In a 1983 documentary by Binia Tymieniecka, Spector's ex-wife Veronica ("Ronnie" of the Ronettes) said of him, "I think Phil was a very normal person at the beginning of his career. But as time went on, they started writing about him being a genius. And he said, 'Yeah, I am a genius.' And then they would say, 'He's the mad genius.' And so he became the mad genius."
The day after Lana Clarkson was shot, Ronnie Spector wrote this, "My heart goes out to the woman and her family … I can only say that when I left in the early '70s, I knew that if I didn't leave at that time I was going to die there. I said it in my book over 12 years ago and I still believe it to be true now."
Lana Clarkson and the events of February 3, 2003
Lana Clarkson, 40, a moderately successful B movie hottie moving into middle age, had recently begun working at the Sunset Strip House of Blues as a ticket taker and hostess in an effort to get her career back on track.
"She wasn't thrilled to have people from the industry see her doing that, but she thought it was a good step to get back into the mainstream," her neighbor Paul Pietrewicz told AP. "It wasn't exactly what she wanted to do, but she thought she could meet the right person."
Which was apparently not Phil.
Police think legendary rock producer Phil Spector murdered a B-movie actress in the foyer of his hilltop home just hours after meeting her at the Sunset Strip blues club where she worked as a hostess.
Spector, a reclusive eccentric with a fondness for guns, allegedly killed Lana Clarkson with a single shot after they returned to his 33-room mock castle in the Los Angeles suburb of Alhambra from the House of Blues early on Monday morning.
Tall, blonde, beautiful and curvaceous, Clarkson was Hollywood dream material, but it didn't turn out that way - the best she could do was become "Barbarian Queen."
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Article comments
1 - HW Saxton
That is one HELL of a fro that Phil is
sporting these days. His hair is bigger
than all three of The Ronettes hairdo's
put together.
I have no idea whether or not Phil S. is
innocent but his PAST behavior does not
fare well for his FUTURE trial. I hope
not as I really LOVE a lot of his music
and this will sadly taint that for me if
it's so.I know that it shouldn't but yet
it still will.
2 - Eric Olsen
I share your admiration for his work, HW, and am very sad about this all the way around - it doesn't look good for him. Either it was suicide or he did it, and no one seems to buy the suicide claim.
3 - Jeffery Haas
We wont know till the evidence comes out about Phil, but many of the "gun stories" are true, so yeah, it doesn't look to good for him.
It's always a sorry sight to behold someone whose reaction to fame and fortune is withdrawal into an inner world where the only voices they hear are imaginary, and sad to say this was Phil's own self-induced exile.
He made his own choice in becoming a recluse.
I will always admire his landmark work and I continue to hold out hope that he is innocent.
But is he sane? That's anyone's guess.....have to ask the tiny handful that knew him well, and it's a tiny handful indeed. I wish I knew Leon Russell's opinion of the situation.
4 - Eric Olsen
good points Jeffery, thanks, and no I don't think he is sane in the sense of able to function in society
5 - Vacuity's Bane
Its a deffinite fact that spector pulled a gun on Dee Dee Ramone.
6 - uao
Just as a little aside:
A "small house" in Venice will easily set you back about a million dollars. A smaller bungalow will still set you back $600,000+ More, if you live on the canals.
So B-actress or not, Clarkson wasn't starving; those comic conventions must bring in some coin.
It is a horrible shame about what happened to Spector; with the possible exception of Gary Glitter, few have climbed so high only to ultimately disgrace themselves so much.
HW Saxton says it will change the way he hears Spector. I suppose it will for me too, although I long ago learned to separate good music from the pricks who make it.
And Vacuity's Bane is right; the story of Spector pulling a gun on the Ramones has been around for many years.
John Lennon was scared of him by 1974, when he fired him from producing Lennon's Rock And Roll album; he told the story of trying to get the tapes back from Spector many times.
7 - Rodney Welch
Supposedly, he fired a gun when Lennon was in a soundproof booth, causing the ex-Betle to throw off his headphones and yell the immortal words: "Phil, if you wanna kill me, kill me, but don't mess with me fuckin' ears -- I need `em!"
I'm a huge Spector fan. The whole business is very sad and no, it doesn't look good for him.
8 - Bliffle
I thought Spector was redundant at best: his musicians deserved better and his egregious embellishments don't have legs.
9 - Rodney Welch
If they don't have legs, then nothing has legs and nothing, sadly, ever will. Forty years down the road, Spector's cornball hymns to young love still sound fresh and dynamic. You can't argue with "Be My Baby," "River Deep, Mountain High," "He Hit Me (It Felt Like a Kiss)," the extraordinarily moving "Black Pearl," "You've Lost That Loving Feeling," "Walking in the Rain," or his spectacular Christmas album.