What was right in Spector's ears apparently was right in a lot of other people's as well. Immediately after leaving Atlantic Records, where he was named head of A&R at age 20, Spector began to develop his Wall of Sound. Some of the musicians he used to produce that sound included drummer Hal Blaine, guitarist Larry Knechtel, bassist Carol Kaye, saxophonist Steve Douglas and percussionist Sonny Bono. That sound, which some say he "borrowed" from Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, "sweetened" a track with larger-than-life strings, vocals and percussion instruments. The goal - from finding or writing the song, to hiring the musicians, to recording the song - was to make the song as far out and overwhelming as possible.

After the Teddy Bears and Atlantic, Spector worked with a number of producers including Lee Hazlewood, Lester Sill and Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. In 1962, Spector took his show on the road and launched the Philles label, scoring over 20 hit records by such artists as the Crystals, Darlene Love, Bobb B. Soxx and the Blue Jeans, The Ronettes, and the Righteous Brothers. After his success in 1958, Spector's next No. 1 came in 1962, with the Crystals' "He's a Rebel." With classic Spector subterfuge, The Crystals didn't really sing, either on that top hit or on the No. 11 "He's Sure the Boy I Love," because of touring conflicts; instead, it was the Blossoms with Darlene Love on lead who recorded them. The actual Crystals (Barbara Alston, LaLa Brooks, Dee Dee Kennibrew, Mary Thomas and Patricia Wright) scored four other Top 20 hits for Spector, including "There's No Other (Like My Baby)," "Uptown," "Da Doo Ron Ron (When He Walked Me Home)" and "Then He Kissed Me."

Other artists Spector nurtured to Top 20 stardom include Ray Peterson ("Corinna Corinna"), the Paris Sisters ("I Love How You Love Me"), Curtis Lee ("Pretty Little Angel Eyes"), and his songwriting compatriot on several projects, Gene Pitney ("Town Without Pity"). Spector also produced perhaps the best rock 'n' roll Christmas album of all time, A Christmas Gift For You (later rereleased as Phil Spector's Christmas Record) with timeless performances from Darlene Love, The Ronettes, Bob B. Soxx and the Blue Jeans, and the Crystals.

Spector has said he views his work as "impressionistic sound productions," and virtually all of those impressionistic '60s hits were recorded at Gold Star - first on a three track, then a four-track - all in mono, with engineer Larry Levine. The Wall of Sound came from the studio's echo chambers and the fact that Spector recorded platoons of musicians together - without isolation - in a small room with a high ceiling.

And while he and the acts on the Philles roster were rolling down the gold brick road in the mid-'60s, the wheels came off of the wagon in '66. Spector's (literally) largest production to date, Ike and Tina Turner's "River Deep, Mountain High" was a commercial flop in the U.S. (reaching only No. 88, but in the U.K. it soared to No. 3); the hypersensitive Spector closed his label and, for all intents and purposes, stopped producing.