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As the creator of the ‘wall of sound’ production style, Phil Spector‘s influence on the foundations of pop music undoubtedly rivals that of the very top tier of pop’s most legendary figures. Yet a long history of abusive and manipulative behaviour, including threatening gunplay, culminated in the 2009 conviction of the murder of actor Lana Clarkson, which saw him die in prison and will justifiably overshadow his many achievements.
Spector – who died today aged 81 – was born Harvey Phillip Spector in New York in 1939. His forays into pop music began in the late ‘50s as a member of vocal group The Teddy Bears, who gave him his first US number one in 1958 with the million-selling ‘To Know Him Is To Love Him’, a phrase that was carved on his father’s gravestone. At the same time he studied production at Gold Star Studios in Hollywood and, following further success with his co-write on Ben E King’s ‘Spanish Harlem’, began working as apprentice to songwriting and production duo Leiber and Stoller, launching his production career in the early 1960s. He crafted hits with the likes of Billy Storm, Ray Peterson, Connie Francis, Curtis Lee, the Paris Sisters and The Crystals, the first signing to his own label Philles Records.