LOS ANGELES (AP) – Phil Spector was seen as a man with two distinct characters: The late music producer was considered a rock ‘n’ roll genius who raised the genre with his “Wall of Sound” style in the 1960s and created hits for several big names from the Beatles to Tina Turner.
But while Spector has made his mark as a revolutionary music producer, stories about him waving guns at recording artists and convicted of murder have overshadowed his art.
California State Prison officials said Spector died Saturday at 81 years of natural causes at a hospital. He was convicted of killing actress Lana Clarkson in 2003 at his mansion on the outskirts of Los Angeles. After a trial in 2009, he was sentenced to 19 years in life.
The reaction to Spector’s death revived some mixed feelings about his life and legacy.
Some praised his early contributions to rock music, while others struggled to forgive his volatile past.
Beach Boys musician Al Jardine said it will “I like to remember him only for his songs and production talents.” He said that 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 Spring Band called Spector “an irremediable genius in conflict.”
“He was the latest example that art has always been better than the artist,” Zandt said. Twitter. He added that Spector “made some of the greatest recordings in history based on the salvation of love, while remaining unable to give or receive love all his life.”
Meanwhile, the host “The price is right”, Drew Carey, followed Spector, calling him “a murderer and an abusive maniac”.
“I wish I had received the mental health help he needed so clearly, but no,” the comedian added. social media. “So, instead of (asterisk) just (asterisk) shooting guns at people in 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 on Sunday as “a brilliant producer, but an ugly husband.” She was the lead singer of the Ronettes.
“Unfortunately, Phil could not live and work outside the recording studio,” she wrote on Instagram. “Darkness has set in, many lives have been damaged. I still smile whenever I hear the music we made together and I will always do it. 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 was saddened to hear of Spector’s death from her son.
“He was sad because of what Spector did, the wonderful music he created and spent almost 20 years of his life in prison,” said Love, who admitted that Spector tried to control his talent. during his career as a singer. She said that Spector sometimes had a dangerous temper, but tried to remember the positive.
“I hope people don’t just remember why he spent those years in prison, but more or less what he did for rock ‘n’ roll,” she continued. “It 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, which combined spirited vocal harmonies with lavish orchestral arrangements to produce such pop monuments as “Da Doo Ron Ron.” .
Bruce Springsteen and Wilson openly replicated their grand recording techniques and big-eyed romance, and John Lennon called him “the greatest record producer ever.”
But Spector’s multiple stories waving weapons at the artists’ recording in the studio and the threat of women will return to haunt him after Clarkson’s death.
Clarkson, the star of “Barbarian Queen” and other B-movies, was found shot dead in the foyer of Spector Mansion on the hills overlooking the Alhambra, a modest suburban suburb of Los Angeles.
Until the actress’ death, which Spector claimed to be an “accidental suicide”, few residents even knew that the mansion belonged to the exclusive producer, who spent the 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 recording artists began to give up working with him, and his musical styles passed him by.
“It destroyed itself in the most horrible way,” said David Thompson, 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 revered, then we find out that they did something terrible. Delete all their achievements. I do not agree with this. ”
Thompson said Spector’s biography was one of the most difficult to write because he wanted to focus exclusively on music. But while working on the book, he learned about Spector’s conviction.
“It was a difficult balance,” he said. “I wanted to write about music, exactly what he did, what he created and what he gave us. But you had to balance it with the awful things he did. ”