Phil Spector, 1939-2021 Print this article
The entertainment industry has always attracted a high proportion of eccentrics, misfits, and oddballs. This is, in itself, unsurprising: The making of movies or music requires artists, and where there are artists, quirkiness often follows.
Sometimes, the trend manifests itself in relatively benign ways, but at others, it results in genuinely disturbed people acquiring enormous wealth and influence.
In the latter category is the case of the trailblazing “Wall of Sound” record producer Phil Spector, who died on Jan. 16 at the age of 81 nearly a dozen years into his prison term for killing actress Lana Clarkson in 2003. Even after the murder charge brought into sharp relief the defects in character and morality that had long been present for those who cared to look, Spector seemed inclined to thread the needle: He pleaded not guilty to the crime, but he was perfectly willing to admit that he was mentally unstable, a status that, t
Peter Frampton continues to promote his memoir Do You Feel Like I Do? , which was published back in October. As previously reported, the book delves i.
Peter Frampton continues to promote his memoir Do You Feel Like I Do? , which was published back in October. As previously reported, the book delves i.
Credit: Getty
As the creator of the ‘wall of sound’ production style, Phil Spector‘s influence on the foundations of pop music undoubtedly rivals that of the very top tier of pop’s most legendary figures. Yet a long history of abusive and manipulative behaviour, including threatening gunplay, culminated in the 2009 conviction of the murder of actor Lana Clarkson, which saw him die in prison and will justifiably overshadow his many achievements.
Spector – who died today aged 81 – was born Harvey Phillip Spector in New York in 1939. His forays into pop music began in the late ‘50s as a member of vocal group The Teddy Bears, who gave him his first US number one in 1958 with the million-selling ‘To Know Him Is To Love Him’, a phrase that was carved on his father’s gravestone. At the same time he studied production at Gold Star Studios in Hollywood and, following further success with his co-write on Ben E King’s ‘Spanish Harlem’, began working as apprentice to
By Syndicated Content Peter Frampton continues to promote his memoir Do You Feel Like I Do? , which was published back in October. As previously reported, the book delves into Peter s long career, from becoming a teen pop star in the U.K., through his tenure with blues rockers Humble Pie , to achieving rock idol status with the massively successful Frampton Comes Alive! album and beyond. In a recent interview with ABC Audio, Frampton reflected on some of his favorite career highlights, which, of course, he also discusses in his memoir. The 70-year-old guitar whiz maintains that the most important things to me are as me the player, including his contributions to