Nedra Talley Ross, the last surviving member of the Ronettes, the powerhouse trio whose blend of driving drums and horns backing sugar-sweet vocals earned them a string of hits, like “Be My Baby” and “Baby, I Love You,” and made them an integral part of the soundtrack of mid-20th-century America, died on Sunday at her home in Chesapeake, Va. She was 80.
Her daughter, Nedra K. Ross, announced the death on social media but did not provide a cause.
The Ronettes — Nedra Talley, along with her cousins Veronica Bennett, later known as Ronnie Spector, and Estelle Bennett — were the archetype of the 1960s girl group, with towering beehive hairdos, dark eyeliner and perfectly synced three-part harmonies, a combination of street-tough vamp and all-American sweetheart.
They were one of the vehicles through which the producer Phil Spector introduced his revolutionary “wall of sound,” an orchestral assault of drums, horns and driving vocals that formed a bridge between the early days of rock ’n’ roll and the harder, heavier sounds of the late 1960s.
Mrs. Talley Ross was just 14 when she began singing with her cousins as the Darling Sisters. After a period as Ronnie and the Relatives, the Bennetts’ mother — who was Nedra’s mother’s sister — came up with the name that stuck.
A few hits on New York City radio got them bookings at sock hops and amusement parks, and gave them the confidence to cold-call Mr. Spector at his studio in 1963.
He signed them immediately. That same year, they had their first major hit, “Be My Baby,” with its signature kick-drum opening and Ronnie’s “a-whoa-oh-oh-oh” slide into the chorus. It sold two million copies in just its first year.
The Ronettes followed “Be My Baby” with more hits, including “Baby, I Love You” and “Walking in the Rain,” all of which appeared on their only studio album, “Presenting the Fabulous Ronettes” (1964).
Ms. Talley celebrated her 18th birthday in 1964 in England, where the Ronettes were on tour opening for the Rolling Stones. More than 40 years later, in 2007, the Stones guitarist Keith Richards inducted them into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
In his introductory speech, Mr. Richards recalled first encountering the trio rehearsing before a show.
“As I got to the stairwell, I hear this beautiful little chant set up by Nedra and Estelle, and I realize I’m listening to the Ronettes,” he said. “And then this pure, pure voice singing ‘Be my little baby.’”
Nedra Yvonne Talley was born on Jan. 27, 1946, in Manhattan to Henry and Susie (Mobley) Talley. Her mother, a beautician, was deeply involved in getting her daughter into music and helped arrange for her to take singing lessons with her two cousins.
After winning a talent competition at the Apollo Theater in Harlem in 1959, the trio got a contract to sing and dance at the Peppermint Lounge, in Midtown Manhattan, said to be the birthplace of the dance the twist.
They spent most of the next decade on tour and in the studio, and the attention began to drive them apart.
So did Mr. Spector, whose controlling and abusive relationship with Ronnie finally broke up the Ronettes in 1967. The Spectors married in 1968 and divorced in 1974, after what Ms. Spector characterized as years of physical and emotional abuse.
That same year, Ms. Talley married Scott Ross, a disc jockey in New York. He died in 2022. Along with their daughter, her survivors include their children Christina, Heather and Ryan as well as several grandchildren.
Soon after they were married, the couple visited Mr. Ross’s family in Maryland and attended his mother’s Pentecostal church. Mrs. Talley Ross said she had a vision during the service and declared herself born again.
They later moved to the Virginia Beach area, where Mr. Ross became a producer and on-air personality with the Christian Broadcasting Network, a media company founded by the televangelist Pat Robertson.
Mrs. Talley Ross recorded several songs on the 1977 album “The Courts of the King: The Worship Music of Ted Sundquist” and in 1978 recorded the religious album “Full Circle.”
The Ronettes never officially reunited onstage or in the studio, but they did make several courtroom appearances.
In 1988, they sued Mr. Spector for more than $10 million in lost royalties. In 2000, a judge awarded them $2.6 million, but later decisions narrowing their rights to royalties significantly reduced the award.
In 2009, Mr. Spector was convicted of the 2003 murder of the actress Lana Clarkson. He died in prison in 2021.
Estelle Bennett died in 2009. Ronnie Spector died in 2022.
Though she largely left her earlier singing life behind her, Mrs. Talley Ross gave occasional interviews to local newspapers, especially after her induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
Each time, she insisted that her fame was both unexpected and very much in her past.
“We had no idea,” she told the newspaper The Virginian-Pilot in 2007. “We just wanted to do music. We didn’t think of this. I didn’t think of being 60 one day, either.”
Clay Risen is a Times reporter on the Obituaries desk.
The post Nedra Talley Ross, Last Surviving Member of the Ronettes, Dies at 80 appeared first on New York Times.
