Retro Video of the Week: "Take Me Home Tonight" by Eddie Money

Today we lost a rock and roll legend, Veronica "Ronnie" Spector (née Bennett), lead singer of The Ronettes and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  She was 78.  For me, there was always something different about The Ronettes than the other groups of the girl group genre.  With Phil Spector's Wall of Sound behind her, Ronnie's vocals provided an extra pop.  "Be My Baby" is one of the greatest pop songs ever written, although I like "Baby, I Love You" better.  She and Phil Spector began having an affair in 1963, and they would eventually marry in 1968.  She then suffered through four years of marriage where she was basically a prisoner in her own home and forbidden from recording, forced to escape their house barefoot in 1972, before finally getting a divorce in 1974, in which she basically got nothing and was forced to forfeit any future record earnings to Spector because Spector threatened to hire a hit man to kill her unless she agreed.  Turns out Phil Spector was a bit of a psycho.  Who knew?

In 1986, a new generation of listeners was introduced to Ronnie thanks to Eddie Money's hit song "Take Me Home Tonight," a tribute to Ronnie on which she sings backing vocals.  When Eddie sings "just like Ronnie sang," Ronnie comes in with "be my little baby" from "Be My Baby."  The song was Money's biggest hit, reaching #4 on the Billboard Hot 100.  It helped rejuvenate both of their careers, thanks in part to the video, which got good airplay on MTV.  In the video, Ronnie is kind of obscured, but then she joins Money on stage about 2/3 of the way through, for the exciting climax of the song.