Phil Spector

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Harvey Phillip "Phil" Spector (born December 26, 1940) is a highly influential American record producer who turned out some of the best-known popular music of the 1960s and 1970s. The originator of the "Wall of Sound" production technique, Spector first rose to prominence as one of the masterminds behind the 1960s girl group sound. Later in his career he worked with more varied artists, including The Beatles and The Ramones. In 2003 Spector returned to public prominence when he was indicted for murder.

Contents 1 Early life and career 2 Record producer 3 The Wall of Sound 4 Comeback 5 Influence 6 Eccentricity 7 Alleged homicide 8 Further reading 9 Selected discography 10 See also

Early life and career

Phil Spector was born into a lower-middle class Jewish family in the Bronx, New York.[1] In 2003, he would reveal in an interview with the Daily Telegraph journalist Mick Brown that his parents were first cousins. "I don't know, genetically, whether or not that had something to do with what I am or who I became," he said. His father committed suicide because of family indebtedness in 1949, and Spector and his family moved to Los Angeles, California in 1953.

Despite his shyness, Spector quickly became heavily involved in the local music scene. His first band was the Teddy Bears, in which he had songwriting and guitar playing duties and was one of three vocalists. The Teddy Bears, fronted by lead singer Annette Kleinbard (who later changed her name to Carol Connors), had one major hit, "To Know Him is to Love Him", which sold over 1 million copies after its release in 1958; the title of the song was paraphrased from Spector's father's epitaph: "To Have Known Him Was To Have Loved Him."

Record producer

Spector's career quickly moved from performing to songwriting to production. Having perfect pitch, he quickly learned how to use a studio, first as an apprentice to Lester Sill and Lee Hazlewood in Arizona and, from 1960, after returning to New York, with Leiber and Stoller.

His first independent production success came in 1961 with the uptempo "Pretty Little Angel Eyes," a record by Curtis Lee, backed up by a local doo-wop group called the Halos. Next came "Every Breath I Take" by Gene Pitney, also backed by the Halos. Later that year he returned to L.A., and, still less than 21 years old, formed his own record label, Philles Records, in partnership with Sill. Given full creative control, Spector began to produce an unprecedented string of hits.

He worked at first with established artists such as Johnny Nash, but soon found his vision easier to fulfill through girl groups of his own devising. The groups — including The Crystals, Bob B. Soxx and the Blue Jeans, and The Ronettes — were often wholly interchangeable, with lineups based on who was available and whose voice he thought would fit the material (though mainly with Darlene Love, a particular favorite). Although predominantly singles-based, Spector's groups did record at least one classic album: A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector (1963).

The Wall of Sound

Spector's trademark during that era was the so-called Wall of Sound, a production technique yielding a dense, layered effect that was very effective and dramatic, and carried especially well on AM radio and jukeboxes. To attain this signature sound, Spector gathered large groups of musicians (playing some instruments not generally used for ensemble playing, such as electric and acoustic guitars) playing orchestrated parts — often using many instruments playing in unison — for a fuller sound. Dozens of musicians and instruments would be jammed into Spector's tiny Gold Star studio, with the sound reverberating off the walls adding to the effect.

While Spector directed the overall sound of his recordings, he took a relatively hands-off approach to working with the musicians themselves (usually a core group that became known as The Wrecking Crew, including session players such as Hal Blaine and Carol Kaye and future stars such as Mac Rebennack, (a.k.a. "Dr. John"), Cher, Glen Campbell and Leon Russell, delegating arrangement duties to Jack Nitzsche and having Sonny Bono oversee the performances, viewing these two as his 'lieutenants'.

Spector used songs from some of the best professional songwriters in rock and roll of the day, most employed at the hothouse that was The Brill Building, such as the teams of Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, Gerry Goffin and Carole King, Spector often receiving co-credit for compositions. Among the most famous from the prime of Philles Records are "Spanish Harlem" by Ben E. King, "Da Doo Ron Ron" by The Crystals, and the classic "Be My Baby" by The Ronettes, the latter tune a personal favorite of Brian Wilson, Spector's only real rival for expertise in rock and roll production at the time.

