Nedra Talley Ross, the last living member of The Ronettes, the girl group whose soaring harmonies and towering beehives helped define the sound of the 1960s, died Sunday morning at age 80. She passed at home, in her own bed, surrounded by family.

Her daughter, Nedra K. Ross, announced the death on Facebook on Sunday night. CNN reported the news along with statements from the family and the band's official social media accounts. No cause of death was given.

With Ross's passing, the trio that gave the world "Be My Baby," "Baby I Love You," and "Walking in the Rain" is now entirely gone. Ronnie Spector died in 2022. Estelle Bennett died roughly two years after the group's 2007 induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. The music endures. The women who made it do not.

A family affair from the start

Ross was born January 27, 1946, in New York City. In 1959, at just thirteen, she joined forces with her cousins Ronnie Spector and Estelle Bennett to form a singing group. They called themselves Ronnie and the Relatives at first, then the Darling Sisters, before settling on The Ronettes.

The three teenagers didn't come out of a record-label assembly line. They came out of a family. That distinction mattered, and Ross never forgot it. In her Rock & Roll Hall of Fame acceptance speech, she credited her mother for knocking on doors when the industry wasn't eager to sign "three young pretty girls that they said were going to change their minds down the road."

Fame arrived in 1963 after the group signed with producer Phil Spector, the architect of the era's "Wall of Sound." Their first single under his direction, "Be My Baby," became one of the most recognizable recordings in pop history. Hits followed: "Baby I Love You," "Walking in the Rain," "Do I Love You?" The Ronettes weren't background players. They were the standard.

By 1964, the group had crossed the Atlantic. They enjoyed enormous success in the United Kingdom, sharing bills with the Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, and the Yardbirds. In 1966, they opened for the Beatles on what would be the Fab Four's final American tour. That's the company The Ronettes kept.

Keith Richards remembered

When the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inducted The Ronettes at its 22nd annual ceremony in 2007, Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards did the honors. He recalled first encountering the trio in 1964, and his words were spare and direct, as AP News reported in its own account of Ross's death.

"They touched my heart right there and then and they touch it still."

Ross used her own time at the podium to talk about faith, family, and gratitude, not grievance. She thanked Jesus for saving her life through open heart surgery. She thanked her husband, Scott Ross, and their four children. And she spoke with clear-eyed honesty about the business that had made her famous.

"Show business is a thing that can be great, but it can be bad, too. For us, we had a family that gave us a core to help stabilize us in a very difficult crazy world. It was a fun time. I thank God."

That speech captured something essential about Nedra Talley Ross. She wasn't the lead singer, Ronnie Spector held that role. She wasn't the one whose turbulent marriage to Phil Spector generated tabloid headlines and, eventually, a divorce in 1974. Ross was the steady one. The one who stayed grounded. The one who, decades later, stood at a podium and thanked the Lord before she thanked the industry.

A legacy of faith and family

In an era when public figures are often remembered for their controversies, Ross's story stands out for its simplicity. She sang. She raised a family. She kept her faith. When the spotlight moved on, she didn't chase it into self-destruction. In a culture that so often measures legacy by volume and controversy, that quiet steadiness is worth noting.

The group broke up in 1967, just four years after their meteoric rise. The Ronettes' catalog was small but devastating in its impact. "Be My Baby" alone has appeared in countless films, commercials, and compilations. It remains a touchstone for anyone who cares about American popular music.

Her daughter's Facebook announcement carried the tone of a woman raised in a household where faith came first. Nedra K. Ross wrote simply:

"At approximately 8:30 this morning our mother Nedra Talley Ross went home to be with the Lord. She was safe in her own bed at home with her family close, knowing she was loved. Thank you Lord."

The Ronettes' official Facebook account followed with its own tribute, calling Ross "a light to those who knew and loved her." The statement credited her voice, style, and spirit with helping "define a sound that would change music," adding that "her contribution to the group's story and their defining influence will live forever."

Public remembrances of the departed, whether prominent political figures or cultural icons, tend to reveal what a society values. The outpouring for Ross has centered on her warmth, her faith, and the music itself. Not scandal. Not politics. Just a woman who helped build something beautiful and held onto what mattered.

The last Ronette

Ross's death closes a chapter in American music that began when three teenage cousins from New York City decided they could sing. They could. They did. And the world listened.

Estelle Bennett is gone. Ronnie Spector is gone. Now Nedra Talley Ross is gone. Phil Spector, the producer who shaped their sound and complicated their lives, preceded them all.

What remains is the music, and the example of a woman who, when given the biggest microphone of her career at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, used it to thank God and her mother.

In a world that rewards spectacle, Nedra Talley Ross chose gratitude. That tells you everything you need to know.