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Phil Spector, one of rock ‘n’ roll’s most influential and successful record producers, who generated a string of hits in the early 1960s by the Crystals, Ronettes, and Righteous Brothers defined by the treatment lavish instrumental known as The Wall of Sound, and who was later sentenced to prison for the murder of a woman shot dead at her home, died on Saturday. He was 81 years old.
His death was confirmed in a statement from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. The department said he died “in an outside hospital” and did not give a case.
Since 2009, Mr. Spector had been serving prison time for the murder of Lana Clarkson, a nightclub hostess he brought home after a night of drinking in 2003. Los Angeles police found her slumped over a chair in the hall of Mr. Spector’s home. , died from a single bullet in the head.
After learning the ropes of the record producer trade, Mr. Spector, the central figure in Tom Wolfe’s 1965 essay “The First Tycoon of Teen,” became a successful one-man factory. Between 1960 and 1965, he placed 24 records in the Top 40, many of which were classics.
Her 13 top ten singles included some of the quintessential “girl groups” songs of the era: “He’s a Rebel,” “Uptown,” “Then He Kissed Me,” and “Da Doo Ron Ron” from the Crystals. and “Be My Baby” and “Walking in the Rain” by Ronettes. For the Righteous Brothers, he produced “Unchained Melody” and “You’ve Lost That Lovin ‘Feeling,” a No. 1 hit that became the most played song in the 20th century on radio and television, according to BMI. .
Mr. Spector single-handedly created the image of the record producer as an author, a creative force equal or superior to his artists, with an instantly identifiable hearing mark. “There were songwriters and producers before him, but nobody did everything like Phil,” songwriter and producer Jerry Leiber, who died in 2011 and with whom Mr. Spector did it, told Rolling Stone. a brief but crucial apprenticeship at Atlantic Records. in 2005.
His signature was The Sound Wall, perfected at Gold Star Studios in Los Angeles, where he worked with engineer Larry Levine, arranger Jack Nitzsche and a team of musicians dubbed the Wrecking Crew by Hal Blaine, one of their regular drummers.
With dozens of back-up musicians and backing vocals in the cramped quarters of Gold Star, Mr. Spector layered several guitars, basses, and keyboards and applied a sparkling sparkle of strings. This sound wave took on even greater proportions when channeled through Gold Star’s resonant echo chambers.
A full obituary will be published shortly.
Marie Fazio contributed reporting.
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