The voice startles first: almost exactly the mixture of sand and honey, innocence and wantonness, that entranced Phil Spector into producing some of the greatest pop singles of the 60s with the Ronettes. Then there’s the hair: now a more relaxed version of the famous beehive beloved of Amy Winehouse, but still big enough to house a family of small animals.
It’s hard to believe that this extraordinary woman with a teenager’s physique and the audience hanging on her every word is 72. She was 17 when she left her native New York for Gold Star Studios in Los Angeles. Decades later, her only concession to age comes when she sits between songs. But that is when we get the stories: how the young Ronettes stuffed Kleenex in their bras, shared a bus with the “scraggly” Rolling Stones, and gave Dusty Springfield a Ronette beehive.
Spector wipes something from her eyes as she mentions her late sister and fellow Ronette Estelle, but this is a feel good show. The top-drawer setlist stretches from Ronettes hits to Winehouse’s Back to Black. Before Johnny Thunders’ You Can’t Put Your Arms Around a Memory, Spector reveals that she found the ill-fated New York Doll weeping through one of her shows, and later recorded his song with Joey Ramone.
The famous drum beat kicks off Be My Baby, the signature wall of sound that remains Brian Wilson’s favourite song and typifies perfect pop. By Frosty the Snowman and I Can Hear Music, the audience are on their feet. There’s no mention of Spector’s ex-husband Phil, currently serving a life sentence for murder, but having long fled his clutches she’s finally reminding the world that Ronnie Spector is a legend too.
- At Barbican, London, 3 December. Box office: 020-7638 8891. Then touring.
