In 1958, the Teddy Bears recorded the Spector-penned " Don't You Worry My Little Pet", and then signed a two to three singles recording deal with Era Records, with the promise of more if the singles did well. ĭuring this period, record producer Stan Ross-co-owner of Gold Star Studios in Hollywood-began to tutor Spector in record production and exerted a major influence on Spector's production style. Spector formed a group, the Teddy Bears, with Nelson and three other friends, Marshall Leib, Harvey Goldstein and Annette Kleinbard. He joined a loose-knit community of aspiring musicians, including Lou Adler, Bruce Johnston, Steve Douglas, and Sandy Nelson. Having learned to play guitar, Spector performed " Rock Island Line" in a talent show at Fairfax High. Spector attended John Burroughs Junior High School (now John Burroughs Middle School) on Wilshire Boulevard, then in 1954 attended Fairfax High School. In 1953, Spector's mother moved the family to Los Angeles where she found work as a seamstress. In April 1949, Spector's father, who was deeply in debt, committed suicide on his gravestone were inscribed the words "Ben Spector. Spector's Fairfax High School yearbook photo 1957 He had a sister named Shirley, who was six years his senior she died in 2004 in Hemet, California, at the age of 70. The similarities in name and background of the grandfathers led Spector to believe that his parents were first cousins. Both families anglicized their last names to "Spector" on their naturalization papers, both of which were witnessed by the same man, Isidore Spector. Bertha had been born in France to Russian migrants George and Clara Spektor, who brought her to America in 1911 aged 9 months, while Benjamin was born as Baruch (later changed to Benjamin) in the Russian Empire to George and Bessie Spektus or Spektres, and brought to America by his parents in 1913 aged 10. His parents were Benjamin (1903–1949) and Bertha (1911–1995) Spector, a first-generation immigrant Russian-Jewish family in the Bronx, New York City. He later added a second "l" to his middle name, which he preferred over "Harvey". Harvey Philip Spector was born on December 26, 1939. In 2009, after two decades in semi-retirement, 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.īiography 1939–1959: Background and the Teddy Bears įollowing 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. In 2004, Spector was ranked number 63 on Rolling Stone 's list of the greatest artists in history. 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. Spector helped establish the role of the studio as an instrument, the integration of pop art aesthetics into music ( art pop), and the genres of art rock and dream pop. 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". By the mid-1970s Spector had produced eighteen U.S. In the early 1970s, Spector produced the Beatles' Let It Be and several solo records by John Lennon and George Harrison. The musicians from his de facto house band, later known as " The Wrecking Crew", rose to industry fame through his hit records. He produced acts such as The Ronettes, The Crystals, and Ike & Tina Turner, and typically collaborated with arranger Jack Nitzsche and engineer Larry Levine. Dubbed the " First Tycoon of Teen", 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. In 1960, after working as an apprentice to Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, Spector co-founded Philles Records, and at the age of 21 became the youngest-ever U.S. īorn 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. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in pop music history and one of the most successful producers of the 1960s. 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. Harvey Phillip Spector (Decem– January 16, 2021) was an American record producer and songwriter, best known for his innovative recording practices and entrepreneurship in the 1960s, followed decades later by his two trials and conviction for murder in the 2000s.
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