Phil Spector

Unquestionably a musical genius whose "wall of sound" production techniques changed pop and elevated the humble producer to artistic powerhouse, Phil Spector's famously deranged personality finally caught up with him in 2009 with a 19-year prison sentence for the murder of actress Lana Clarkson. Raised in California, Spector took up guitar in his teens, forming The Teddy Bears, who had a US Number 1 with his song To Know Him Is To Love Him. He left to join top songwriters Leiber & Stoller in New York, co-writing the Ben E King hit Spanish Harlem and The Drifters' On Broadway and in 1961 formed his own label, Philles, developing the dramatic sound behind the hit girl groups The Crystals and The Ronettes. Spector's flamboyantly dense productions reached a peak with The Righteous Brothers' You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' and Ike And Tina Turner's River Deep Mountain High and he went on to work with The Beatles, producing John Lennon's Happy Xmas (War Is Over). Spector's A Christmas Gift For You album remains probably the greatest Christmas record ever made. But tales of reclusiveness and gun obsession abounded, finally resulting in his 2003 killing of Lana Clarkson.