Phil Spector and the death of Lana Clarkson | 17

Uncharted: Crime and Mayhem in the Music Industry

Phil Spector was one of the most successful record producers and songwriters of the 1960s and 70s…he was a boy genius, a millionaire many times over by the time he was 21…

He was the first to use the recording studio as an instrument…he called his recording style “wall of sound,” music that was densely layered and jumped out of am radio speakers like nothing else…

His favourite collection of studio musicians—his house band—became known as “the wrecking crew” and is considered to be the best the music business has ever known…Spector was responsible for hit records for girl groups like The Crystals and The Ronnettes, creating some of the most iconic pop songs of the era…

He produced other massive records for the Righteous Brothers and Ike & Tina Turner…later, he finished up the “Let It Be” album for The Beatles, produced “Imagine” for John Lennon, and a couple of projects for George Harrison… towards the end of the 70s, he guided The Ramones through their “End of the Century” album…

Overall, he was behind had 18 top ten singles—one of the very few producers who had number one records in the 60s, 70s, and 80s…

Spector was an early inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame…a member of the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame…nominee and winner of Grammy Awards…characters in movies have been based on him…

So how did someone so successful and so respected end up convicted for the murder of a B-movie actress?...

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