http://www.billboard.com/billboard/...tent_id=1808266

DailyMusicNews
Billboard Magazine

Edited by Jonathan Cohen / February 03, 2003, 3:25 PM

Update: Phil Spector Arrested In Shooting Death

Producer Phil Spector, noted for his work with the Beatles, Ike & Tina Turner, the Righteous Brothers, and the Ronettes, was arrested this morning (Feb. 3) on charges of first degree murder in connection with the shooting death of an unidentified woman at his home in Alhambra, Calif. A police spokesperson tells Billboard.com Spector is being held on $1 million bail.

At around 5 a.m. PT, officers were called to Spector's home and found a female shooting victim on the premises. The victim, a white female, was pronounced dead the scene. Her identity has not yet been made public, pending notification of her family.

Spector was booked into police custody at 6:09 a.m. PT. The spokesperson had no further information on his arraignment.


-- Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.; Chris Morris, L.A.

__________________
Indubitably Certifiably ShAnIaNuTs! since 1993!
The irresistible red hot belly button barin' mama and quintessential lean mean singin' machine has surprised and enraptured us and conquered our hearts, minds and souls repeatedly.

How ironic for this to happen on this date (see The Day The Music Died thread)

__________________
Indubitably Certifiably ShAnIaNuTs! since 1993!
The irresistible red hot belly button barin' mama and quintessential lean mean singin' machine has surprised and enraptured us and conquered our hearts, minds and souls repeatedly.

What a shocker! This is one of the last people I would imagine being involved in a murder. Then of course, we need to wait and see what the circumstances are too. Being arrested for murder and doing it are two different things. However, they must have a pretty good case in any event.

Steve

__________________
WE DON'T JUST REMEMBER ELVIS......WE NEVER FORGOT HIM....Elvis Radio, CH75, SIRIUS/XM 24/7 Live from Graceland HAPPY 86TH BIRTHDAY EP!!! ONE BILLION+++ SOLD +!

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...of_b_movie_star


Local - New York Daily News

Nab Spector in murder of B-movie star
2 hours, 3 minutes ago Add Local - New York Daily News to My Yahoo!


By BILL HUTCHINSON
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Fabled rock 'n' roll music impresario Phil Spector was busted on first-degree murder charges yesterday after police found a dead woman in his Southern California mansion.

Police identified the victim last night as Lana Clarkson, 40, of Los Angeles, who sources said worked as an actress.


They said Clarkson had small roles in "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" with Sean Penn and "Scarface" with Al Pacino, but more recently made a living playing Xena-like warrior women in such B-flicks as "Barbarian Queen" and "Amazon Woman on the Moon."


Although Spector was accused of shooting Clarkson, no motive was given.


"She was pronounced dead at the scene, and suspect Phillip Spector ... was taken into custody," said Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Faye Bugarin.


The 62-year-old eccentric and often reclusive hit maker had a volatile temper and a history of pulling pistols on the likes of John Lennon and the Ramones.


Bugarin said cops received a 911 call at 5 a.m. local time from Spector's 10-bedroom Pyrenees Castle in the Los Angeles suburb of Alhambra.


Officers entered the sprawling hilltop home and found the woman lying in the foyer in a pool of blood. A gun believed used in the slaying was found nearby. By nightfall, Spector posted $1 million bail and was released.


The 5-foot-7 rock 'n' roll Hall of Famer hired celebrity defense lawyer Robert Shapiro, whose clients have included O.J. Simpson and Michael Jackson, to represent him. Shapiro declined to comment last night.


Lawyer Marvin Mitchelson told the Daily News: "I just heard, and I'm in shock. He's my best friend, and I'm shattered."


Mitchelson said he last communicated with Spector by E-mail on Friday. "His mental state has been great ? very rational, very together," he said.


He said Spector, who has been married twice, lives alone and does not have a girlfriend.


Pioneer sound


The Bronx-born Spector co-wrote such standards as The Crystals' "Da Doo Ron Ron," The Ronettes' "Be My Baby" and the Righteous Brothers' "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling."


