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Wednesday, 12 February 2003 |
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PHIL SPECTOR... it all just gets worse and worse, doesn't it ? Over the past few years, our world has fallen apart. I have no idea what the facts are behind Phil Spector's situation. All I know is that I met him in the sixties when I was a minor pop star and, again, a few years later when I was running DECCA RECORDS for Sir Edward Lewis. We'd re-issued his brilliant hits and sold vast amounts before realising we no longer had the rights to do so! Spector had always been my idol - I think he was responsible for more positive change in music than anyone else (our British equivalent was JOE MEEK whose fascinating biography I'm currently reading). I met him in Los Angeles in the A & M studios on La Brea where he's just mixed Checkmates Ltd "Love is All I Have to Give" and played it to me at full volume - superb. We then went to a basketball game - Phil gave me an orange juice for one hand, popcorn for the other, the radio commentary for one ear and shouted the rules (I didn't understand the game at all) in the other. We then went out to dinner with the LAKERS star WILT CHAMBERLAIN - just the three of us. A fabulous evening. No drugs were taken at all. He was charm itself and I have nothing but fond memories and huge admiration for him. They can't take that away - no matter how they try. 5/3/03 King (FF 8782) HMP ELMLEY, SHEERNESS, KENT, ME12 4AY
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