"He is the most kind and gentle and giving man I have ever met in my life."Granted Rachelle Short (Spector) is only 28; her husband, famed record producer Phil Spector, has likely spent more time than that polishing his gun collection.
More years regarding Phil Spector: 19, his sentence yesterday in the second-degree murder of would-be actress Lana Clarkson back in 2003.
But Rachelle, who married Spector in the wake of Clarkson's death, is standing by her 69-year-old man no matter what, even if she seems to be one of the few women on the planet who still views him with sympathy.
Phil Spector via last.fm
To say that the Hobbit-sized Phil Spector has a Napoleonic complex is to insult Napoleon. For one, Napoleon couldn't have treated women as badly as Spector has, if all the stories about him are true.
Among Spector's greatest hits as a producer and/or songwriter are girl-group classics such as the Ronettes' "Be My Baby," "Baby, I Love You" and "Walking in the Rain," and the Crystals' "Uptown," "He's a Rebel," "Da Doo Ron Ron" and "Then He Kissed Me."
Ironically, these are philharmonic, excuse the pun, rock odes to yearning or devotion or love-as-found-treasure, or some combination thereof, from the POV of a girl's pure heart.
Back in his Wall of Sound heyday, Spector was dubbed "the first Tycoon of Teen" by writer Tom Wolfe. Spector made a great deal of money, not Ronnie Bennett Spector or Darlene Love or LaLa Brooks or any other females he used as singers and/or disposable wipes.
His imprisoned-in-the-castle treatment of Ronnie, lead singer of the Ronettes and his most famous wife, makes the Brothers Grimm look like the Brothers Marx.
You could write a book filled with wall of sound bites from the enemies that Spector has made in his lifetime. For starters, see Mark Ribowsky's "He's a Rebel."
When and where Spector winds up breaking rocks in the hot sun, he might think of R&B singer Little Willie John, who died in prison 41 years ago this past Tuesday.
Like Spector, John in his prime was a diminutive dynamo. And like Spector, he's in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, by virtue of his soulful voice, his influence on the likes of James Brown, and a legacy of great wax, including 1956's "Fever," covered by many others, most notably by Peggy Lee.
The parallels with Spector don't end there.
John was convicted in 1966 of manslaughter after a knife he was carrying found its way into the body of another guy at a party. John was sent to Washington State Prison, where he died in 1968, the official cause listed as heart attack. He was 30.
He's still putting out records, though. "Little Willie John: Nineteen Sixty Six," named for the year in which it was recorded, was finally released last November, one reviewer calling the album "an essential buy for fans of Pickett, Cooke or Redding."
If Spector is made to serve all 19 years of his sentence, he's likely to die in prison, perhaps listening to "Your Good Thing (Is About to End)," an Isaac Hayes-written soul chestnut by Mable John, older sister of Little Willie.
Time for a question.
Phil Spector co-wrote this song and produced its most-heard version. In 1999, BMI named it the most-played song of the 20th century. What is it?
You, with the Phil Spector-nuclear mushroom-white man's afro, whattya got? That is correct, "You've Lost That Loving Feelin'," made famous by the Righteous Brothers.
Here's more Spector-related trivia. Get them all right and you could win "Yabba Dabba Doo Ron Ron: The Flintstone Tabernacle Choir Does Phil Spector."
1. What Rock and Roll Hall of Fame singer wrote "He's a Rebel"?
2. What Beatles album was re-released in 2003, shorn of Phil Spector's original production?
3. What Teddy Bears single was inspired by Phil Spector's father's epitaph?
4. What was the name given to the L.A. studio musicians used on many a Spector record?
5. What Ben E. King hit of 1961 was co-written by Spector?
6. What Ronettes hit was covered by the Ramones on their 1980 Spector-produced album, "End of the Century"?
7. Spector played the guitar solo on this 1963 Drifters hit.
8. What song co-written and produced by Spector is performed every year during the Christmas season by Darlene Love on "Late Show With David Letterman"?
9. Spector was considerably bummed when this Ike and Tina Turner single of 1966 only reached No. 88 in the States.
10. This Spector-produced hit from 1965 made the charts again in 1990 after its inclusion in the film "Ghost."
Answers tomorrow.
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