The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Famed rock music producer, convicted murderer dies at 81
LOS ANGELES — Phil Spector, the eccentric and revolutionary music producer who transformed rock music with his “Wall of Sound” method and who later was convicted of murder, has died at age 81. California state prison officials said he died Saturday of natural causes at a hospital.
Spector was convicted of murdering actress Lana Clarkson in 2003. Clarkson was found shot to death in the foyer of Spector’s mansion in the hills overlooking Alhambra, a suburban town on the edge of Los Angeles. After a trial in 2009, he was sentenced to 19 years to life.
Until the actress’ death, which Spector maintained was an “accidental suicide,” few residents even knew the mansion belonged to the reclusive producer, who spent his remaining years in a prison hospital east of Stockton.
Decades earlier, Spector had been hailed as a vision- ary for channeling Wagnerian ambition into the three-minute song, creating the “Wall of Sound” that merged spirited vocal harmonies with lavish orches- tral arrangements to produce such pop monuments as “Da Doo Ron Ron,” “Be My Baby” and “He’s a Rebel.” He was the rare self-con- scious artist in rock’s early years and cultivated an image of mystery and power with his dark shades and impassive expression. Writer Tom Wolfe declared him the “first tycoon of teen” and John Lennon called him “the greatest record producer ever.”
The secret to his sound: an overdubbed onslaught of instruments, vocals and sound effects that changed the way pop records were recorded. He called the result “little symphonies for the kids.” By his mid20s, his “little symphonies” had resulted in nearly two dozen hit singles. “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling,” the Righteous Brothers bal- lad that topped the charts in 1965, has been tabulated as the song most played on radio and television — counting the many cover versions — in the 20th century.
B ut tha n ks in part to the arrival of the Beatles, his chart success would soon fade. When “River Deep-mountain High,” an aptly named 1966 release that featured Tina Turner, failed to catch on, Spector shut down his record label and withdrew from the business for three years. He would go on to produce the Beatles and Lennon among others, but he was now serving the artists, instead of the other way around. By the mid1970s, Spector had largely retreated from the music business.
The volume, and violence, of Spector’s music reflected a dark side he could barely contain even at his peak. He was imperious, temperamen- tal and dangerous, remembered bitterly by singers Dar- lene Love, Ronnie Spector and others who worked with him. Years of stories of his waving guns at recording artists in the studio and threatening women would come back to haunt him after Clarkson’s death.
According to witnesses, Clarkson had agreed, some- what reluctantly, to accom- pany Spector home from the House of Blues in West Hollywood, where she worked. Shortly after their arrival in Alhambra in the pre-dawn hours of Feb. 3, 2003, a chauffeur reported that Spector came out of the house holding a gun, blood on his hands, and told him, “I think I killed somebody.” He would later tell friends Clarkson had shot herself. The case was fraught with mystery, and it took author- ities a year to file charges.
A 2007 trial ended in a 10-2 deadlock leaning toward conviction. His defense had argued that the actress, despondent about her fading career, shot herself through the mouth. A retrial got underway in October 2008.
Spector was born Dec. 26, 1939, in New York City. He attended UCLA for a year before dropping out to return to New York, where he began working with star composers Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. Ultimately, he found his niche in produc- ing. During this period, he also co-wrote the hit song, “Spanish Harlem,” with Ben E. King and played lead guitar on the Drifters’ “On Broadway.”
For a time he h ad h is own production company, Philles Records, with part- ner Lester Silles, where he developed his signature sound. He assembled such respected studio musicians as arranger Jack Nitzsche, guitarist Tommy Tedesco, pianist Leon Russell and drummer Hal Blaine, and gave early breaks to Glen Campbell, Sonny Bono and Bono’s future wife, Cher.
Spector’s domestic life, along with his career, eventually came apart. After his first marriage broke up, Ronettes lead singer Ronnie Bennett became his girlfriend and muse. He married her in 1968 and they adopted three chil- dren. But she divorced him after six years, claiming in a memoir that he held her prisoner in their mansion, where she said he kept a gold coffin in the basement and told her he would kill her and put her in it if she ever tried to leave him.
When the Ronettes were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007, Spector sent along his con- gratulations. But in an accep- tance speech by his ex-wife, she never mentioned him while thanking many others.
In 1982, Spector married Janis Lynn Zavala and the couple had twins, Nicole and Phillip Jr. The boydied at age 10 of leukemia. Six months before his first murder trial began, Spector married Rachelle Short, a 26-yearold singer and actress. He filed for divorce in 2016.