Spector was already known as a temperamental and quirky personality with strong, often unconventional ideas about musical and recording techniques. Despite the trend towards multi-channel recording, Spector was also vehemently opposed to stereo releases, claiming that it took control of the record's sound away from the producer in favor of the listener. Spector also greatly preferred singles to albums, describing LPs as "two hits and ten pieces of junk".

The first time Spector put the same amount of effort into an LP as he had for 45s was one of the few times he did not conquer during the hot period of his career. Utilizing the full Philles roster and the Wrecking Crew, Spector poured all of his expertise to produce what he felt confidently would be an absolute smash for the Christmas season. Unfortunately his LP masterwork, the famed A Christmas Gift to You, arrived in the shops shortly after the assassination of President Kennedy on November 22, 1963. While eventually recognized for its quality over the course of time, the mood of the country in late 1963 most likely contributed to Christmas Gift being a relative flop in its initial release. Along with Elvis' Christmas Album from 1957, it is one of the few undisputed holiday classics from the Rock and Roll era.

After a string of girl-group hits through the early- and mid-1960s, Spector produced "You've Lost that Lovin' Feelin'" for The Righteous Brothers in late 1964; the record was a huge success and marked the pinnacle of the Wall of Sound production technique. Spector then became embroiled in record-company wrangles, fighting Lester Sill for control of Philles Records and managing his own Phil Spector Records (under contractual agreement with Sill, this label only issued singles recorded by Veronica "Ronnie" Bennett of the Ronettes). Amidst these conflicts and reports of increasingly eccentric behavior, Spector produced "River Deep - Mountain High" for Ike and Tina Turner in 1966, a recording he considered his best work. A hit in the UK, the song failed to catch on in the U.S., and Spector announced a self-described "retirement" at age 25. Already something of a recluse, Spector withdrew almost entirely from the public eye, marrying Ronnie Bennett in 1968 and emerging briefly for a cameo as a drug dealer in the film Easy Rider (1969).

Comeback

In 1970, Allen Klein, manager to three of the Beatles, had brought Spector to England to possibly record with the group, or produce for their label Apple Records. (Spector had actually met the Beatles on their historic first visit to the US in 1964, and each had long admired the other.)

His own labels issued covers of "Hold Me Tight" by The Imaginations and the Treasures (who included future Ringo Starr collaborator Vinnie Poncia), a soul version of Buck Owens' "Act Naturally" by Betty Willis (covered by The Beatles on Help!), and an instrumental of Yesterday by Al de Lory. The Beatles themselves had recorded the Teddy Bears' "To Know Him Is to Love Him", Spector's first hit, with obvious change of gender, for their failed Decca Records audition.

After successfully completing Instant Karma! in a single session for the John Lennon solo release, Spector was invited by Lennon and George Harrison to take on the task of turning the tapes from the abandoned Get Back recording sessions into a usable album. Spector went to work using many of his well-known production techniques to sweeten and significantly change the sound of the songs. While this project was viewed as a major comeback for Spector, it was also part of the contentious break-up of The Beatles as Spector added what many considered inappropriate choir and orchestral arrangements to Lennon's "Across the Universe" and Harrison's "I Me Mine". Most egregious was his alteration of "The Long and Winding Road", which infuriated its composer Paul McCartney, especially since the work had been done allegedly without his knowledge or opportunity to assess the results. It became a bit of a last straw, and a cause of McCartney's public announcement of the break-up of The Beatles with the release of his first solo album proper, 'McCartney'.

The assembled and Spectorized album, now known as Let It Be, was not a typical Spector production. Apart from the reworkings of the abovementioned cuts, he also added vocal asides, most likely at the request of Lennon, and short song takes between the complete songs on the album. For the most part, Spector left the other performances on Let It Be alone, the initial goal of the Beatles producing an album without their usual production values, or as Lennon would put it jiggery-pokery, surviving in the live feel Spector managed to impart to the songs that escaped orchestration.

