When the Ronettes’ record “Be My Baby” became a hit, the Beatles wanted to meet them.
“They had seen us on Sunday Night at the London Palladium and they said, ‘We have got to meet these girls with the black long hair and slits up the side,’” said Spector.
Both groups were invited to a party at a glitzy London townhouse. Despite the fact that John was married and Spector was linked to her producer (and future husband) Phil Spector, she says John made a romantic overture.
“John took me into a room to show me the beautiful lights over London,” she said.
“I said, ‘Wow, it’s so beautiful.’ And he said, ‘Yeah, you are.’”
“I was young then, and I was seeing Phil. I didn’t want to kiss other guys and stuff,” she said about John allegedly trying to steer her into a bedroom.
“I just dug my feet into the carpet, ‘We gotta go downstairs, John!’”
Spector said John took the rejection in stride.
“He said, ‘Okay, I guess I lost on that one!’” Ronnie recalls.
“He was so nice and polite,” she said.
“He’d take me to clubs, and he took me to Carnaby Street to get all the t-shirts. We didn’t know what was in London, so John was all, ‘Don’t worry, Ronnie: I will take you.’ And then at night they’d take us to clubs.”
Once, Ronnie and John arranged a double dinner date with Spector’s sister — and fellow Ronette — Estelle Bennett and George. It seemed like a great idea until the sisters’ mom crashed it.
“My mother toured with us everywhere. John and George were picking us up at the hotel to take us to dinner,” said Ronnie.
“They were so nice and polite, they said, ‘Mrs. Bennett, would you like to go to dinner with us?’ And my mother said, ‘Sure, let me get my purse!’ I almost had a heart attack! We were just at the age where we wanted to go out and have fun, and here’s Mom with us!? No no no. But we didn’t know how to say that. So we took her to dinner like good little girls, and of course John and George were so polite: ‘Ok, Mrs. Bennett, we’ll wait for you to get your purse.’ And I’m looking at them: ‘We wanna see England without mom!’
Below are photos of George with the Ronettes on January 28, 1964 and John with Ronnie at the Hippopotamus Club in NYC in November 1974.
