Meanwhile, Ronnie Greenfield will receive additional money because the court found the agreement she signed with Spector as part of their divorce settlement in the mid-'70s did not mean she had given up her rights to future royalties.

"We're obviously very much pleased that the court of appeal rejected Spector's arguments Ronnie had given up all her rights in the divorce, and that was a very substantial victory," added Greenberg. "On the other hand...[the ruling is] an unfortunate outcome for recording artists of the era."

Here is a bio of Spector that David John Farinella and I wrote:

Perhaps it should have occurred to someone that Phil Spector (born December 26, 1940 in the Bronx, NY) had a bit of Midas in him when the first song he ever wrote and produced, "To Know Him Is To Love Him" by his band, The Teddy Bears, sold over a million copies. His investment? Some studio time (at Hollywood's Gold Star) and $40. It was 1958 and a 17-year-old Spector had just launched a career that would take him from the highest of highs in the early-'60s, to the lows of the late-'60s, and the shadows by the early-'70s.

Spector's career began in '57 (his family had moved to Los Angeles in the early-'50s) as a member of the Sleepwalkers with future-Beach Boy Bruce Johnston, future-producer Kim Fowley and drummer Sandy Nelson. By '58 he was a producer. By the time he was 23, writer Tom Wolfe had dubbed him the "First Tycoon of Teen." By the time he was 34, he had been declared DOA after two car accidents - and survived - within three months of each other. He is the most referred-to name in this book, and his Wall of Sound is either held up as a paradigm to aspire to, or reviled as egomaniacal bombast.

Spector's legend is notorious, his influence profound, his credit list rightfully admired. Perhaps his career is best summed up by a quote attributed to him circa 1973: "I really believed in what was going on and I did try to change the music - I did try to change it and it was a painful experience, it was hard, basically, because there were not many people to do it with, there was not much help. It really rested on my ability to do things with my music and sounds. I don't know if I was consciously trying to change it, but musically I was definitely trying to do what I really felt was right."

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