedra Talley (Black-American, Cherokee and Puerto Rican) formed The Ronettes, an American girl group from Harlem, New York in the 1950âČs.
Ronnie would marry Phil Spector of Philes Records (pictured here) in 1968 and has been quoted to say that he was destructive and bizarre â including adopting children without her knowledge and surprising her with them for Christmas. He kept her a prisoner in their Beverly Hills mansion surrounded by barbed wire and guard dogs, even hid her shoes to keep her from trying to run away.
âKeith Richards was there before I even got there. Heâs known to be late. I got to the studio, and then Joey Ramone came in. Itâs kind of dim in the studio and Keith is on one mic and Iâm on another. And you can see Joey sitting in the control room, just staring. He looked at Keith; he looked at me. And that was like his dream. To see Ronnie Spector and Keith Richards in one room. He didnât move when we were in the recording studio. He died shortly after that. That was the last time I saw Joey.â â On recording with Keith Richards in 2006
âEven in the Sixties, we didnât party. I remember going to these clubs, and people would be slobberingall over me because of alcohol. It would make me sick. Everybody tells me I look so great for my age, and thatâs because I didnât do drugs. I drank beer and smoked cigarettes. But I looked after my voice. My voice makes me money. But even if that wasnât the case, I still wouldnât have gone to clubs. It was boring to me.â â Iâm Married to the audience. (Ronnie Spector)
Ronnie with Bruce Springsteen [1975] and David Bowie and Iggy Pop [1976]
With looks to match her formidable talent, the cat-eyed siren bewitched the likes of John Lennon, Jimi Hendrix and David Bowie â all of whom vied for her affections â and served as a muse for Brian Wilson, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, and even punk pioneers, the Ramones.
Her fiery live performances laid the groundwork for generations of front-women to come, and her edgy fashion is still in style. Decades later, her influence lived on in Amy Winehouse, who frequently cited Spector as an idol. âWe took it from the streets to the stage,â she says of the Ronettesâ iconic pencil skirts, thick mascara and sky-high beehives. âThatâs why they called us âThe Bad Girls of Rock ânâ Roll.ââ
âThe people need to feel the music. Thatâs whatâs so important, and thatâs what is missing. You have to let the audience feel you, you have to let them feel the love, feel the rock & roll, feel the energy.â â Ronnie Spector
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