LOS ANGELES (AP) – Phil Spector was seen as a man with two different personas: the late music producer was considered a rock and roll genius who took the genre to the next level in the 1960s with his ‘Wall of Sound’ style. plan and created hits for several big names from The Beatles to Tina Turner.
But while Spector made his mark as a revolutionary music producer, stories of him brandishing guns at recording artists and convicted of murder overshadowed his artistry.
California state prison officials said Spector passed away on Saturday at the age of 81 in a hospital due to natural causes. He was convicted of the 2003 murder of actress Lana Clarkson in his castle-like mansion on the outskirts of Los Angeles. After a trial in 2009, he was sentenced to 19 years to life.
The reaction to Spector’s death aroused mixed feelings about his life and legacy.
Some praised his early contributions to rock music, while others struggled to forgive his fleeting past.
Beach Boys musician Al Jardine said it would be “Nice to remember him only because of his songs and production talents.” He said the Ronettes song “Be My Baby”, which was produced and co-written by Spector, inspired his brother Brian Wilson.
Stevie Van Zandt of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band called Spector a “brilliant irreparable conflict”.
“He was the ultimate example of art that was always better than the artist,” said Zandt Twitter. He added that Spector has “set some of the best records in history based on the salvation of love, while he has been unable to give or receive love all his life.”
Meanwhile, “The Price is Right” host Drew Carey turned to Spector, calling him a “murderer and an insulting maniac.”
“I wish he had gotten the mental health care he clearly needed, but he didn’t,” the comedian said. social media. “And so instead of (asterisk) just pulling (asterisk) weapons on people out of anger or for fun, he killed one of them. Good ear for music, I’ll give you that. “
Spector’s ex-wife, Ronnie Spector, remembered him Sunday as a “brilliant producer, but a lousy husband.” She was the lead singer of the Ronettes.
“Sadly, Phil was unable to live and function outside the recording studio,” she wrote on Instagram. “Darkness fell, many lives were damaged. I still smile when I hear the music we made together, and I always will. The music will be forever. ”
But Darlene Love, who sang some of Spector’s hits from “He’s a Rebel” and “He’s Sure the Boy I Love”, took a different approach despite her troubled relationship with the producer. She felt sad when she learned that Spector had died because of her son.
“It was sad because of what Spector did, the beautiful music he made, and he spent nearly 20 years of his life in prison,” said Love, admitting that Spector was trying to “master my talent” during her singing career. She said Spector had a dangerous temper at times, but she tried to remember the positive.
“I hope people remember not only why he spent those years in prison, but also more or less what he did for rock ‘n’ roll,” she continued. He changed the sound of rock ‘n’ roll. That made me sad. “
Spector was hailed as a visionary for channeling Wagnerian ambition into the three-minute song, creating the ‘Wall of Sound’ in the 1960s that blended punchy vocal harmonies with luscious orchestral arrangements to pop monuments like ‘Da Doo Ron Ron’. to produce.
Bruce Springsteen and Wilson openly replicated his grandiose recording techniques and candid romance, and John Lennon called him “the greatest record producer ever.”
But the many stories of Spector wielding guns at studio artists and threatening women would haunt him after Clarkson’s death.
Clarkson, star of “Barbarian Queen” and other B-movies, was found shot dead in the foyer of Spector’s hillside mansion overlooking Alhambra, a modest town on the outskirts of Los Angeles.
Until the death of the actress, who Spector said was an ‘accidental suicide’, few residents knew that the mansion belonged to the reclusive producer, who spent his remaining years in a prison hospital east of Stockton.
Spector became a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989. But eventually his artists stopped working with him and music styles passed.
“He destroyed himself in the most gruesome way,” said David Thompson, the author of “Wall of Pain: The Biography of Phil Spector,” released in 2004. “But we have to separate the two. There are so many people who were once worshiped. , and we find out that they have done something terrible. It destroys all their achievements. I disagree.
Thompson said Spector’s biography was one of his hardest to write because he just wanted to focus on the music. But while he was working on the book, he found out about Spector’s conviction.
“That was a tough balance,” he said. “I wanted to write about the music, what he did, what he created and what he gave us. But you had to balance it with the awful things he did. “