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\n\tNedra Talley Ross, the last surviving founding member of the early 1960s-era girl group and Rock and Roll Hall of Famers the Ronettes<\/a>, has died, according to a post on the group\u2019s Facebook page<\/a>. No cause of death was announced; she was 80 years old.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cIt is with heavy hearts that we share the news of Nedra Talley Ross\u2019 passing. She was a light to those who knew and loved her,\u201d the post reads. \u201cAs a founding member of The Ronettes, along with her beloved cousins Ronnie and Estelle, Nedra\u2019s voice, style and spirit helped define a sound that would change music. Her contribution to the group\u2019s story and their defining influence will live forever.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cRest peacefully dear Nedra. Thanks for the magic.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tVocally and visually, the Ronettes \u2014 New Yorkers Talley Ross (pictured above, far right, in 1964) and her cousins Veronica \u201cRonnie\u201d Bennett (later Spector) <\/a>and Estelle Bennett \u2014\u00a0were the definitive girl group, and they were certainly the definitive purveyors of producer Phil Spector<\/a>\u2019s legendary \u201cWall of Sound,\u201d which dominated American radio in the early 1960s before the advent of the Beatles and the British Invasion.<\/p>\n \n\tWith a bad-girl vibe and big, booming singles like \u201cBe My Baby,\u201d \u201cBaby I Love You,\u201d \u201cWalking in the Rain\u201d and \u201cI Can Hear Music,\u201d defined by lead singer Ronnie\u2019s come-hither voice and Spector\u2019s dense, echo-drenched production, the Ronettes\u2019 sound is a time capsule of the Kennedy age. Although the group\u2019s reign was brief, they cast a wide influence across the sound of the \u201860s and every pop era that followed \u2014\u00a0within a decade artists ranging from the New York Dolls and Bruce Springsteen to Billy Joel, the Ramones and Blondie would be singing their praises and citing their influence. <\/p>\n \n\tJust as significantly, the group broke down racial barriers in the 1960s, when the sight of three young women of Puerto Rican and Black descent singing pop music on television and opening concerts for the Beatles was a rarity.<\/p>\n \n\tTalley Ross was born in Manhattan on Jan. 27, 1946, of Black, Native American, Irish and Puerto Rican descent, and began singing with her cousins as a child. They played New York sock hops and bar mitzvahs, performing material by Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers and the Shirelles, first as Ronnie and the Relatives and then, at Ronnie\u2019s mother\u2019s suggestion, as the Ronettes. The trio was signed to Colpix Records, the label subsidiary of Columbia Pictures, in 1961, but their Stu Phillips-produced singles flopped.<\/p>\n \n\tIn 1963, the Bennetts \u2013 now working as dancers and sometime vocalists with the Peppermint Lounge twist act Joey Dee & the Starlighters \u2014 cold-called the New York office of Phil Spector, then riding high with a run of hit singles by the Crystals, Bobb B. Soxx & the Blue Jeans and Darlene Love.<\/p>\n \n\tGranted an audition with Spector, the Ronettes, fronted by Ronnie, launched into a version of Frankie Lymon\u2019s \u201cWhy Do Fools Fall In Love.\u201d According to her autobiography, Spector instantly leaped up from his piano and exclaimed, \u201cThat\u2019s the voice I\u2019ve been looking for!\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tWith Ronnie in the lead \u2014 as well as the object of the producer\u2019s romantic attentions \u2014\u00a0the group swiftly became the medium for Spector\u2019s vast Wagnerian productions. The Ronettes detonated on the charts in \u201963 with the explosive \u201cBe My Baby,\u201d which vaulted to No. 2 nationally; the song was later used unforgettably under the credits of Martin Scorsese\u2019s 1973 breakthrough feature \u201cMean Streets.\u201d The group also performed three songs on Spector\u2019s Yuletide album \u201cA Christmas Gift to You\u201d that year, which has gone on to become a seasonal classic although its initial impact was crushed by the Kennedy assassination.<\/p>\n \n\tA quartet of masterful top 40 hits followed in 1964: \u201cBaby I Love You,\u201d \u201c(The Best Part of) Breaking Up,\u201d \u201cDo I Love You\u201d and \u201cWalking in the Rain,\u201d written by the pop powerhouse teams of Ellie Greenwich with Jeff Barry and Barry Mann with Cynthia Weil (and a dotted-line credit to Spector) and arranged by Jack Nitzsche. On the back of these successes, the Ronettes toured the U.K., where the Rolling Stones served as their opening act \u2014 Keith Richards enthused, \u201cThey\u2019re all right little darlings\u201d \u2014\u00a0and Ronnie deflected advances from the Beatles\u2019 John Lennon.<\/p>\n \n\tTwo minor singles were released in 1965, while such magnificent performances as \u201cParadise\u201d and \u201cI Wish I Never Saw the Sunshine\u201d remained in the can for more than a decade. The group also opened for the Beatles on their last world tour in 1966, alongside their last chart single, \u201cI Can Hear Music\u201d reached No. 100 in 1966.<\/p>\n \n\tThe group agreed to split after a 1967 European tour: While the members were still in their early or mid-twenties, their peak era had long since passed, and by that time Phil Spector had divorced his wife and turned his domineering and literally combative attention to Ronnie, effectively squelching her professional career in the process. Talley Ross worked as a solo artist, recording a solo contemporary Christian music album in 1978 in addition to several singles. <\/p>\n \n\tBeginning in the 1980s, the Ronettes were involved in a decades-long series of bitter legal actions against Spector over unpaid royalties and income, with a judge finally ordering the producer to pay the group $2.6 million in 2000 (he appealed twice). As a member of the Rock Hall of Fame\u2019s Board of Governors, Spector effectively blocked the Ronettes\u2019 nomination for years, although the group was finally inducted \u2014 and introduced by Richards \u2014 in 2007, after Spector had been arrested and convicted of the shooting death of actress Lana Clarkson.<\/p>\n \n\tIn his induction speech, Richards remembered hearing the Ronettes rehearse in a stairwell in some \u201cdamp and dark\u201d British theatre during their tour with the Stones in 1964. <\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI got a command performance all to myself,\u201d he recalled. \u201cAnd i realized that despite Jack Nitzsche\u2019s arrangements, they could sing their way right through a Wall of Sound \u2014 they didn\u2019t need anybody. They touched my heart there and then, and they touch it still.\u201d <\/p>\n