The Ronettes, were three girls from Manhattan who started performing in the early sixties. They were badder than other girl groups. They wore tight skirts, heavy eyeliner, and beehive hairdos. They also made small but provocative changes to the girl group routine, such as singing "I love you" rather than "I love him."
The Ronettes were managed by the infamous Phil Spector, who also wrote and produced all their songs. Ronnie, the lead singer, eventually married Spector who kept her imprisoned in his house. Amongst his other psychoses, Spector only listened to classical music and never allowed popular music to be played in his house.In 1963, the Ronettes had their first hit with Be My Baby. In recording this song, Phil Spector developed his "Wall of Sound" technique - a densely layered reverberating mono recording that sounded good in a jukebox. Spector described this often imitated technique as a "Wagnerian approach to Rock & Roll."
Be My Baby |
The next year, 1964, the Ronettes followed up with Baby I Love You, featuring a groups of back-up singers that included Cher.
Baby I Love You |
Throughout the sixties there were hundreds of girl groups like The Vandellas, The Crystals, The Marvelettes, The Velvelettes, The Shirelles, The Shangri-Las, The Raindrops, and The Chantels. There were also a fair number of boy groups. These were often heart-throb harmonizing quartets that sang doo wop and pop. One of the best was the Four Seasons (later known as Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons):
C'mon Marianne |
Beggin' |