| Birth Name: | Harvey Philip Spector | ||||
| Other Names: | Harvey Phillip Spector | ||||
| Birth Date: | 26 December 1939 | ||||
| Birth Place: | New York City, U.S. | ||||
| Death Place: | French Camp, California, U.S. | ||||
| Years Active: | 1958–2009 | ||||
| Spouse: | |||||
| Children: | 5 | ||||
| Date: | February 3, 2003 | ||||
| Imprisoned: | California Health Care Facility | ||||
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Harvey Phillip Spector (December 26, 1939 – January 16, 2021) was an American record producer, songwriter, and convicted murderer. He is best known for his innovative recording practices and entrepreneurship in the 1960s along with his two trials and conviction for the murder of Lana Clarkson in the 2000s. Spector developed the Wall of Sound, a production style that is characterized for its diffusion of tone colors and dense orchestral sound, which he described as a "Wagnerian" approach to rock and roll. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in pop music history[1] and one of the most successful producers of the 1960s.[2]
Born in the Bronx, Spector moved to Los Angeles as a teenager and began his career in 1958, as a founding member of The Teddy Bears, for whom he penned, "To Know Him Is to Love Him", a U.S. number-one hit. In 1960, after working as an apprentice to Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, Spector co-founded Philles Records, and at the age of 21, he became the youngest-ever U.S. label owner at the time.[3] Dubbed the "First Tycoon of Teen",[4] Spector came to be considered the first auteur of the music industry, for the unprecedented control he had over every phase of the recording process. He produced acts such as The Ronettes, The Crystals, and Ike & Tina Turner, and typically collaborated with arranger Jack Nitzsche and engineer Larry Levine. The musicians from his de facto house band, later known as "The Wrecking Crew", rose to industry fame through his hit records.
In the early 1970s, Spector produced the Beatles' Let It Be and several solo records by John Lennon and George Harrison. By the mid-1970s, Spector had produced eighteen U.S. Top 10 singles for various artists. His chart-toppers included the Righteous Brothers' "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'", the Beatles' "The Long and Winding Road", and Harrison's "My Sweet Lord". Spector helped establish the role of the studio as an instrument,[5] the integration of pop art aesthetics into music (art pop),[6] and the genres of art rock and dream pop.[7] His honors include the 1973 Grammy Award for Album of the Year, for co-producing Harrison's Concert for Bangladesh, a 1989 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and a 1997 induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.[8] In 2004, Spector was ranked number 63 on Rolling Stones list of the greatest artists in history.[9]
Following one-off productions for Leonard Cohen (Death of a Ladies' Man), Dion DiMucci (Born to Be with You), and the Ramones (End of the Century), from the 1980s on, Spector remained largely inactive, amid a lifestyle of seclusion, drug use, and increasingly erratic behavior.[10] In 2009, after two decades in semi-retirement,[11] he was convicted of the 2003 murder of actress Lana Clarkson and sentenced to 19 years to life in prison, where he died, in 2021.
Harvey Spector[12] was born on December 26, 1939. His parents were Benjamin (1903–1949)[13] and Bertha (1911–1995)[14] Spector, a first-generation immigrant Russian-Jewish family in the Bronx, New York City.[2] Bertha had been born in France to Russian migrants George and Clara Spektor, who brought her to America in 1911 aged 9 months,[2] while Benjamin was born as Baruch in the Russian Empire to George and Bessie Spektus or Spektres, and brought to America by his parents in 1913 aged 10.[2] Both families anglicized their last names to "Spector" on their naturalization papers, both of which were witnessed by the same man, Isidore Spector.[2] The similarities in name and background of the grandfathers led Spector to believe that his parents were first cousins. He had a sister named Shirley, who was six years his senior; she died in 2004 in Hemet, California, at the age of 70.[2]
In April 1949, Spector's father, who was deeply in debt, died by suicide; on his gravestone were inscribed the words "Ben Spector. Father. Husband. To Know Him Was To Love Him".[15] [2] In 1953, Spector's mother moved the family to Los Angeles where she found work as a seamstress.[15] Spector attended John Burroughs Junior High School (now John Burroughs Middle School) on Wilshire Boulevard, then in 1955 attended Fairfax High School.[2] Having learned to play guitar, Spector performed "Rock Island Line" in a talent show at Fairfax High.[16]