Be My Baby

October 1, 2021

A Duff Cooper Prize winner for Becoming Dickens, Oxford English professor Douglas-Fairhurst argues that for Dickens the emotionally tumultuous year of 1851 was The Turning Point that singularly shaped his oeuvre. A professor of Aegean civilization at the University of Bologna, Ferrera moves from Mesopotamia and Crete to China, Central America, Easter Island, and beyond to chronicle The Greatest Invention--writing. In I Was Better Last Night, Fierstein talks about being a cultural icon, gay rights activist, and four-time Tony Award-winning actor and playwright. Emmy Award-winning writer Galloway, who created the Reporter's famed Oscar Roundtables, revisits Madly in love Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh, among the first global celebrities (75,000-copy first printing). In Keats, British literary critic Miller uses verse and epitaph, e.g., "Endymion," "Bright Star," to explore the life of the English Romantic and present him less as dreamer than subversive. In a book structured as a series of letters to her book-loving father, Nafisi urges us to Read Dangerously, addressing literature as both solace and subversive power that can challenge repressive politics; originally scheduled for August 2021 (75,000-copy first printing). Oscar-nominated screenwriter, director, and actor Polley offers six essays capturing moments of her life, from stage fright to risky childbirth to healing herself after traumatic injury by retraining her mind to Run Towards the Danger, i.e., the very things that triggered her recurrent symptoms. The creator of The Good Place and cocreator of Parks and Recreation, Schur offers How To Be Perfect as a laugh-out-loud guide to living not the good life but the better life (200,000-copy first printing). Lead singer of the Ronettes--remember Be My Baby?--Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Spector recounts professional collaboration with and marriage to Phil Spector, then fighting to reclaim her musical legacy and her life (75,000-copy first printing).

Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

The lead singer of the Ronettes and former wife of producer Phil Spector recounts her roller-coaster career and emotionally abusive marriage. Born in Spanish Harlem in 1943, Veronica Bennett always loved to sing. As teens, she, her sister, and her cousin met a small-time agent who got them work playing bar mitzvahs. He introduced them to a producer, and they made a record. It bombed, but the three put on matching yellow dresses, stuffed their bras, and went to New York's hottest club; by the time the night was over, they had a regular gig as dancers. Then they started dancing at the Brooklyn Fox rock-and-roll revue, where they performed alongside the Shirelles, the Supremes, Marvin Gaye, and others. In 1963, Phil Spector agreed to audition them; he signed them because he loved Ronnie's voice. As the group rehearsed, Phil and Ronnie became involved. "Be My Baby" became their first and biggest hit. The group toured England, where they made friends with the Beatles (Ronnie flirted with John, but stayed true to Phil). But trouble started when Ronnie and Phil got a mansion in Beverly Hills. Phil was fiercely possessive. He convinced her not to open for the Beatles. He yelled at her, then hired servants to watch her every move. Marriage didn't help. He preferred to keep her at home than to record with her, and she became so bored she drank all the time. Finally, she left him and tried to relaunch her career, but she was often drunk. Then, however, she met a sane and gentle man, quit drinking, and had two babies. Spector's portrait of the energy of the early Sixties music scene is fascinating. Although she doesn't explicitly discuss the girl group phenomenon, what really comes across is how completely she ceded control--first to her mother, then to her various producers--especially her husband. A lively, illuminating read, then, for fans of the period or for anyone interested in the power politics of the music business.

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August 29, 1990
Lead singer for the Ronettes, one of the better so-called ``girl groups'' of the 1960s, Spector provides an insider's look at the madness and glamour of an explosive period in rock music. Much of the book revolves around her relationship with Phil Spector, the star-making producer whose ``Wall of Sound'' concept revolutionized recording studio technique. According to the singer, her husband was obsessed with control, keeping her a virtual prisoner in his mansion for nearly five years before she broke free to reestablish a life and career of her own. Now remarried with two children, and having met with success in her struggle against alcoholism, the singer, aided by freelance writer Waldron, reminisces with apparent objectivity. Her candor, amid the recent rash of tell-all books by aging rock stars, is refreshing and puts Be My Baby a cut above the standard self-serving, bonkers-and-back autobiography. Photos not seen by PW.