Phil Spector dies aged 81

Barbara Fan

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BBC News - Talented but flawed producer Phil Spector dies aged 81 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-55697979.

US music producer Phil Spector has died at the age of 81, while serving a prison sentence for murder.
Spector, who transformed pop with his "wall of sound" recordings, worked with the Beatles, the Righteous Brothers and Ike and Tina Turner.
In 2009, he was convicted of the 2003 murder of Hollywood actress Lana Clarkson.
His death was confirmed by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
"California Health Care Facility inmate Phillip Spector was pronounced deceased of natural causes at 6:35 p.m. on Saturday, January 16, 2021, at an outside hospital. His official cause of death will be determined by the medical examiner in the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office," it said.
Spector produced 20 top 40 hits between 1961 and 1965, AFP news agency reports. His production methods influenced major artists including the Beach Boys and Bruce Springsteen.
His life was ultimately blighted by drug and alcohol addiction, and he all but retired from the music scene during the 1980s and 1990s.
In February 2003, actress Lana Clarkson was found dead at his house in Alhambra, California with a bullet wound to her head. Clarkson, who was known for her work in the sword-and-sorcery genre and starred in films including Barbarian Queen, had met Spector hours earlier at a nightclub.
Spector claimed the shooting happened when Clarkson "kissed the gun" - but his trial heard from four women who claimed Spector had threatened them with guns in the past when they had spurned his advances.
Following an initial mistrial, Spector was convicted of second degree murder and given a sentence of 19 years to life.

RIP Phil Spector
 
Grant Jennings

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I think a lot of younger people don't comprehend the influence Spector has had over popular music. Mariah Carey's All I Want For Christmas Is You would not exist if not for Spector (or at the very least it would sound so different as to be unrecognizable). Spector changed part of the melody to Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town when he produced The Crystals' recording; nearly every recording of the song since then has used Spector's version of the melody instead of the song's original melody. A list of all of the artists Spector produced or influenced would be much too long to include here.

 
Alexis

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I wonder now he's dead will we ever get to hear the Celine Dion stuff that was recorded in the mid '90s. Spector held the tapes and refused to let them be used after he became violent and controlling/dangerous in recording sessions, and her people removed her and stopped the sessions. He may have had a gun apparently. What was recorded was supposedly remarkable but he wouldn't hand over the tapes and so Celine's people had to scramble for new producers. The album ended up being Falling Into You, and Jim Steinman was brought in instead as they wanted a bombastic sound. He did All Coming Back To Me Now, Call The Man and River Deep Mountain High. There was thought to be a Spector version of River Deep originally. I think Celine's people redid it with Steinman as a F**k you to Spector.
 
tommie

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Oh.

Good.
 
Angela Channing

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It's hard to feel sympathy for a murderer but you can't deny the talent. One of my favourite Christmas albums ever was one of his, A Christmas Gift For You, which is still brilliant almost 60 years after it was first released.

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Alexis

Alexis

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And Celine's people have released a snippet of the stuff she did with him in 1995! I think he must have blocked them from releasing it in his lifetime. I remember reading that it wouldn't be heard until Spector was dead, but I didn't think that was literal. They only posted a snippet of a song, and you can hear the full wall of sound production and a whole ton of backing vocalists that are not Celine. I like it, but it sounds very like the stuff they got Steinman to do. They must have made him copy the style, although Steinman used synths and more modern production. I think from the snippet I have heard, I actually prefer Steinman's work though. It suits Celine's bombast better. I don't think Celine's vocal, sounds that brilliant with the wall of sound kind of production. It feels like there is a bit much going on.

I would love to hear all of the stuff he did with her though to really make up my mind. The Spector song sounds like a mix of Celine's cover of The Power Of Love, and the song Call The Man that Steinman did. There's that romantic melody and a chorus where there is a huge backing vocal arrangement.
I just heard it on the way home from work, I'll try and post it here after dinner.
 
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Alexis

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Here it is... It's pretty gorgeous because it's that '90s Celine vocal. I hope that more of it sees the light of day.

Here's a link to the clip on Youtube. It sounds very nostalgic, very sixties which would have probably been a good thing for her. It sounds more like the stuff she was more free to do in her French music than the standard of the time pop ballads she was mostly made to do in America.
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