PHIL SPECTOR (1939 - 2021)

Phil Spector, a highly influential producer and songwriter known for the creation of "the wall of sound" which brought a dense orchestral aesthetic to rock music, has passed away at the age of eighty-one. He died on January 16th from complications of COVID-19 as an inmate at the California Health Care Facility in Stockton, CA. after being convicted for the 2003 murder of actress, Lana Clarkson and sentenced to nineteen years to life in prison. This is not a warm tribute to this unstable and deeply troubled man but simply acknowledging his important contributions to pop music.

Born Harvey Phillip Spector in the Bronx, he began his career as a musician, performing with the group, The Teddy Bears as a guitarist and vocalist. He wrote their number one hit, "To Know Him Is to Love Him" in 1958, inspired by words on his father's tombstone. He soon moved to forming his own record label, Philles Records, at the age of twenty-one in 1960 and focusing on production. Spector had an ear for talent and went on to sign and produce The Crystals ("He's a Rebel", "Da Doo Ron Ron", "Then He Kissed Me"), The Righteous Brothers ("You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'", "(You're My) Soul and Inspiration"), Darlene Love ("(Today I Met) The Boy I'm Gonna Marry", "Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home)") and The Ronettes ("Be My Baby", "Baby, I Love You", "(The Best Part of) Breakin' Up"). One of the last artists he signed to his label were Ike & Tina Turner and Spector produced the single, "River Deep, Mountain High" in 1966. While the song reached number three in the UK, it did not even come close to the top-forty in the US, disappointing him greatly since he considered it his greatest work.

Spector slowly began withdrawing from recording after this, living largely like a recluse. He was lured out in 1970 by Allen Klein, the manager of the Beatles, to help work on completing their abandoned project which would ultimately become the group's final album, "Let It Be". The album was a major hit with Spector later producing solo work for John Lennon ("Instant Karma! (We All Shine On)", "Imagine", "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)") and George Harrison ("My Sweet Lord", "What Is Life"). Spector went on to produced the albums, "Death of a Ladies' Man" for Leonard Cohen in 1977 and "End of the Century" for the punk-rock band, The Ramones in 1979. In both of these cases, fans were unhappy with the results as they found the records too commercial and strayed too far from their musical roots.

While married to his first wife, Annette Merar, a lead vocalist of the Spectors Three, Spector began an affair with Veronica Bennett, (later known as Ronnie Spector), the lead singer of The Ronettes and married her in 1968. Ronnie went on to later describe being psychologically terrorized by him and in forced isolation in their home for years before escaping from Spector in 1972.