From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Thu Dec 26, 2002  8:17 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Phil Spector

PHIL SPECTOR

Born Harvey Phillip Spector, 26 December 1940, The Bronx, New York
City, New York

Spector's legend is notorious, his influence as a producer profound, his
credit list rightfully admired.
Spector's musical career began in 1957 (his family had moved to Los
Angeles in 1953) as a member of the Sleepwalkers, with future producer
Kim Fowley, future Beach Boy Bruce Johnston and drummer Sandy Nelson.
The next year he formed the vocal group The Teddy Bears with Annette
Kleinbard (born 1940, later a successful songwriter under the name Carol
Connors) and Marshall Leib (1939-2002) and had a # 1 hit with his own song
"To Know Him Is To Love Him" (inspired by memories of his late father).
The Teddy Bears didn't last long, but the hit made Spector the center of a
Hollywood rock 'n' roll scene. An ubiquitous figure in the West Coast rock
scene was Lester Sill, with whom Phil signed a songwriting contract, and
who became his introduction to Lee Hazlewood (Spector observed Duane
Eddy's sessions in Phoenix and learned a lot about producing) and later
Mike Stoller. In 1960, Spector worked with Leiber and Stoller for Atlantic
in NYC and co-wrote (with Jerry Leiber) "Spanish Harlem" for Ben E. King.
Meanwhile, he completed his apprenticeship in record production with such
hits as "Corinne Corinna" (Ray Peterson), "Pretty Little Angel Eyes" and
"Under the Moon of Love" (Curtis Lee), "I Love How You Love Me" (The Paris
Sisters) and "Every Breath I Take" (Gene Pitney), 1960-61.
Spector's burning ambition, though, was to make records for his own label.
In late 1961, he launched the Philles label, with Lester Sill as co-owner (who
was soon bought out). The first release, "There's No Other (Like My Baby)"
by the Crystals, was an immediate hit, peaking at # 20. The second Crystals'
release, "Uptown", did even better at # 13. However, it was the next Crystals
single, the Gene Pitney composition "He's A Rebel", that really put Spector
on the map. It topped the charts in October 1962, although the Crystals did
not even sing on it ; the vocal was by Darlene Love. In 1963, Spector perfected
his "Wall Of Sound" style, packing many musicians into a small studio, using
echo, tape loops, etc. It was his most successful year, with big hits by the
Crystals, the Ronettes (whose lead singer, Veronica Bennett, would become
Mrs Phil Spector, 1968-74), Darlene Love and Bob B. Soxx and the Blue Jeans.
The records sounded sensational at the time on cheap transistor radios, but
were actually quite badly made; in those days piling overdubs on top of overdubs
meant piling up hiss and distortion, but that's the way he wanted it. The name
of the artist on the label was only one element in the whole creation : when
Darlene Love would refer to "Wait 'Til My Bobby Gets Home" as her record,
Spector would cry out "That was a Phil Spector record!".
A Christmas album featuring Spector artists was released on the day JFK was
shot. It was not shipped then, reissued in 1967 and sold annually for many
years. The high point of 1964-65 was the Righteous Brothers hit "You've Lost
That Loving Feeling" (# 1), but in 1966, the Wagnerian "River Deep, Mountain
High", credited to Ike and Tina Turner, got no higher than # 88 (although in the
UK it charted twice), the biggest disappointment of Spector's career. He turned
paranoid, retired temporarily ; in fact, his time was passing.
In the early seventies he did production work with John Lennon and George
Harrison, later for Cher, Dion, Lenny Bruce and the Ramones. Spector has
remained in seclusion for most of the last 20 years. More recently, Darlene
Love (1997) and the Ronettes (1998) have sued him for backward royalties,
claiming they hadn't been paid any since 1963. They both won their cases.

More info: http://www.geocities.com/spectropop/hspector1.html
Biography: Mark Ribowsky, He's A Rebel. New York : E.P. Dutton, 1989.
Recommended listening:
Back To Mono, 1958-1969. 4 CD-set. Abcko/EMI CDP 79 8063 2.