Ronnie Spector's coming back to the Paramount Theatre on Aug. 26 with the Ronettes as part of the "Cruisin' the Circuit" tour.

The show will include Shirley Alston Reeves — the original lead singer of The Shirelles — as well as The Crystals, The Coasters, Charlie Thomas' Drifters, Asbury Park's own Nicky Addeo and New Jersey 101.5's Big Joe Henry.

Her songs pack in so much emotion that in about three minutes, you could just choke up. This is especially true with songs such as "Walking in the Rain," "Baby I Love You," "Be My Baby" which was used in the hit movie "Dirty Dancing." It's also used in a famous scene from the TV show "Moonlighting" where Bruce Willis' character David finally hooks up with Cybill Sheppherd's character Maddie. Eddie Money's classic "Take Me Home Tonight" was written about her as was Billy Joel's "Say Goodbye To Hollywood."

Billboard Magazine selected the Ronettes' "Be My Baby" as their number one greatest girl group song of all time. She's back with the Ronettes and says she can't wait to go back to Asbury park and perform later this month.

I've been a huge Ronnie Spector fan all my life and was privileged to have her call into my show last Thursday. She told me a story about John Lennon whom she became great friends with.

"I'm walking down the street in New York City, and I hear 'Hey Ronnie, Ronnie Ronette!' It was John Lennon and I told him, 'John, I've got to make another record.' Lennon was with Jimmy Iovine and they told Ronnie to go to the Record Plant and 'it was at Record Plant that I met Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band at Record Plant and the rest is history."

Spector would go on to perform with Bruce at the Palladium in 1976.

"Being with Bruce and the guys was so much fun, cause it got me back into the world of music on stage which is my passion, and it got me back into doing what I love," she said.

Ronnie hadn't performed for seven or eight years before that time. She also performed last December at Sting's Biennial Rainforst Show at Carnegie Hall.

"There I am with Springsteen again on stage rocking it out," she recalled.

Spector talked about how the rock n roll ties that bind.

"I hadn't seen Bruce in like 15 years and when I saw him it was like yesterday, that's how we rock n rollers are, same thing with John Lennon."

I asked Ronnie what Lennon would think if he saw what was going on now in the world. "He would be mortified, I knew him really well if saw it, he would not like it at all."

Ronnie is now back with the Ronette's and the have a new song called "Love Power" which s produced by Narada Michael Walden who is ranked by Billboard in the top 10 producers of all time. The song was released last Friday and you can hear it here:

Steve Trevelise is on the air from Monday-Thursday, 7 to 11 p.m. Tweet him @realstevetrev or @nj1015.

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