Spector created the revolutionary "wall of sound" effect that involved overdubbing scores of musicians to create a full, dramatic sound. He used the technique while producing such mega-selling albums as John Lennon's "Imagine" and the last Beatles album, "Let it Be."


Neighbors reported hearing dogs barking about the time of the 911 call, but no one reported hearing gunshots. Police said they were quizzing witnesses in the mansion at the time of the shooting.


Dee Dee Ramone, the late bass player for the Ramones, once said Spector pulled a gun on the band during a recording session. But yesterday, the band's drummer, Marky Ramone, said Spector "wouldn't hurt a fly."


"I don't think Phil had it in him to murder anybody," Ramone told Fox News Channel.

Although he was known as a genius in the studio, Spector also was accused of being an out-of-control party boy and a cheat.

The Ronettes, which included his ex-wife Ronnie Greenfield, sued Spector for allegedly cheating them out of royalties.

Hit songs co-writtenby Phil Spector include: "To Know Him Is to Love Him," performed by Phil Spector and the Teddy Bears "Da Doo Ron Ron" and "Then He Kissed Me," performed by The Crystals "Spanish Harlem," performed by Ben E. King "Be My Baby," performed by The Ronettes "You?ve Lost That Lovin? Feelin?," performed by The Righteous Brothers "River Deep - Mountain High," performed by Ike and Tina Turner. Hit songs and albums produced by Spector include: "I Love How You Love Me" by the Paris Sisters "Instant Karma" by John Lennon "Let It Be" by The Beatles "Imagine" by John Lennon "End of the Century" by the Ramones Originally published on February 4, 2003

__________________
Indubitably Certifiably ShAnIaNuTs! since 1993!
The irresistible red hot belly button barin' mama and quintessential lean mean singin' machine has surprised and enraptured us and conquered our hearts, minds and souls repeatedly.

......now all about the movie of his life (or not)!






http://www.shaniaforums.com/showthr...&threadid=18226

__________________
Indubitably Certifiably ShAnIaNuTs! since 1993!
The irresistible red hot belly button barin' mama and quintessential lean mean singin' machine has surprised and enraptured us and conquered our hearts, minds and souls repeatedly.

Latest is Phil will plead accidental shooting!

__________________
Indubitably Certifiably ShAnIaNuTs! since 1993!
The irresistible red hot belly button barin' mama and quintessential lean mean singin' machine has surprised and enraptured us and conquered our hearts, minds and souls repeatedly.

NATIONAL | March 12, 2003
Phil Spector Says in E-Mail He Is Cleared in a Killing
By NICK MADIGAN (NYT) News

Phil Spector Says in E-Mail He Is Cleared in a Killing
By NICK MADIGAN


LOS ANGELES, March 11 — The record producer Phil Spector, who has maintained a public silence since his arrest last month in the shooting death of a woman in his house, said this week in an e-mail message to friends that he had been exonerated.

Mr. Spector, 62, best known for creating the "wall of sound" studio technique and for being the power behind acts like the Crystals, the Ronettes and the Righteous Brothers, cited a report on Monday on a Los Angeles radio station, KFI, that said investigators believed that the woman, Lana Clarkson, "probably shot herself accidentally."

But Capt. Frank Merriman, who heads the homicide unit of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, said today that Mr. Spector had not been cleared in the Feb. 3 death of Ms. Clarkson, 40, an actress.

"We're investigating this thing as a criminal act," said Captain Merriman, who estimated that it could take until midsummer for the case to be ready for presentation to the district attorney's office, which could then elect to file formal charges. In the meantime, Mr. Spector is free on $1 million bail.

The only possibility he had ruled out, Captain Merriman said, was suicide. "I'm not going to talk about accidental death because I'd have to be specific about things I don't want to be specific about," he said.

Captain Merriman said he did not believe that anyone in his office had told the radio station that Mr. Spector had been cleared. "It would be inaccurate to say we were focusing on anything," he said.

Mr. Spector, however, seized on the radio report, which cited sources close to the case to conclude that Ms. Clarkson shot herself at the producer's home in Alhambra.

