- Jun 24, 2003
- 15,274
- 6,963
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- Country
- United States
- Faith
- Atheist
- Marital Status
- Married
One of the most prominent producers in the early days of rock n' roll. And a convicted murderer, who was serving a life sentence for killing a girlfriend in 2003. Prison officials say he died of natural causes.
Phil is known for the "wall of sound." Which added background choruses, strings, and multi-layered instrumentals to rock songs. He produced many hit songs by the early 60s girl groups, like the Ronettes and the Crystals. He produced the big Righteous Brothers hit, "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'." And he also worked with the Beatles on "Let It Be." Here's a few of his lesser known records. All favorites of mine:
An old 12-bar blues tune he turned into a pop song with background singers and strings playing in the instrumental break:
A 1961 record in the doo wop style. Nice falsetto work by lead singer Curtis Lee and great harmony from the backup singers. Also has a cool sax solo.
From his 1963 Christmas album. Darlene Love was one of Phil's go-to girl singers who often did background vocals for others. Darlene's singing here is killer. She does the rarely heard spoken lyrics that Irving Berlin intended as an introduction. But Phil places it in the instrumental break. And he adds a couple bars of Jingles Bells at the end. For my money, this is the best version of this song.
Phil is known for the "wall of sound." Which added background choruses, strings, and multi-layered instrumentals to rock songs. He produced many hit songs by the early 60s girl groups, like the Ronettes and the Crystals. He produced the big Righteous Brothers hit, "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'." And he also worked with the Beatles on "Let It Be." Here's a few of his lesser known records. All favorites of mine:
An old 12-bar blues tune he turned into a pop song with background singers and strings playing in the instrumental break:
A 1961 record in the doo wop style. Nice falsetto work by lead singer Curtis Lee and great harmony from the backup singers. Also has a cool sax solo.
From his 1963 Christmas album. Darlene Love was one of Phil's go-to girl singers who often did background vocals for others. Darlene's singing here is killer. She does the rarely heard spoken lyrics that Irving Berlin intended as an introduction. But Phil places it in the instrumental break. And he adds a couple bars of Jingles Bells at the end. For my money, this is the best version of this song.
