Brushes With Greatness: When SohoJohnny Met Ronnie Spector

Phil Spector may well have been a terrible man but at least he gave us his former wife Ronnie Spector, who formed The Ronettes with her sister and cousin.

Ronnie’s mother was an African-American-Cherokee and her father an Irish–American, though some of us always considered an honorary Italian-American. In the 1960s The Ronettes had a run of circles that equal and then surpassed even the Greatest girl groups of the time. From 1963 – 1964 The Ronettes released “Be My Baby”, “Baby, I Love You”,”The Best Part of Breakin’ Up”, “Do I Love You?”, and “Walking in the Rain” (1964). That’s the sort of run of hits that gets you the opening slot on The Beatles 1966 tour, not to mention the sort of looks that has John Lennon chasing you.

It also gets you a meeting with SohoJohnny, who could change his name to Johnny on the spot if he so chose! As SohoJohnny puts it: “😞🙏 RIP my beautiful friend….”