From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Sun Jan 13, 2002  2:23 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Lester Sill
 
LESTER SILL (Co-written by Dave Penny)

Born 13 January 1918, Los Angeles, California
Died 31 October 1994, Tarzana, California.

Publisher/producer/record company owner.
A sales manager at Modern Records in the early 1950s, Sill discovered
and introduced Jerry Leiber to Mike Stoller in 1951 and helped form
Spark Records in 1954. This small independent label released a series
of imaginative R&B discs by the Robins, a group which later metamorphosed
into the Coasters, with Sill as their manager. In September 1957, Sill went
into partnership with Lee Hazlewood, a music entrepreneur who operated
from Phoenix, Arizona. Hazlewood had produced Sanford Clark's hit "The
Fool" in 1956, but his main protege was guitar twanger Duane Eddy. Most
of Eddy's Jamie recordings were co-produced by Hazlewood and Sill.
They also formed a publishing company called Gregmark Music. Sill and
Hazlewood were the first producers to lease finished masters to record
labels, long before it became common practice within the industry.
In 1961, Sill formed Philles Records with Phil Spector, but the partnership
ended acrimoniously after just a year. In the 1980s, Lester Sill was
president of Motown's music publishing arm.