The pop vocal group The Ronettes landed five singles in the Top 40, but it took only one to make the trio iconic. Their 1963 hit “Be My Baby” reached No. 2 and helped define producer Phil Spector’s “Wall of Sound” style. • The Ronettes featured sisters Estelle and Veronica (Ronnie) Bennett and their cousin, Nedra Tally. Known variously as Ronnie and The Relatives and The Darlings, they performed at sock hops and parties around New York City in the late 1950s. • The trio began recording in 1961. After none of their five singles made the charts, Estelle Bennett called producer Phil Spector and requested an audition. Entranced by Ronnie’s voice, Spector signed the group to his Philles label. • After crediting four songs they recorded to the Crystals, Spector released “Be My Baby” in August 1963. Ronnie was the one member of the group to sing on the track, though backing vocalists included Darlene Love and Cher, in her first professional singing gig. • The Ronettes sang three songs on 1963’s A Christmas Gift for You from Philles Records: “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus”, “Frosty the Snowman” and “Sleigh Ride”, which became The Ronettes’ second highest-charting single when it reached No. 13 on the pop charts nearly 50 years later, in early 2021. • The Ronettes’ sole LP, 1964’s Presenting the Fabulous Ronettes Featuring Veronica, peaked at No. 96 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, but it featured all five of their Top 40 hits: “Be My Baby”, “Baby, I Love You”, “Walking in the Rain”, “(The Best Part of) Breakin’ Up” and “Do I Love You?” • Though the group’s commercial fortunes began to decline after “Walking in the Rain” in 1964, The Ronettes opened for the Beatles on a U.S. tour 1966. (Spector, who would marry Ronnie in 1967, pressured her into staying home. Her cousin, Elaine Mayes, an early member of the group in the ’50s, filled in.) • After touring Germany early in 1967, The Ronettes broke up, though they later sang on Jimi Hendrix’s song “Earth Blues”, released posthumously in 1971. • When Ronnie Spector left Phil in 1972, she revived The Ronettes with singers Chip Fields and Denise Edwards. The new group released the singles “Go Out and Get It” in 1973 and “I Wish I Never Saw the Sun Shine” in 1974. Neither charted, and Ronnie Spector dropped The Ronettes name for a solo career.