Spector Gets Slammed In Court

The Ronettes finally got their day in court Tuesday, as a judge in the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York heard first-day arguments in their lawsuit vs. producer Phil Spector.

The Ronettes -- whose Spector-helmed hits include "Be My Baby" and "Walking In The Rain" -- charge that the producer, his Philles Records label, and successor labels breached the group's 34-year-old contract by paying the members, led by Spector's ex-wife Ronnie Greenfield, no royalties since 1963.

The suit, filed in 1988, was held up by a slow discovery process and legal maneuvering. It asks for $12 million in damages, rescission of the contract, the return of the masters, and recoupment of all monies received by the defendants, minus expenses, from the sale of Ronettes masters.

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Song Stories

“Is It True”

Brenda Lee | 1964

As the British Invasion reached its peak in 1964, Brenda Lee went from Nashville to London to record one of her hardest-rocking hits, her perky vocal backed by a stuttering, squalling guitar. That guitar was played by session musician Jimmy Page, yet to skyrocket to fame with first the Yardbirds and then Led Zeppelin. "She said to me, 'I've come here to make a record with the British sound,'" remembered producer Mickie Most. "She felt she wouldn't get the same sound in Nashville because they're only just catching up on the British beat group sound of about six months ago."

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