I love Britain... Even the fog is good for the skin
The legendary Ronnie Spector tells MARION MCMULLEN about John Lennon, David Bowie and her love affair with the UK
RONNIE SPECTOR vividly remembers the first time John Lennon and George Harrison asked her and her sister out... and their mother came along as well.
“John and George came to The Strand where we were staying to take us to dinner. My Mom was travelling with us and they were so polite they asked her ‘Would you like to come to dinner with us?’ not really expecting her to say yes and she just said ‘Fine, I’ll go and get my purse,” chuckles Ronnie at the memory.
“Those guys were so polite they did not say anything, but she did leave us to spend time together after dinner saying ‘I think I’ll go back to the hotel.”
The Ronettes were the biggest girl band around in the 1960s with international hits like Be My Baby, I Can Hear Music and Baby I Love You, but they had no idea about their popularity in the UK until they stepped off the plane to be greeted by a wall of screaming fans.
“It was January 1964 and I had never been to Britain before. I got off the plane with the Ronettes and seeing the kids at the airport it was like ‘Whoa, I love England,’ smiles the American singer.
“We’d played all over the USA and it was a privilege to be in the UK. We couldn’t believe it. This was before the British music invasion. The Beatles, Stones, Kinks and Eric Clapton were all just starting. It was the best time in my whole career.
“The Rolling Stones were our opening act and all these guys in the bands were so polite; such gentlemen.”
Ronnie was the beehived beauty with an incredible voice and it’s little wonder she
The Ronettes in 1965 – Estelle Bennett, Veronica Bennett and Nedra Talley captured the hearts of the new generation of British rock stars.
“It was all so different. One guy asked ‘Do you have any fags?’ and I was like ‘What’s a fag?’ and there were words like schedule. Huh? I got everything back to front so many times, but I also developed a liking for finger sandwiches. I can’t eat sandwiches now with crusts.
“I remember sitting on the floor with John Lennon and the Beatles eating finger sandwiches and cucumber sandwiches and I have them when I’m on tour.”
The talented performer, born Veronica Yvette Bennett, began singing when she was just a tot.
“I must have been about eight when I would get on the coffee table and sing to my family. Then, when I was 11 or 12, I would get together with my cousins and we would sing in the lobby because the acoustics were so good.”
She has spoken about her troubled marriage to record producer Phil Spector from 1968 to 1974 in her autobiography, Be My Baby: How I Survived Mascara, Miniskirts And Madness, which revealed how she feared for her life, and now says: “I’m one of the survivors, I guess.”
She married Jonathan Greenfield in 1982 and they have two sons and, at the age of 72, she swears by yoga and a good diet that includes plenty of salads and fruit to stay fit and healthy.
“I love the treadmill and I don’t eat a lot of junk food. Singing is my life and you’ve got to look after your voice.”
Ronnie was around at many of music’s landmark moments. John Lennon introduced her to Bruce Springsteen, she knew Jimi Hendrix and worked with Joey Ramone and Keith Richards. She was the inspiration for Billy Joel’s hit Say Goodbye To Broadway.
Ronnie says she is still getting to grips with David Bowie’s death earlier this year and her voice breaks as she recalls the times they spent together. “I was friends with him and we went out and did everything. He was so polite and nice. It was just hard when I heard he had passed away. You just have to go on.”
Ronnie is now counting the days until she is back in the UK and even named her latest album English Heart because of her love affair with the UK.
She laughs: “I even like the British fog, I do, it’s so good for the skin.”
Her first album in a decade, English Heart includes songs by The Beatles, Bee Gees, the Stones and many other British acts.
“I had about 75 songs in the beginning and then had to pick what fitted my voice and what has happened in my life. All these songs mean something to me. I love them. I feel like I have come full circle, I really do. It’s an album that I can rest in peace about. I’ve got my British invasion songs.”
“I was so young when I recorded Be My Baby and all those songs. Now I’m a woman and I feel all these songs. They make up my life. All the songs are about how I feel and about how I feel about people.”
“Standing on stage singing. That’s what I love. I always get nervous when I’m standing backstage with my microphone and my heart goes faster and faster, but I count to five and walk out there and when I’m in front of an audience – wow! I love performing and making everyone happy. They laugh and cry and yell out things to me. It’s the best feeling. It really is.
“When I’m on stage I’m not married and I have no kids. It’s a different Ronnie Spector to the one who is a mom at home.
She smiles: “I must have been about 11 when I heard Little Richard sing Rip It Up and I thought I want to do that for the rest of my life... just rip it up.”
Ronnie Spector is appearing at Exeter, Cardiff, Milton Keynes, Buxton and Glastonbury and at Whitley Bay Playhouse as part of the Mouth Of The Tyne Festival. Go to ronniespector.com for further UK tour dates and album details.