BE MY BABY

BE MY BABY:
HOW I SURVIVED MASCARA, MINISKIRTS AND MADNESS
RONNIE SPECTOR and VINCE WALDRON
1989

I remember as a small kid staying up well into the early morning hours listening to a local AM radio station and hearing "Be My Baby" and "Baby I Love You."  Ronnie’s voice broke through those little speakers so strong that I had to keep the volume low so that it would not wake my parents.  In 1986 MTV had long since become a dominating force in the business, so when "Take Me Home Tonight" began its rotation, I knew instantly the voice that again pushed my small television speakers to the limit.  Eddie money put Ronnie Spector back in the top 20 like no one was able to do since Phil Spector locked her voice away, literally.

I know it has been awhile since this book was released and I am sure many have already flipped each page and became as engrossed in her story as I was.  Having finished the book in two days time, it was a feeling I had that I wanted everyone to expose themselves to Ronnie’s story so anyone living with someone who is dominating everything about their lives will know they can be free.  It is a story of inspiration that takes the reader on a journey of the ups and downs of not only a famous singer and the life of show business but is a lesson for people who feel they can never get out from whatever is holding them down.  This can be physical as well as mental abuse that leaves nowhere to turn and no strength to run.  But all you need is that moment of truth between life and death where you allow the courage to rule you long enough to make an escape.  Often, there are even tougher roads ahead, but conquering the first obstacle can bring the fighter inside to the surface.

This is what Ronnie Spector did, and in her voyage all the small stories were her voyage to true freedom.  Her life seemed to be in larger chapters even though the book broke them down into even smaller ones.  Her childhood, performing, Phil Spector, kids (part 1), escape, solitude, grabbing straws, alcohol, Jonathan Greenfield and kids (part 2) are the main chapters of her life.  It has been 21 years since the first printing and her path is one that many share, just not in the public eye.  There does not appear to be anything that was off limits in her quest to tell this story and for many reading this book it can be as therapeutic as it must have been for Spector.   Waldron, who co-authored, takes the stories of Ronnie’s life and paints pictures so real that at times you want to stand up and beg her to get over the walls that Phil is building around her.

Spector is a true rock 'n' roll living legend whose voice can still captivate an audience after all these years.  She has an amazing voice that still stands the test of time and can still send the sound techs scrambling to work the board knowing that Ronnie does not really need the microphone as her voice can carry anywhere inside an auditorium.