"After seven weeks of silence, we can say with certainty, this will speak for itself, and boy does it speak volumes!" said the e-mail, which was signed by Mr. Spector and his assistant, Michelle Blaine.

The e-mail message, which was obtained from a friend of Mr. Spector, said he had been cleared of "any and all involvement in this horrible tragedy."

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/12/national/12SPEC.html

__________________
Indubitably Certifiably ShAnIaNuTs! since 1993!
The irresistible red hot belly button barin' mama and quintessential lean mean singin' machine has surprised and enraptured us and conquered our hearts, minds and souls repeatedly.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/21/national/21SPEC.html

Record Producer Phil Spector Is Charged in Death of Actress
By ANDREW POLLACK

Published: November 21, 2003

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 20 — Phil Spector, the record producer whose lush orchestration helped create some of the biggest pop music hits of the 1960's, was charged on Thursday with murder in the shooting death of an actress at his hilltop home last February.

He was arraigned in Alhambra, the suburb of Los Angeles where he lives. He pleaded not guilty.

Mr. Spector, 63, was arrested on suspicion of murder on Feb. 3 after the body of the actress, Lana Clarkson, was found in the foyer of his home. He has been free since then on $1 million bail.

If convicted, Mr. Spector would face up to life in prison, with the possibility of parole, said Sandi Gibbons, spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County district attorney. The complaint filed by the prosecutors said he killed Ms. Clarkson with a handgun "with malice aforethought."

Mr. Spector's lawyer, Robert Shapiro, said a vigorous defense would be mounted.

"We have assembled a team of scientific experts which is among the most respected and prestigious in the world," Mr. Shapiro, who helped defend O. J. Simpson from murder charges, said in a statement. "Based on their findings of this horrible human event, any jury will conclude that Phil Spector is not guilty."

The charge comes the same day that another music legend, Michael Jackson, surrendered to the authorities on charges of child molesting.

Mr. Spector was known for his "wall of sound," a studio technique in which many instruments gave a full-bodied sound to rock. Songs with that effect included "You've Lost that Lovin' Feeling" by the Righteous Brothers, "Da Doo Ron Ron" by the Crystals and "Walking in the Rain" by the Ronettes.

But Mr. Spector's hits largely ended by 1970 and he has been pretty much a recluse since then. Alhambra, where he lives in a house resembling a castle, is a middle-class suburb miles from the stars' homes in Beverly Hills and Malibu.

Mr. Spector had a reputation for high living, drunkenness and a fascination with guns. He reportedly pulled guns on musicians in his studio more than once. But friends had said that before his arrest, he was trying to get his life in order, going back to work in the studio.

In a rare interview with a reporter for the Telegraph newspaper in Britain given just a few weeks before his February arrest, Mr. Spector said he had a "bipolar personality" and was taking drugs for schizophrenia, though he said he did not believe himself to be schizophrenic. "I have devils inside that fight me," he was quoted by the newspaper as saying.

Ms. Clarkson, 40, had starred in B movies such as "Amazon Women on the Moon" and "Barbarian Queen" and had had some guest roles on television. At the time of her death she was working as a hostess in the V.I.P. room of the House of Blues, a Sunset Strip club, where she apparently met Mr. Spector.

She apparently left the club with him early in the morning of Feb. 3, and the two were taken in Mr. Spector's chauffeur-driven car to his home. At around 5 a.m., the chauffeur called the police after hearing gunfire from inside the house.

Mr. Spector has not said much publicly since his arrest. But Esquire magazine in June quoted Mr. Spector as saying that Ms. Clarkson had shot herself and that he barely knew her. "She kissed the gun," he was quoted as saying. "I have no idea why."

But the Los Angeles County coroner's office concluded that she had been shot by someone else. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department reached the same conclusion and in September handed the case over to the district attorney's office, which has been doing its own inquiry.

__________________
Indubitably Certifiably ShAnIaNuTs! since 1993!
The irresistible red hot belly button barin' mama and quintessential lean mean singin' machine has surprised and enraptured us and conquered our hearts, minds and souls repeatedly.