The man responsible for some of the world’s best-known pop songs, record producer Phil Spector, was charged with murder yesterday in connection with the death of woman found shot at his home in a Los Angeles suburb.
Police had been called to the scene after neighbours heard gunshots in the early hours of the morning.
A body, described only as that of a white female, was found in Spector’s mansion in Alhambra in the San Gabriel Valley, near Pasadena.
Police would not say what the relationship between Spector and the woman was and said they were witholding her identity until her family had been informed.
Spector (62) one of the biggest names in the recording industry and one of the richest, was taken from the scene by police and questioned at the Alhambra police station.
A police spokesman said that officers had arrived at the house at 5am following an emergency call and had found the woman already dead.
A police representative said that Spector was cooperating with detectives investigating the shooting.
Within hours of the arrest, dozens of film crews, including some in helicopters, had descended on the house, which is in an affluent area on the edge of the city.
The body of the dead woman was left at the scene as police waited for the coroner to arrive.
Best known for his spectacular productions of pop songs in the 60s and 70s, Spector has suffered over the years from depression and has a reputation for erratic behaviour inside and outside the studio.
In 1980, during a recording session for the album End of the Century with the Ramones, he pulled a gun on the band, according to the late Dee Dee Ramone, a member of the group.
He slipped from public view, although his successors always paid tribute to his pioneering work and he was the recipient of many awards.
Credited with inventing the so-called Wall of Sound that distinguished many of his early recordings, Spector had started his career as a musician with a band called the Teddy Bears before embarking on a song-writing and production career that was to make him a millionaire by the age of 21.
He had had an unhappy childhood and his father had committed suicide when he was eight.
The epitaph on his father’s grave, ‘To know him is to love him’, was to provide Spector with the title for one of his earliest hits.
Work with the Ronettes, the Righteous Brothers, the Crystals and the Beatles, most notably on their Let It Be album, secured his place in the history of pop. He was responsible for such hits as Be My Baby, Da Doo Ron Ron and Walking in the Rain.
He also worked individually with John Lennon and George Harrison after the Beatles’ break-up and with musicians and singers such as Leon Russell, Glen Campbell and Sonny Bono.
He was given a lifetime achievement award by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989.
Spector was married to Ronnie Bennett, one of the Ronettes, but they divorced after six years together in 1974.
Two years ago, she sued him for $2-million over royalty payments. He has five children.
This is the second murder case involving a well-known show business figure in the Los Angeles area within the last two years. Actor Robert Blake, the star of In Cold Blood, is in jail awaiting trial for the murder of his wife, who was shot dead outside a restaurant where the couple had just been dining. – Guardian Unlimited Â