Phil Spector and The Wall of Sound

by Erika Cox

Phil Spector created what was called the “Spector Sound”, through multitracking he made rhythm sections sound like thundering armies and made beats sound like cannons. The records he produced had a unique sound, similar to the sounds of an orchestra playing in a large auditorium. At the time, his sound was perhaps the loudest in rock and roll and his techniques included dubbing over sounds to create an enormous full-fledged band sound.

Phil Spector was born Harvey Philip Spector on December 26, 1940 in the Bronx, New York. His father was under tremendous strain because of debt and committed suicide when Phil was only nine years old. In 1953, his mother in need of money, moved with her children to Los Angeles to find work.

As a teenager, Phil had a difficult time fitting in because of his looks and size, very thin and short he didn’t have what it took to play sports or even be popular. He decided to study music and learned how to play the guitar, drums, bass, and French horn. Spector loved the sounds of Rhythm and Blues and would often visit the local R&B clubs listening to the music and taking in all the action.

By the mid-50’s, Los Angeles started becoming a hub for small independent record companies and Spector began hanging around a group of amateur musicians in various studies. Upon visiting the various studios, he ran into a songwriting duo called, Leiber and Stoller, who were beginning to gain success as songwriters with a couple of popular groups at the time.

On a trip back to the Bronx, he visited his father’s grave and wrote down the inscription on the headstone, which read, “To know him was to love him” and with those words Spector went back to Los Angeles and started writing lyrics for the words.

In 1958, Spector graduated from high school and tried studying to become a court reporter, however, he soon discovered that wasn’t for him and decided to continue pursuing his music interests. With the help of his mother and a few friends, Spector was able to book a recording session with Gold Star Studios. During the session, Spector played all the instruments and acted as his own producer, while a couple of friends sang “Don’t You Worry My Little Pet”, a song Spector wrote.

With this demo tape Spector approached a neighbor that owned a record label called Era Records and from there Spector and his friends signed a four-year contract. They called themselves The Teddy Bears after an Elvis Presley song. The first single “Don’t You Worry My Little Pet” didn’t do well at all but when the label released the flip song “To Know Him Was To Love Him” it did much better.

The song started getting major airplay across the country and made it to the national charts. However, Spector realized that he liked producing songs more than he liked performing, plus his stage fright was so great that he would get physically sick every time before a performance. So, he began to seek out a couple of well-known record producers and asked them to show him the ropes of the record producing business, which they did.

He would also work with Leiber and Stoller producing records with them. Spector’s first record he produced, as a professional, became a huge hit and from then on he would continue to produce a string of hits throughout the early 1960’s.

With his productions receiving airplay and making it to the top of the charts, Spector, at the age of twenty-one, became a millionaire. He started developing his famous Wall of Sound and became even bigger with his girl groups, in particular the Ronettes, who became one of his most popular groups.

By the end of the 1960’s, Spector’s magic had worn off, though he continued to make sporadic productions throughout the 1970’s and 1980’s. Spector’s record producing took pop music production to another level.

Some say he is the greatest pop producer of all time and his influence can be heard in many others music. For his major contribution to rock music, Spector was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989.

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