LOS ANGELES– The late music producer Phil Spector was considered a man with two personalities. On the one hand, the genius of rock ‘n’ roll that elevated the genre with its “sound wall” in the 1960s and created hits for artists such as the Beatles and Tina Turner. On the other, the aggressive guy who brandished weapons against artists and ended up being sentenced to prison for murder.
Spector died Saturday of natural causes in a hospital, California state prison officials said. He was 81 years old. He had been convicted of killing actress Lana Clarkson in 2003 at his mansion on the outskirts of Los Angeles, and after a trial in 2009 was sentenced to 19 years behind bars without the possibility of parole.
His death generated mixed reactions about his life and legacy. Some acknowledged their early contributions to rock, while others found it hard to forgive their volatile past.
At the Beach Boys’ Garden, he said it would be nice to “remember him only for his songs and talents for production.” He said the song “Be My Baby” by The Ronettes, co-written and produced by Spector, inspired his friend and fellow Beach Boys fellow Brian Wilson.
Stevie Van Zandt, of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, called Spector “an irresistibly conflicting genius.”
“It was the best example that art will always be better than the artist,” Zandt said on Twitter. He added that Spector “made some of the best recordings in history based on the salvation of love while being unable to give or receive love all his life.”
For his part, “The Price is Right” host Drew Carey pointed to Spector, whom he called an “killer and abusive maniac.”
“I wish I had received the psychological help I so clearly needed, but it didn’t,” the comedian said on social media. “Instead of ‘just’ pulling out guns in front of people out of anger or fun, he murdered one of them. It made good sense for music, I admit that.”
Spector’s ex-wife, Ronnie Spector, recalled him on Sunday as “a brilliant producer, but a terrible husband.” She was the vocalist for the Ronettes.
“Unfortunately Phil was not able to live and work outside of the recording studio,” he wrote on Instagram. “Darkness was planted, many lives were affected. I still smile when I listen to the music we did together, and I always will. Music will be forever.”
But Darlene Love, who played Spector hits like “He’s Sa Rebel” and “He’s Sure the Boy I Love,” had a different approach. Despite his troubled relationship with the producer, he felt sad when after learning of his death when his son told him.
“He was sad about what Spector did, the wonderful music he created, and he spent almost 20 years of his life in prison,” said Love, who admitted that Spector tried to “control” his talent. during his career. She said Spector sometimes had a dangerous temper, but that she tries to remember the positive.
“I hope people not only remember the reason he spent those years in prison, but more or less what he did for rock‘ n ’roll,” he added. “He changed the sound of rock ‘n’ roll. That was what saddened me.”
Clarkson, known for “Barbarian Queen” and other B-movies, was shot dead in the lobby of Spector’s mansion on the outskirts of Los Angeles.
Until the actress’ death, which Spector claimed was an “accidental suicide,” few residents knew the mansion belonged to the producing escarpment, who spent her last years in a prison hospital in the is from Stockton.
Spector was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989. But over time, the artists stopped working with him and he didn’t change much of his style.
“It self-destructed in the most horrible way,” said David Thompson, author of “Wall of Pain: The Biography of Phil Spector,” published in 2004. “But we have to separate the two parts. There are a lot of people who are revered. until we found out they did something terrible. that erases all of their successes. I don’t agree with that. “
Thompson said Spector’s biography was one of the most difficult to write because he wanted to focus solely on music, but while working on the book he learned of Spector’s conviction.
“It was hard to balance,” he said. “I wanted to write about music, just what it did, what it created and what it gave us, but I had to balance with the terrible things it did.”