Ronnie Spector finished revising her 1990 memoir Be My Baby… just weeks before her death, with a new edition expected in the spring.
The ’60s icon and leader of The Ronettes died on Wednesday (January 12) “after a brief battle with cancer”, her family confirmed in a statement. She was 78 years old.
- READ MORE: Ronnie Spector, 1943 – 2022: an indelible icon with a voice like a tiger slurping cocktails
According to publisher Henry Holt, Spector had been working on an updated version of Be My Baby: How I Survived Mascara, Miniskirts, and Madness, which is due for release on May 3. You can pre-order it in various formats here.
“She knew that she was sick and I knew that she was sick, but she was being discreet about it,” Henry Holt’s editor-in-chief, Sarah Crichton, told Rolling Stone.
“She was thinking that things would go well. She had a lot of dreams, and we had a lot of dreams.”
It’s said that Spector and co-author Vince Waldron spent around one year working alongside Crichton on the new edition, with Spector signing off on the final amendments just two weeks ago.
The late singer also wrote a new postscript in which she detailed her life in recent years. She also had plans for a book tour to promote the release.
In the wake of Spector’s passing, the likes of Brian Wilson, Keith Richards, Gene Simmons and Joan Jett took to social media to pay tribute.
“I just heard the news about Ronnie Spector and I don’t know what to say,” Wilson wrote. “I loved her voice so much and she was a very special person and a dear friend. This just breaks my heart. Ronnie’s music and spirit will live forever.”
BBC Four will air a special 30-minute programme titled Ronnie Spector At The BBC tonight (January 14) at 9pm GMT.
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