Covid Killed ‘Wall of Sound’ Producer Phil Spector; Revisiting The Ronettes Outside Parisi Bakery

Posted on: January 19th, 2021 at 5:07 am by

Phil Spector, the legendary “Wall of Sound” producer, music impresario, and convicted murderer, died on Saturday of purported complications from Covid-19 at the Health Care Facility in Stockton (California), after being transferred from prison. He was 81.

Incarcerated for murdering Lana Clarkson in 2003, Spector would spend his final years behind bars. Which makes paying tribute to the man rather complicated. Squaring some of the best music in the last sixty years with its creator, a known abuser and convicted murderer.

Nevertheless, the occasion felt appropriate to exhume the following 1965 promo video for “Be My Baby,” as performed by the Ronnettes, which takes place outside Parisi Bakery.

Phil Spector’s famous girl group shot a strange music video in the area. Predominantly in front of Parisi Bakery at 198 Mott Street, with the Empire State Building in the background. It aired during the onetime Murray The K – It’s What’s Happening, Baby TV special, hosted by the legendary rock-n-roll radio deejay.

Scope out the footage of Mott Street and the Parisi Bakery. The treatment itself is rather strange, with the three Ronettes crowding out a preppy guy who seems more interested in stuffing a hot dog down his throat. They then duck into the legendary business, and exit with three sandwiches. Murray the K concludes the clip by appearing from the basement level.

The Ronettes – Veronica Bennett (later known as Ronnie Spector), her older sister Estelle Bennett, and their cousin Nedra Talley – hailed from Spanish Harlem, and would eventually tour with The Beatles. “Be My Baby” is arguably their most well-known song, penned by Phil Spector, Ellie Greenwich, and Jeff Barry. It was recorded in 1963.

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