Monday January 18, 2021 “Be My Baby” The Ronettes
Legendary record producer Phil Spector passed Saturday as a result of Covid complications, he was 81...and in prison.
As much as I hate to start the week with an existential question, today's piece on Phil Spector brings us face to face with the quarrelsome concept of separating an artist's contributions from their behavior. Do we think less of Michael Jackson’s genius because of his alleged aberrant behavior, should we dismiss the Beatles contribution because John Lennon foolishly uttered that they were more popular than Jesus, do we care that Elvis Presley lived with a fourteen year old girl until she was old enough to marry him.
And that brings us to Mr. Spector, a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and truly a legendary record producer as the opening today suggested. Can we/should we diminish his amazing contributions simply because he was a man of erratic and sometimes frightening behavior or because he kept his wife Ronnie Spector locked in their home for more than four years or that he was a convicted of murder?
Here is one of his early ‘symphonies for the kids’ a song with such amazing production values that when Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys first heard it while driving in his car it forced him to pull off the road. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Wilson said “In a way it wasn't like having your mind blown, it was like having your mind revamped.”
Spector produced the Righteous Brothers’ international number one hit “You’ve Lost That Lovin Feeling” which for a very long time was one of the most played radio songs ever and it was just one of Spector’s hundreds of successful hits. He created the L.A. Wrecking Crew, the most prolific session musicians in the music business.
He was a strange man, perhaps a sociopath, but he created music that for some of us would provide the background to our lives growing up. Do we dismiss it because of his personal life?
Stay safe and well…and oh yeah, then there was Ronnie Spector and the Ronettes.