Phil Spector

Harvey Phillip Spector (December 26, 1939 – January 16, 2021) was an American record producer, musician, and songwriter who developed the Wall of Sound, a music production formula he described as a Wagnerian approach to rock and roll. Spector is regarded to be among the most influential figures in pop music history and as the first auteur of the music industry for the unprecedented control he had over every phase of the recording process. After spending three decades in semi-retirement, in 2009, he was convicted for the 2003 murder of the actress Lana Clarkson and sentenced to 19 years to life in prison. While imprisoned, Spector died from complications attributed to COVID-19 on January 16, 2021.
Born in the Bronx, Spector began his career in 1958 as co-founder, guitarist, and vocalist of the Teddy Bears, penning their US number-one single "To Know Him Is to Love Him". In 1960, he co-founded Philles Records, and at the age of 21, became the youngest ever US label owner to that point. Throughout the 1960s, he wrote, co-wrote, or produced records for acts such as the Ronettes, the Crystals, and Ike & Tina Turner. He typically collaborated with arranger Jack Nitzsche, engineer Larry Levine, and a de facto house band that later became known as "the Wrecking Crew". Spector initially retired from the music industry in 1966.
== Links to Peel ==
“I have long been wary of the reputations of producers – since I saw a photograph of Phil Spector’s haircut (incorporating, naturally, Phil himself).” (John Peel, Observer, 1988-11-20)
Some of Phil Spector's production and songwriting for other artists ended up on Peel's shows, along with cover versions of his material, although the DJ didn't seem particularly keen on the producer's peak-period Wall of Sound work from the first half of the 1960s, when Peel himself had lived in the US.Peel later recalled that he made demo recordings with The Misunderstood at the Gold Star Studios used by Spector (see Peeling Back The Years 2 (Transcript)). In 1997, the recordings were released by Cherry Red as "The Legendary Goldstar Album", with Peel credited as producer. Perhaps surprisingly, given the DJ's love of festive season records, there were relatively few radio plays by him for the producer's compilation album "A Christmas Gift For You", which was widely considered to be one of his very best of its type, despite numerous plays for other Christmas Compilations.
In the early 1970s, however, the DJ did give airtime to Spector's work on early solo releases by former Beatles members John Lennon and George Harrison, after the producer's salvage job on the Fab Four's "Let It Be". On 03 November 1977, Peel played the final four tracks from the Spector tribute compilation Bionic Gold, before announcing he had now played all of them (presumably, the whole LP). At the end of the decade, the producer hooked up with Peel favourites the Ramones in a not always happy attempt to craft mainstream success for the punk icons.
== Plays ==
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(v/a LP - The Phil Spector Christmas Album (A Christmas Gift For You) Chrysalis
*25 December 1987: Darlene Love: White Christmas
*23 December 2003: Darlene Love: Winter Wonderland
== External Links ==
* Wikipedia
* Discogs
*Twitter
*BBC News
== References ==
Category:People
Category:Artists