Nedra Talley Ross, 80, passed away on Sunday. She, along with her 2 sisters, Ronnie & Estelle, were the Ronettes. They only produced one studio album, in 1964, but that album generated 5 Billboard charting hits, and it's listed in the Rolling Stones Top 500 Albums of all time.
The group also toured extensively, with such groups as the Rolling Stones and the Beatles.
We're losing too many of these rock and roll icons.
And continuing my talk about greed in the music industry from the AI thread, the Ronettes had a 15 year unsuccessful battle with their then manager (and Ronnie's ex-husband), Phil Spector, over unpaid royalties.
Very rarely do the musicians end up on top of these battles.
@artisan-radio I don't clearly remember the story, but recall watching a documentary about the making of the original Blues Brothers movie, and it talked about how they got all the big name stars to perform for chump change because they hadn't been making any money on their royalties anyway (Aretha Franklin, James Brown, Ray Charles, Cab Calloway, and John Lee Hooker, etc) . - I'm not really sure what the situation was, I'd have to watch it again, .. but it had something to do with the fact that before the blues Brothers movie, they weren't making anything off their royalties, so were very happy to accept being part of the movie and performing their classic hits.
I saw that about Nedra, the last remaining member of the Ronettes. All my era singers, groups, band members are dying off one by one. Sad. But Phil Spector was no good as a manager, how he screwed the Crystals. And who knows with the Ronettes and others.
He took advantage of the innocence of the groups he managed starting with the Teddy Bears in the late 50s. He may have been a great producer but a dispicable person and he should rot in jail where he is now.
Managers had a huge amount of power back in those days. The record companies and concert promoters would usually only deal with them, opening the way for lots of potential financial shenanigans.
It was also quite common for Managers to put their names on record credits, even when they had nothing to do with them creatively.
Phil Spector may have been a poor example of a human being (he's no longer among the living, having died in jail) and a "lousy husband" according to his ex-wife Ronnie, but he certainly was successful in the music business. The 'Spector Sound' generated a lot of hits.