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. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Anyone who's ever heard "Be My Baby" by the Ronettes (and that includes singer Billy Joel, who in the introduction says the song "oozes sex") will be familiar with Ronnie Spector. A self-proclaimed half-breed (black, Cherokee, and white), she was Ronnie Bennett until she married fabled record producer Phil Spector, who turned the Ronettes into one of the hottest "girl groups" of the 1960s. Unfortunately, Phil, at least according to Ronnie, was not only talented, he was also nuts, keeping her a virtual prisoner in their Hollywood mansion. Enforced isolation didn't do Ronnie much good. She became an alcoholic, and her addiction took years to overcome. Despite all the hard times, Ronnie comes across here as a survivor, and the book maintains a surprisingly jaunty tone. Spector's more recent life as wife/mother/part-time singer isn't as compelling as the early trauma--except when she describes how she had her first baby at home, in the toilet. Old-time rock 'n' rollers are the natural audience for this memoir, but Spector also has something to say to post-baby boomers about the urgency of youth. --Ilene Cooper