Things I learned about the Ronettes on the occasion of their being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

I had always thought, based on those incredibly nasal voices, the Ronettes were from Philadelphia, but apparently they are from Spanish Harlem, NYC. (I may also have been misled by the fact that they recorded for the Philles label.)

I had wondered what their ethnicity was under all that make-up: black? Puerto Rican? Sicilian? The Bennett sisters, Ronnie and Estelle, are mixed-race, black and Native American mother and white father, while cousin Nedra (the cute one) is African-American. (I know, I know, race is a social construct not a biological one.)

Phil Spector is on the Rock-&-Roll Hall of Fame nominating committee, and till now had black-balled the Ronettes. They made it in this year because he was otherwise engaged with his current legal difficulties.