Beatles’ record producer and convicted murderer Phil Spector dead at 81
On January 17, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation announced that one of their California Health Care Facility inmates, Phil Spector, died from natural causes at 6:35 p.m. on Saturday, January 16, at an outside hospital. His official cause of death still needs to be determined by the medical examiner in the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office.
Spector was jailed on June 5, 2009 after being found guilty of second-degree murder. He was sentenced to 19 years to life for the shooting death of actress Lana Clarkson.
In his later years, Spector devolved into bizarre patterns of behavior. He’s well-known as much for wearing a variety of different wigs to his murder trial as he is for his successful music career. He could not wear any of his wigs in prison though.
Before his incarceration, Spector was an influential record producer, musician and songwriter best known for developing a music production technique called the “wall of sound.”
Spector, originally from Bronx, produced recordings by many legendary musical icons, including The Beatles, Ike and Tina Turner, Cher and the Ramones, according to CNN.
Long considered a visionary in the world of music, Spector produced albums for countless groups, including the Beatles, the Ronettes and the Righteous Brothers. Spector is credited with creating the music production technique known as the “Wall of Sound,” which merged vocal harmonies with orchestral arrangements.
The technique led to songs like “Da Doo Ron Ron” and “He’s a Rebel” by the Crystals and “Be My Baby” by the Ronettes. ~ NBC News
Spector was responsible for the orchestrations and all the strings added to the 1970s Beatles album Let it Be. If you’d like to hear what all those now iconic songs would sound like without his added accompaniments, check out Let It Be Naked, released in 2003 and re-mastered in 2013 by Apple Records. Paul McCartney initiated the effort to release Let It Be Naked because he felt that Spector didn’t appreciate the band’s original feel for all those songs.
Post-Beatles, Spector also produced George Harrison’s solo triple-album masterpiece All Things Must Pass in 1970 and produced George’s The Concert for Bangladesh album in 1971. He also worked on John Lennon’s Imagine album, which was released in 1971 and the slightly less successful Lennon effort Some Time in New York City.
(Phil Spector cover images’ credit: California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and Twitter)
~ Posted by Richard Webster, Ace News Today / Follow Richard on Facebook and Twitter
