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Phil Spector
From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist
Phil Spector was born in the Bronx, New York, in 1939. He was an American producer who showed in the early 1960s that the producer could be the real creator of a record. With him the singers were almost interchangeable: He's a Rebel was released under the name The Crystals, but was sung by Darlene Love and The Blossoms.
Music and breakthrough
In 1958, as a member of The Teddy Bears, he had already had a number 1 in America with To Know Him Is to Love Him. In 1961 he started the record label Philles with Lester Sill. At Gold Star Studios in Los Angeles he worked with a regular group of studio musicians, later known as The Wrecking Crew. They played the same parts simultaneously on several pianos and guitars, with a lot of reverb. That became the Wall of Sound. Examples are He's a Rebel by The Crystals (1962), Be My Baby by The Ronettes (1963) and You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' by The Righteous Brothers (1964). River Deep – Mountain High by Ike & Tina Turner (1966) reached only number 88 in America, but number 3 in England.
Influence
Spector later produced Let It Be (1970) by The Beatles, and worked on Imagine by John Lennon and All Things Must Pass by George Harrison. Bruce Springsteen modelled Born to Run (1975) on the Wall of Sound, and in Stockholm ABBA borrowed the doubling of instruments. In 2003 Spector shot the actress Lana Clarkson dead in his home. In 2009 he was convicted of her murder.
Listening
Discography
Studio albums
- 1991Back to Mono
In School of Rock
The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.
- Mixtape 3: The BeatlesNL Reader
- Mixtape 4: When Rock Was Still PopNL Reader
- Mixtape 12: The Hit FactoryNL Reader
- Magazine: De straat opNL Magazine
Mentioned in other articles
- Heartland rock Genre
For Born to Run (1975) he built a wall of sound modelled on Phil Spector's Wall of Sound.
- Brill Building and girl groups Genre
Many of those songs ended up with the producer Phil Spector.
- Transistor radio Technology
At Motown, mixes were checked on cheap speakers, and Phil Spector built a sound that sounded full even through a tiny radio.
- Wall of Sound Technology
At Gold Star Studios in Los Angeles, the producer Phil Spector had several guitarists, pianists and drummers play the same part at the same time, and sent the sound through an echo chamber.
- Born to Run Album
He wanted to approach Phil Spector's Wall of Sound.
- Be My Baby Song
In Los Angeles, the producer Phil Spector worked with a fixed group of session musicians, later called the Wrecking Crew.
- Waterloo Song
They had listened closely to Phil Spector and British glam rock.