Through the 1970s and early 1980s Spector continued a pattern of reclusiveness interrupted by occasional production projects, working on albums for Lennon, Harrison, Leonard Cohen, and The Ramones. In 1975, he created Phil Spector International, which worked with artists such as Dion, Harry Nilsson, Dusty Springfield, Tina Turner and Darlene Love. He also re-teamed with Yoko Ono in 1981 to co-produce Season of Glass, her first work after Lennon's death. The Dion album, 'Born to Be with You' is especially noteworthy - cited by many musicians as a lost classic.

Spector remained inactive throughout most of the 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s. He attempted to work with Céline Dion on her album Falling Into You, but that fell through. His most recent released project has been "Silence Is Easy" by Starsailor, released in 2003. He was originally supposed to produce the entire album, but was fired due to personal and creative differences. Plans to work with The Vines were halted due to his murder trial.

Influence

The influence of Phil Spector's sound and recording techniques is felt far beyond the recordings he actually produced. Many lesser producers simply attempted (with limited success) to emulate the Wall of Sound, while Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys—a fellow adherent of mono recording—considered Spector his main competition and spent hours studying and attempting to replicate and improve upon Spector's sound. Bruce Springsteen, another outspoken fan of Spector's work, emulated the Wall of Sound technique in his recording of "Born to Run".

For his many contributions to the music industry, Spector was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989.

Eccentricity

Spector has shunned publicity and is widely regarded as eccentric, having descended into many conflicts with the artists, songwriters, and promoters that he worked with. Stories include his discharging a firearm while in the studio with John Lennon during the recording of his cover album Rock 'n' Roll and placing a loaded pistol at Leonard Cohen's head during the sessions for Death of a Ladies' Man (1977). Dee Dee Ramone also reported that Spector threatened the Ramones during their recording sessions with his group, The Ramones.

Phil and Ronnie Spector divorced in 1974. In 2000, Ronnie Spector successfully sued him for over $2 million for breach of contract over unpaid royalties to the Ronettes.

Alleged homicide

On February 3, 2003, Spector was arrested for murder after the body of 40-year-old starlet Lana Clarkson of Los Angeles was found at his faux-castle mansion (called Pyrenees Castle) in Alhambra, California. Police responded to a 9-1-1 phone call from one of Spector's neighbors and discovered Clarkson, who had been shot and was pronounced dead at the scene. On November 20, 2003, Spector was indicted for Clarkson's murder.

Just four weeks prior to the death of Clarkson, Spector had admitted in an interview with the British Daily Telegraph that he suffers from bipolar disorder and that he considered himself "relatively insane". [2]

[3] In September 2004 he was ordered to stand trial in Los Angeles.

On October 28, 2005, a judge ruled that potentially damning statements Spector allegedly made to police may be used against him at trial. Spector's lawyers had sought to suppress an apparent statement made by Mr. Spector after Clarkson was found dead. Spector allegedly said, "I didn't mean to shoot her." His lawyer argued that comments attributed to the music producer should be thrown out because he was suffering from prescription-drug withdrawal symptoms at the time. The judge has also ruled that transcripts from a deposition taken of Spector several months before Clarkson's death may also be introduced by the prosecution at trial.

So far Spector has gone through three attorneys. Defense attorney Robert Shapiro represented Spector at his arraignment and early pretrial hearings, and arranged for his release on bail. He was later fired by Spector and replaced by Leslie Abramson and Marcia Morrissey. They, in turn, were later replaced by Bruce Cutler, who is best known for representing John Gotti. [4] Spector is also involved in a civil suit against Shapiro, who refused to return his $1 million retainer. [5]

Phil Spector, currently free on $1 million bail, had been scheduled to stand trial on April 24, 2006, but the trial date has been moved to September 11 because of scheduling conflicts between the prosecution and defense. [6]

Further reading

• "He's a Rebel: The Truth About Phil Spector -- Rock and Roll's Legendary Madman", Mark Ribowsky (biography)
• "The First Tycoon of Teen", Tom Wolfe (magazine article reprinted in The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby)
• "Out of His Head," Richard Williams (biography)
• Tabloid Column

Selected discography

• A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector (1963)
• Back to Mono (1958-1969), a 4-CD box set encompassing all of Spector's important work of that period.

See also

• Joe Meek - British music producer and contemporary of Spector's, who like Spector was immensely gifted, influential, and tragically eccentric.de:Phil Spector

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