Phil Spector, pop genius jailed for murder dies at 81
MUSIC legend and murderer Phil Spector has died of a Covidrelated illness a decade into his prison sentence.
The 81-year-old passed away in hospital in California on Saturday four weeks after being diagnosed with the virus.
Branded an eccentric, a recluse, a gun obsessive and a nightmare to work with, he was a pioneer of the 1960s girl-group sound. He racked up more than 25 US top 40 hits between 1960 and 1965.
He went on to work with some of the biggest names in music, including The Beatles, Cher, Ike and Tina Turner, Leonard Cohen and The Righteous Brothers.
But in 2009, Spector was sentenced to a minimum 19 years in prison for murdering actress Lana Clarkson in Los Angeles.
The 40-year-old died of a gunshot fired into her mouth while in Spector’s mansion in 2003.
He claimed her death was an “accidental suicide”, famously telling one magazine she “kissed the gun” before pulling the trigger herself. However the jury
unanimously rejected his claims. Ex-wife Ronnie Spector, whose music he produced in The Ronettes, said it was a “sad day for music and a sad day for me”.
They married in 1968 and divorced six years later, with Ronnie claiming he would keep her prisoner in his mansion and even threatened to kill her.
Steven Van Zandt, of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, said Spector battled demons.
He tweeted: “A genius irredeemably conflicted, he was the ultimate example of the art always being better than the artist, having made some of the greatest records in history based on the salvation of love while remaining incapable of giving or receiving love his whole life.”
Blondie guitarist Chris Stein added: “When we went to Phil Spector’s house in the 70s he came to the door holding a bottle of diet Manischewitz wine in one
hand and a, presumably loaded, 45 automatic in the other,” he tweeted. “I thought he was nuts.”
Spector is famed for originating the “wall of sound” production technique, layering instruments to create a dense, echoing effect.
Born in 1939 in the Bronx, New York, to Jewish immigrants, Spector’s father took his own life a decade later.
His mother moved the family to Los Angeles in 1953 where he formed the Teddy Bears, who had a top 10 hit with To Know Him Is to Love Him. By the time he was 21, he was a millionaire.
As a producer, some of his biggest hits included The Beatles’ Long And Winding Road and album Let It Be, and The Crystals’ Da Doo Ron Ron. He co-wrote The Righteous Brothers’ You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling.
In 2006, while awaiting trial, he married Rachelle Short, 26, a former Playboy model. Spector filed for divorce in April 2016.