Nedra Talley Ross, the last surviving member of the 1960s pop group the Ronettes, has died at the age of 80. She passed away at home on Sunday morning, her daughter Nedra K Ross announced on social media. “At approximately 8:30 this morning our mother Nedra Talley Ross went home to be with the Lord,” she wrote. “She was safe in her own bed at home with her family close, knowing she was loved.”
Talley Ross performed alongside her cousins Ronnie Spector and Estelle Bennett, forming the Ronettes in 1957. The group achieved fame with hits such as Be My Baby, which reached the UK top five, and other classics including Walking in the Rain, Baby, I Love You, and Do I Love You? Their signature look, featuring beehive hairstyles, became iconic. Be My Baby was later used in films such as Mean Streets and Dirty Dancing, and has been played millions of times on radio and television.
The Ronettes supported the Rolling Stones on a 1964 UK tour, where Talley briefly dated Brian Jones. Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards later praised the group, saying: “They could sing all their way right through a wall of sound. They didn’t need anything.” They also supported the Beatles on their final US tour in 1966. The group disbanded in 1967, with Talley Ross citing the pressures of the music industry and her Christian faith as reasons for leaving.
After the Ronettes split, Talley Ross married DJ Scott Ross and released a solo Christian contemporary album, Full Circle, in 1978. She later worked in real estate. In the 1990s, the Ronettes engaged in a legal battle against producer Phil Spector over unpaid royalties, with Talley Ross claiming they had been “totally cheated for 35 years”. A New York court ruled mostly in Spector’s favour in 2002. The Ronettes were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007.
