The family was lower middle class. His father Benjamin,



because of the family's indebtedness, committed suicide in

1949. In 1953, Bertha Specter, with Phil and his older

sister Shirley, moved to Los Angeles where she worked as a

seamstress.

With little to interest him in high school he was drawn to

music studying guitar and piano. He excelled on the guitar,

piano, drums, bass and French horn. Spector was drawn to the

local rhythm and blues scene.

Phil soon joined a group of would-be-musicians hanging

around the studios where he met Jerry Leiber and Mike

Stoller, two songwriters that were beginning to have some

success producing singles for the Robins on the Spark label.

After graduating from Fairfax High school in 1958 Spector

began taking courses to become a court reporter. However, he

soon decided that this wasn't the direction he wanted.

Next Spector turned to Marshall Leib,They both shared the

love of rock and roll music.Another student at Los Angeles

City College, Harvey Goldstein, was promised that he could

sing bass. Annette Kleinbard, a sixteen year old student at

Fairfax High, joined the first two hour session. She was

devoted to recording of Spector's "Don't You Worry My

Little Pet."

With demo in hand Spector approached his neighbor Lew

Bedell, co-owner of Era Records with Herb Newsome. Bedell

and Newsome had started Dore Records,with the intention of

recording rock and roll, only a month or two before Spector

arrived with his demo.

Spector and friends signed a four record deal that offered

royalties of a cent and one-half per sold copy.

Dore mailed five hundred copies of the single to radio

stations in early August, 1958. The A-side was still "You

Don't Know My Little Pet." In September, a dee jay in

Fargo, North Dakota, flipped the single and played "To Know

Him Is To Love Him." Soon an order came into Dore offices

from a distributor requesting eighteen thousand copies.Radio

stations across the country began playing "To Know Him Is

To Love Him."

The record was reviewed in the music press and was on

the national music charts only a week later.The Teddy Bears

were invited to appear on "American Bandstand" in October.

There was a slight problem as there was no invitation for

Harvey Goldstein because Goldstein had been dropped from the

group Goldstein sued Dore and the Teddy Bears eventually

settling out of court for a share of the royalties the group

would earn over the next ten years.

The Teddy Bears appeared on "Bandstand" and "To Know Him

Is To Love Him" became a number one record, selling more

than a million copies before Christmas. "Wonderful, Lovable

You," their second record was released late in 1959. They

appeared on the The Perry Como Show on January 3, 1960 where

they sang "To Know Him Him Is To Love Him" and "It's

Only a Paper Moon."

Spector had a falling out with Dore over royalties. Spector

and the Teddy Bears signed with Imperial Records and their

first single "I Don't Need You Anymore" was released in

mid-January.

Spector then teamed up with Lester Sill. Sill had started

his own company, Trey Records, along with Lee Hazlewood.

Sill had Spector come into the studio to record in an

attempt to come up with a hit record. but the group

couldn't use the Teddy Bear name, so the Trey singles were

issued by the Spectors Three. Neither sold and Spector

dismissed the other two and called it quits as far a being a

recording star.

Kleinbard was involved in an auto accident in September

1959, but recovered and attempted a solo singing career. She

had a number of recording contracts, but enjoyed success as

a songwriter. She was a co-writer of "The Nights the Lights

Went Out In Georgia" a gold record by Vicki Lawrence In

1973 and a country hit for Reba McEntire in 1992. She also

co-wrote "Hey Little Cobra" for the Ripchords and "Gonna

Fly Now" the theme from the first Rocky movie. She helped

write theme songs for Sophie's Choice and Mr. Mom. Over the

years she has been nominated for two Academy Awards and four

Emmys.

Leib played guitar on a couple of Duane Eddy sessions. He

also was musical supervisor for a few low budget films in

the 70s. He and Kleinbard worked together on the score for

the film "Tulips."

Phil Spector was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of

Fame in 1989. Spector went on to be recognized as a genius

when it came to record production.

But the recent events in Phil Spector's life has turned his

world upside down. He was charged with murder in the

shooting death of Lana Clarkson, a 40 year old B movie

actress found dead in Spector's mansion in 2003. But the

first trial ended in a hung jury and a retrial is set for

the 67 year old sometime in 2008.