The Ronettes
The Ronettes () were an American girl group from New York City. One of the most popular groups from the 1960s, they placed nine songs on the "Billboard" Hot 100, five of which became Top 40 hits. The trio from Spanish Harlem, New York, consisted of lead singer Veronica Bennett (later known as Ronnie Spector), her older sister Estelle Bennett, and their cousin Nedra Talley. Among the Ronettes' most famous songs are "Be My Baby", "Baby, I Love You", "(The Best Part of) Breakin' Up", and "Walking in the Rain", all of which charted on the "Billboard" Hot 100. "Walking in the Rain" won a Grammy Award in 1965, and "Be My Baby" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999. The Ronettes were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007.
Jennifer Jones (Rockette)
When Jones crossed the color barrier in 1987, she abolished a longstanding Radio City Music Hall policy against hiring African Americans for its Rockettes’ chorus line so as not to distract from its hallmark of perfectly-synchronized precision and rigid color uniformity. The rule was set-down in 1925 by Russell E. Markert when he founded the Rockettes dance company in St. Louis with its chorus line modeled on the precision dance style inspired by early 20th century dance troupes such as the Ziegfeld Follies and the Folies Bergère.