Death also claims Estelle Bennett, one of the original Ronettes Estelle Bennett, of Ronettes

Estelle Bennett, one of the beehived queens of 1960s girl-group pop as a member of the Ronettes, has died at her home in Englewood, N.J. She was 67.

She was found Wednesday in her apartment by a friend, after family members had been unable to reach her for several days, said her daughter, Toyin Hunter. The cause was colon cancer, Hunter said.

With their short skirts, heavy makeup and enormous towers of Aquanet-steadied hair, the Ronettes were New York's sassy, street-smart variation on the virginal girl-group model. Their biggest hits, like "Be My Baby" and "Baby, I Love You," embodied the forceful "wall of sound" aesthetic of their producer, Phil Spector, with a simple but reverberant backbeat and swells of strings and vocals.

The group was led by Bennett's younger sister, Veronica (better known as Ronnie), who, with Hunter, survives her. It also included their cousin Nedra Talley. Their unpolished but flirty voices, and Ronnie's breaking "whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh" in "Be My Baby," have echoed through generations of female rock singers.

-- New York Times