MANHATTAN — Nedra Talley Ross, the last surviving member of the 1960s pop group the Ronettes, died at her Manhattan home on Sunday morning at the age of 80. Her death was confirmed on the Ronettes' official social media account.

"It is with heavy hearts that we share the news of Nedra Talley Ross' passing. She was a light to those who knew and loved her," the Ronettes' official social media account said.

Born in Manhattan in 1946, Talley Ross first began performing as a teenager with her cousins Ronnie Spector and Estelle Bennett. Ronnie Spector, born Veronica Bennett, formed the Ronettes in 1957, but the group's early singles failed to chart.

The trio's careers took off in 1963 after Estelle Bennett cold-called the office of producer Phil Spector. The Ronettes released just one studio album, but their hits included Be My Baby, Walking in the Rain, Baby, I Love You and (The Best Part of) Breakin' Up. Be My Baby was later used in the films Mean Streets and Dirty Dancing, and the songwriters' agency BMI calculated that since 1963 the song had been played in 3.9 million feature presentations on radio and television.

The Ronettes joined the Beatles on their final world tour in 1966, and the Rolling Stones supported the group on a UK tour. "They could sing all their way right through a wall of sound. They didn't need anything. They touched my heart right there and then and they touch it still," Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards said.

The Ronettes split in 1967. "I hated the 'dog-eat-dog' side of show-business. I hated pushing for the next record and the feeling of failure if we didn't get it. There was a continual demand on us to produce that I thought was unfair," Talley Ross said. After the group, she worked as a solo musician.

Phil Spector and Ronnie Spector married in 1968, and Ronnie Spector filed for divorce in 1974. The Ronettes later launched a legal battle to sue Phil Spector over unpaid royalties. In 2002, New York's state court of appeals heard that the group had earned less than $15,000 in royalties from their hits, and judges found that the Ronettes' 1963 contract gave Phil Spector unconditional rights to the recordings.

Phil Spector murdered the actor Lana Clarkson in 2003 and died in prison in 2021 while serving a sentence of 19 years to life. The Ronettes were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007. Estelle Bennett died at the age of 67 in 2009, and Ronnie Spector died from cancer at the age of 78 in 2022.