I wish Spector had told the truth.. and had not tried to malign her in death
Victim’s mum on killer music producer
People told me Spector was unnerving. I wish I could have warned Lana to stay away
in 2021 after complications from Covid. Donna says: “I felt nothing. Nothing changes what he did. Lana was my baby. I miss and cry for her every day.”
Lana had been working at the House of Blues club for three weeks when she met Spector. She had refused him entry to a VIP area because she didn’t know who he was and Donna believes she may have agreed to go for a drink with him to make amends.
Known as Pyrenees Castle, Spector’s mansion was filled with memorabili including a John Lennon guitar and diamond cufflinks from Elvis Presley.
Lana’s body was found slumped in a chair, her purse over her shoulder.
In a nearby bureau was a holster which matched the murder weapon.
The truth Donna wanted was in fact uttered moments after Lana was murdered. Spector’s driver Adriano De Souza rang 911 to say his boss had emerged from the house, gun in hand, saying: “I think I killed somebody.”
But at the police station, Spector claimed Lana fired the gun herself.
Donna recalls her daughter being “vibrant and happy” and says one of the first to leave flowers at her home was an LA charity where Lana volunteered, delivering food to housebound people.
“Lana would be all dressed up for an audition then, on the way, she’d deliver food,” she says. “People would be stunned at the sight of her looking so
glamorous. She was so striking, being so tall and beautiful, Lana always stood out. She tried to deal with that through comedy to put people at ease.
“She was always gracious. The night she died, she happily chatted to Spector’s driver – before he told her not to.”
At the time, Spector’s star had faded.
An insecure control freak, Lana’s inability to recognise him would have confirmed his fear of irrelevance.
“I think he lost his superpower, he liked to control everything – like when he was in the music business – so he tried to show power in some other way,” Donna says.
Susan Michelson, 74, a music executive, was Lana’s friend for over 20 years.
She says: “There was no way to know what would happen. Spector wasn’t the big figure he once was, half-forgotten.
“When Lana died, people who had worked with him told me how he unnerved people, how he shot a gun through a recording studio’s ceiling because things were not going his way.
“I wish I had been able to warn her to stay away from him.” Every year, on the anniversary of Lana’s death, Donna gathers her daughter’s friends at her grave: “We share our love and memories.
“I’m grateful she packed a lot in her life,” Donna says. “We didn’t know it was going to be so short. She worked around the world as a model. Even now, it’s like she’s just away travelling and will be home soon.”
Donna recently took part in a Spector docuseries, which aired on Sky, to tell Lana’s side of the story.
She says: “It was something I needed to do for Lana. I feel Lana’s presence around me. I will not let her become the forgotten victim in Spector’s history.
This little Jack Russell proved to be a lifesaver after alerting her owner to a potentially deadly house blaze.
Jordan Kent was running a bath when candles in her bedroom set fire to a dressing gown.
Her beloved pooch Maddy began barking furiously outside the bedroom door, and when Jordan looked inside she was met by a wall of smoke and flames.
Firefighters arrived within minutes, and Jordan says that without Maddy she would not have noticed the fire until it was too late. She said: “It wasn’t her regular bark as if she was playing, it was as if she was scared. If it wasn’t for her I don’t know what would have happened. I’m so glad we got out and the firefighters were there so quickly.”