Her sweet smile made Nedra Talley Ross the odd one out in the Ronettes, whose other two members, her cousins Veronica and Estelle Bennett, faced the world with sultry stares as they climbed the pop charts in 1963 with their first hit, Be My Baby .

All three, however, shared a look borrowed from the tough girls in Spanish Harlem, the New York neighbourhood where they had grown up: piled-up hairdos, heavy eye makeup and slinky, shiny, skin-tight dresses.

Talley Ross, who has died aged 80, was with the group when they toured Britain in 1964, supporting the Rolling Stones and meeting the Beatles at a party.…