You might not recognize the name Veronica Yvette Bennett. But maybe you recognize this?
Veronica Yvette Bennett was the beautiful and talented founder and lead vocalist of the Ronettes, one of the most popular of the “girl groups” that dominated pop music for a brief period in the early to mid-sixties before the British Invasion took hold. They had a number of hits in 1963 and 1964 in addition to “Be My Baby” including “Baby, I Love You,” “(The Best Part of) Breakin’ Up,” “Do I Love You?,” and “Walking in the Rain.”
The Ronettes music was produced by superstar producer Phil Spector. In 1968, one year after the Ronettes broke up, she married him. Ronnie Spector, as she has been called ever since, would later comment that Phil was a “brilliant producer” but a “lousy husband.” By all accounts, including the one in Ronnie’s 1990 memoir Be My Baby: How I Survived Mascara, Miniskirts, and Madness, Or, My Life as a Fabulous Ronette, “lousy” was an understatement. “The intensely jealous producer kept her a virtual prisoner in their California mansion, subjecting her to years of psychological torment.” (People Magazine, May 2, 2022) While she was held in Spector’s mansion she was not permitted to sing, perform or record. Ronnie ended it in 1972 when she fled Phil’s grasp broke and barefooted (Phil kept her shoes under lock and key).
In 1972, Ronnie Spector is not yet 30. Her career is in tatters, her marriage is over and she has no money, having not received a royalty check for her music since she got $14,000 in 1964. What she did have was a little help from her friends.
Writing in The Record (Hackensack, N.J., Dec. 30, 1980) Jerry DeMarco mentions some of those friends: “she was helped by a former acquaintance, John Lennon. (‘I dated John before I was married, before the Beatles became really popular. In fact, on some of the tours we did, they were our opening act. Can you believe that!’) Thanks to a few contacts Lennon made for her, Spector went on to appear with Bruce Springsteen, tour with Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, and record a duet with Southside on the Jukes’ first LP, a song called ‘You Mean So Much to Me, Baby,’ written by Springsteen.
“She then recorded “Say Goodbye to Hollywood” in 1977 with Springsteen’s E Street Band (guitarist Steve Van Zandt produced the record)…”
Talking about Springsteen, she told the Asbury Park Press (Dec. 15, 2010): “Bruce is such a gentleman. He just makes you feel good. He told me that he learned to sing, ‘Oh, oh, oh’ after listening to me.”
He wasn’t the only musician inspired by Ronnie. Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys wrote “Don’t Worry Baby” a response to “Be My Baby” in 1964. “Say Goodbye to Hollywood” was penned by Billy Joel in 1976 as a tribute to Ronnie. Joey Ramone covered “Baby, I Love You” in 1980. Ramone would later produce one of Ronnie’s records. In 1986, she sang on Eddie Money’s “Take Me Home Tonight.”
By that time she had resuscitated her career, playing oldies shows as well as solo gigs. Tom Long of the Santa Cruz Sentinel had this to say in reviewing one of her shows there (July 7, 1984). “Ronnie Spector showed a Catalyst crowd Saturday night that she still has all the energy and talent that made Ronnie and the Ronnetes the penultimate girl group of the early ’60s and has kept her an underground cult figure for the past two decades.
“Fairly oozing sexuality while letting go with her amazingly strong voice, Spector more than lived up to her legendary status; she actually improved upon it.”
Next on the agenda was to settle up with Phil. When she got her divorce in 1974, all she received from the settlement was $25,000, a used car, and a monthly provision of $2,500 for five years. (Who was her lawyer!) He retained the rights to all of her music.
In 1988, the Ronettes sued Phil Spector for non-payment of royalties and for the income he made from licensing their music. Ronnie had still not received a royalty check since 1964. It took until 2001 before a New York court ruled in favor of the Ronettes and ordered Spector to pay $2.6 million. At the time of the verdict Ronnie had this to say:
“What’s great about my court victory is that it will help all the other artists get what’s due them. Long after I’m gone people will say Ronnie Spector did that we can do it I’ve seen so many acts who gave their names away, gave their royalties away. Now those people don’t have anything today. I was determined to win my lawsuit because I knew I deserved it.” (York Sunday News, Oct. 15, 2000.)
The settlement was overturned by an appeals court but Ronnie eventually go more than $1 million from Phil.
The Ronettes were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007. Phil, as a member of the nominating committee, had tried to stop that. But being as he was on trial for murder, his influence was waning fast. (Phil Spector was convicted of murdering the actress Lana Clarkson in 2003. He died in prison in 2021.) The Hall of Fame induction speech was delivered by Ronnie’s long-time friend and neighbor Keith Richards.
Just as Ronnie rebuilt her career, she did the same with her personal life. At age 57 she told AP reporter Mary Campbell (Oct. 2, 2000): “ I went out with Jonathan Greenfield for three years before we married. He manages me. Our boys, Jason and Austin, are 16 and 17. 1 have wonderful in-laws, sister-in-law, two brothers-in-law. I wanted to be a regular wife and mom. I have everything now I wanted 30 years ago. It’s never too late; I guess that saying is true.”
Shortly after Ronnie died in 2022, Greenfield told Jordan Runtagh of People Magazine: “We did everything together for close to 42 years. There’s a lot of little things about our relationship that just balanced each of us. It’s sort of like two trees next to each other; throughout the years, they grow and the branches start to intertwine.”
Ronnie was both a rock star and a suburban mom in Connecticut. Greenfield says, “She never thought she was anything special. She had been on the top and then she knew what it felt like when she couldn’t get in at Studio 54 because she wasn’t cool enough. Wherever she went, whether it was onstage or just to the ShopRite, she put a smile on every person she came in contact with. That’s just what she did. I’m so convinced that she was put here to spread joy, love and kindness. She had this gift of making people feel really good.”
Ronnie Spector died at home in Connecticut in 2022 after short bout with cancer. Eulogies came in from all over. I like this one I found in the UK publication Far Out Magazine:
“Sometimes referred to as the ‘bad girl of rock and roll,’ Ronnie Spector’s life is one characterized by triumph over evil, and in addition to her iconic influence on music, she will continue to be hailed as a bonafide legend.”
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Whatever Happened To?
off the leash 
It was nice to read about a star whose life didn’t completely spiral out of control after her popular days, but instead seems to have improved over time. She sounds like a lady I would have liked to meet.
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