IN 2016, Uncut interviewed Ronnie Spector for our An Audience With… feature. At the time, she was promoting her fifth solo album, English Heart –a collection of songs written by her trans-Atlantic contemporaries including The Beatles, Stones and Kinks. The interview ran to over 6,000 words and much of it remains unpublished. When we spoke, Phil Spector was appealing to overturn his prison sentence for the murder of Lana Clarkson and Ronnie had been advised not to directly discuss their relationship. Ronnie was otherwise incredibly candid and happy to talk about innocent times with John Lennon and George Harrison, encounters with Jimi Hendrix and David Bowie and her heartbreaking friendship with Joey Ramone – as well as her peerless run of hits. “I had all the great writers of the ’60s writing my songs,” she told us. “It was amazing.”
UNCUT: Why did you chose these songs on English Heart in particular?