I have listened to many audiobooks but none as great as Be My Baby: A Memoir by Ronnie Spector, the lead singer of the Ronettes who released the song, "Be My Baby" in 1963.
The record shot to the top of the charts and upended the lives of the Ronettes, some for good, some for not-so-good, but worth it!
The trio gained instant, unending fame.
For all the music fans who remember the song or hear it on the radio, this is a "must listen" book.
It’s delightful, heartbreaking, and one I never wanted to end.
I couldn't wait to jump back in my car and turn it back on again.
Earlier, I had tried reading the book but it failed to "grab me" after a few pages, and I put it down.
But the audio is different. It's the opposite!
Most audio books are not read by the author and many voices just don't fit. I shut them off early and return the copy to the library.
But Rosie Perez is something special. She is perfect on this score, the New York voice on the audio who delivers the memoir in a personable, first-person account of Ronnie's life with all its ups and downs and harsh realities, including her six mostly agonizing years as the wife of Phil Spector, music producer extraordinaire. (If you thought he was weird, you ain’t heard nuthin’ yet!)
Ronnie describes the prison-like conditions she endured as his wife which took her mother to rescue her (again).
In the book (co-written with Vince Waldron), John Lennon, Keith Richards (who wrote a forward to the 2022 edition) and several more "big" stars make more than cameo appearances, and it's reassuring to find out they are/were "normal," more or less, like you and me (although with a bit more in their wallets!).
Of course, Phil Spector was not "normal" in the "normal" sense (geniuses seldom are), but extremely possessive and controlling of Ronnie, such that (for one example), he refused to let her accept the Beatles' invitation to tour with them and fly on their plane, but, wait...Spector permitted himself to fly on their plane.
In 2021 he died of Covid in a hospital where he was taken from prison, serving 19 years for the murder of actress Lana Clarkson at his mansion.
Ronnie Spector died last January of cancer right after she had updated her 1990 best-seller Be My Baby: How I Survived Mascara, Miniskirts, and Madness. In a 2021 postscript she talks about the impacts of Covid, and according to her publisher, she was getting ready for a book tour.
At YouTube two years ago, the video of Ronnie Spector and the Ronettes had recorded 19 million views.
After her death, Cyndi Lauper posted a comment: "We love you Ronnie!"
We miss you, Ronnie!
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