Grammy award winning producer Phil Spector dies at 80
According to a statement released by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, music producer and convicted murderer Phil Spector died of natural causes on Saturday
An official cause of death will be determined by the medical examiner for the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office at a later date.
Spector was sentenced to 19 years to life for the 2003 fatal shooting of actress Lana Clarkson. In February 2003, Clarkson was found dead in his home. The actress was found slumped over in a chair at Spector’s California mansion with a gunshot wound through the roof of her mouth.
The actress starred in the 1985 B-movie “Barbarian Queen” and appeared in other films, including “Deathstalker,” “Blind Date,” “Scarface,” “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” and “Amazon Women on the Moon.”
Spector, who was from Bronx, New York, produced recordings by The Beatles, Ike and Tina Turner, Cher and the Ramones.
Creator of the “Wall of Sound” style, the influential producer formed the Teddy Bears and recorded the group’s only hit, “To Know Him is to Love Him,” while he was still in high school.
He won a Grammy Award for Album of the Year as a producer of “The Concert for Bangladesh.”
He was also inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters’ Hall of Fame.
