Ronnie Spector, Ronettes Singer, and Ultimate Girl-Group Icon, Dead at 78.

After a brief battle with illness, Ronnie Spector, the leader of the girl group the Ronettes and the voice behind immortal songs like "Be My Baby" and "Walking in the Rain," died Wednesday. She was 78 years old at the time.

In a statement, her family stated, "Ronnie lived her life with a glint in her eye, a sassy attitude, a wicked sense of humor, and a grin on her face." "She was overflowing with appreciation and love." "All who knew heard, or saw her will remember her cheerful sound, humorous demeanor, and enchanting presence."

The Ronettes were the classic girl-group act of the early 1960s, and Spector's silk-meets-sandpaper voice carried them through all of their songs. The genre's signature piece, "Be My Baby," was ranked No. 22 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time last year.

During a 2016 interview with Rolling Stone, Spector said, "All the musicians dropped whatever they were carrying, their horns and guitars, and they were gazing at this new chick in town." "Everyone in the band was saying, 'Oh, my God!' 'Her tone!' And I'm saying to myself, 'Me?' "A tiny girl from Spanish Harlem?" says the narrator.

The Ronettes became famous with the great success of "Be My Baby" in the summer of 1963, causing massive waves across the music scene. In 2013, Brian Wilson remarked, "I was driving [the first time I heard it], and I had to pull over to the side of the road - it blew my mind." "I always wanted to attempt to do something as amazing as that song, but I never got around to it." I've given up trying. It's the finest album ever made. "No one will ever be able to match it."

The Ronettes struggled to match it, despite a succession of singles the next year that propelled them to England, where they performed with the Rolling Stones. "Baby, I Love You," "Walking in the Rain," "(The Best Part of) Breakin' Up," and "Do I Love You" were also charted for the group.

Wilson said in a statement immediately after the news of her death emerged, "I just got the news about Ronnie Spector, and I don't know what to say." "I adored her voice, and she was a very unique individual and a great friend." This makes my heart shatter. Ronnie's music and attitude will be remembered for a long time."

Darlene Love, who worked with Spector in the early days, tells Rolling Stone, "She will have her own place in history because there was nobody like her." "She was this teeny little thing — she reminded me of a little Barbie doll when I first saw her in 1964." She did, however, have a powerful voice. That was rock & roll in the way she sung and danced onstage."

All of the group's singles were produced by Phil Spector, who began an affair with Ronnie immediately after signing the group in 1963. In 1968, they married and divorced in 1972. Her relationship with Spector, she said in her memoir Be My Baby, published in 1990, as defined by years of horrific violence and torture.

She remarked shortly after he died last year, "As I mentioned many times when he was living, he was a fantastic producer, but a miserable spouse." "Unfortunately, outside of the recording studio, Phil was unable to live and function." The darkness descended, and many lives were harmed. I still grin anytime I hear the music we produced together, and I will continue to do so in the future. The song will last indefinitely."

Veronica Yvette Bennett was raised in New York City and began singing at an early age alongside her sister Estelle and cousin Nedra Talley. They performed across the city as the Darling Sisters while still attending George Washington High School. Phil Spector signed them after a few failed singles and instantly began creating songs exclusively for her voice. "I knew I was working with the greatest when I saw him creating in the studio," she remarked. "He had perfect command and was guiding everyone." There was so much to appreciate about those days."

The band went to England in 1964 to perform a series of gigs with the Rolling Stones the following year. In 2016, she told Rolling Stone, "They were a group of scraggly-looking dudes." "However, I adored them, especially Keith, who had such a gruff appearance."

"They could sing all the way through a wall of sound," Richards recalled in 2007 when the Beatles was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. "They didn't require any assistance."

The popularity of British Invasion bands like the Stones and the Beatles drove away followers of groups like the Ronettes. A jealous Phil Spector refused to let Ronnie depart when the Ronettes were hired to open for the Beatles on their 1966 American tour. (They had no choice but to do the performances without her.)

It was the beginning of a bleak era in her life, during which Phil Spector sought to establish as much control over her as possible, seldom allowing Ronnie to leave their home. In 2012, she told The New Yorker, "He never let me read the newspaper or watch TV." "I had no idea Woodstock had happened." And I had no idea when Charles Manson murdered those folks on August 10, 1969, very near us. All I knew was that Phil began erecting barbed wire, followed by security dogs, and eventually weapons."

In 1972, she eventually broke free from him and began to rebuild her life and career. She told Rolling Stone, "My ex took my singing away from me, and it was horrible since I had no clue I'd never record." "I had no clue I'd never act again, which had been my entire existence." That surprised me since this is someone who wrote and produced your music... Then you'll never be able to sing again."

Her comeback began in 1976 when she collaborated with the E Street Band on a rendition of Billy Joel's "Say Goodbye to Hollywood." Eddie Money had her record a live sample of "Be My Baby" for his song "Take Me Home Tonight," but she didn't return to the spotlight until 1986. The song was a huge hit, and it exposed Spector's music to a new generation of listeners.

"It was incredible how that song brought her career back to life," Love adds. "It simply goes to demonstrate that you can get your life back on track." You are free to return as powerful as you wish."

Spector has traveled extensively and released new albums on a regular basis during the last three decades. She released the British Invasion covers album English Heart in 2016. "If someone had told me in the Sixties that I would be singing those songs 50 years later, I would have responded, "You're out of your mind," she told Rolling Stone in 2016.