Nedra Talley, 1946 – 2026

Singer Nedra Talley—the last surviving Ronette—died on April 26. She was 80. Talley and her cousins Ronnie and Estelle Bennett sang as "The Darling Sisters" till they were discovered by batshit-crazy producer Phil Spector, who signed them in 1963, renamed them The Ronettes (he also married Ronnie, from 1968-74; she was lucky to escape with her life). The Ronettes recorded such hits as “Be My Baby,” "Walking in the Rain,” "Frosty the Snowman,” “Silhouettes," "Baby, I Love You," and "(The Best Part of) Breakin' Up,” till the group split in 1967. Talley became “born again,” married a preacher, and recorded religious music, which no one bought. “I turned 18 in England as we were performing,” she recalled. “So there was a side where you had a life that most teenagers would never have. I would perform on the weekends and then go to school on Mondays. There I was having all of this handed to me. We were that girl group that danced, we sang, we looked alike—we developed the whole thing of the beehive hairdo look and the make-up. So we were making a statement that we weren't even thinking about. We were just being who we were.” She added that When we toured we were with either my mother, or one of my aunts. We had plenty of chaperones. So we were out there, but we were not out there. We could have gone over the edge in so many ways and didn't because we had family traveling with us.”