The Broadway edifice was then at the heart of popular music’s Tin Pan Alley, where writers, composers, singers and musicians turned out hit songs. He briefly considered becoming a French interpreter at the United Nations before falling in with the musicians at New York’s celebrated Brill Building. He was just 17 when his group recorded its first hit single, a romantic ballad written and produced by Spector that would become a pop classic: “To Know Him is to Love Him,” was inspired by the inscription on his father’s tombstone.Ī short, skinny kid with big dreams and growing demons, Spector went on to attend the University of California, Los Angeles for a year before dropping out to return to New York. He had perfect pitch and easily learned to play several instruments. He was reserved and insecure, but his musical abilities were obvious. At Fairfax, Spector performed in talent shows and formed a group called the Teddy Bears with friends. For decades the school has been a source of future musical talent. 3, 2003, a chauffeur reported Spector came out of the house holding a gun, blood on his hands, and told him, “I think I killed somebody.”įour years later, Spector’s mother moved the family to Los Angeles, where Phil attended Fairfax High School, located in a largely Jewish neighbourhood on the edge of Hollywood. 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.Īccording to witnesses she had agreed, somewhat reluctantly, to accompany him home from the Sunset Strip’s House of Blues in West Hollywood, where she worked Shortly after their arrival in Alhambra in the pre-dawn hours of Feb. He was imperious, temperamental and dangerous, remembered bitterly by Darlene Love, Ronnie Spector and others who worked with him. The volume, and violence, of Spector’s music reflected a dark side he could barely contain even at his peak. Spector also had a memorable film role, a cameo as a drug dealer in “Easy Rider.” The producer himself was played by Al Pacino in a 2013 HBO movie. Spector worked on George Harrison’s acclaimed post-Beatles triple album, “All Things Must Pass,” co-produced Lennon’s “Imagine,” and the less successful “Some Time in New York City,” which included Spector’s picture over a caption that read, “To Know Him is to Love Him.” Although Lennon praised Spector’s work, bandmate Paul McCartney was enraged, especially when Spector added strings and a choir to McCartney’s “The Long and Winding Road.” Years later, McCartney would oversee a remastered “Let it Be,” removing Spector’s contributions.Ī documentary of the making of Lennon’s 1971 “Imagine” album showed the ex-Beatle clearly in charge, prodding Spector over a backing vocal, a line none of Spector’s early artists would have dared cross. In 1969, Spector was called in to salvage the Beatles’ “Let It Be” album, a troubled “back to basics” production marked by dissension within the band. 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. 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. ‘You Gotta Believe’ begins shooting at Labatt Park Fridayīut thanks in part to the arrival of the Beatles, his chart success would soon fade.Edmonton MP to file ‘grievance’ about Taylor Swift tour’s lack of Canadian shows.Stepson of Titan sub crew member says he’s living a ‘nightmare’.Kevin Costner’s estranged wife requests $326K a month in divorce.
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