DEAD: PHIL SPECTOR (January 17, 2021)
Responding to news of Phil Spector's death today, Blondie guitarist Chris Stein tweeted: "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. Long story. I thought he was nuts." Spector, one of the most influential and successful record producers in rock' n' roll, generated a string of hits in the early 1960s defined by the "lavish instrumental treatment known as the wall of sound." In 2009, he was sentenced to prison for the murder of Lana Clarkson, a nightclub hostess at the House of Blues. Spector died from complications of COVID. He was 81.
Spector scored his first No. 1 hit in 1958 when he was still in his teens with the Teddy Bears, a group he formed with two school friends. Spector, the central figure in Tom Wolfe's 1965 essay "The First Tycoon of Teen," became a one-man hit factory. Between 1960 and 1965, he placed 24 records in the Top 40, many of them classics. Spector produced "Unchained Melody" and "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling" for the Righteous Brothers - the former becoming the 20th century's most-played song on the radio. Spector's "wall of sound" profoundly influenced a host of producers and rock groups, from the Beach Boys to Bruce Springsteen. Spector struck gold when he began working with the Crystals, a New York group that he signed to Philles Records. I recently discovered the Specter produced "He Hit Me (And it Felt Like a Kiss)." Carole King co-wrote the song after finding out that her babysitter, singer "Little Eva" Boyd, was being beaten by her boyfriend. When King inquired why Boyd tolerated such treatment, she replied, "with complete sincerity," that her boyfriend's actions were motivated by his love for her.
The breakup of the Beatles in 1970 gave him a brief second life. He produced the unfinished recordings the group had made at Apple's studios in London the previous January. The resulting album, "Let It Be," led to a series of collaborations with Mr. Lennon and George Harrison. Spector produced Lennon's "Imagine." "Let It Be" received mixed reviews and was thoroughly repudiated by Paul McCartney, who hated the lush choirs and heavy orchestration.
In the early hours of Feb. 3, 2003, Mr. Spector, after drinking heavily, drove to his home in Alhambra, Calif., with Lana Clarkson, a struggling actress he had just met at the House of Blues, where she worked as a hostess. His chauffeur, waiting behind the house, later testified that he heard a popping sound, after which Mr. Spector emerged, a revolver in his hand, and said, "I think I killed somebody." (Source: New York Times obit)
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