Starsailor were the last artists to work with legendary producer Phil Spector before he fatally shot actress Lana Clarkson.
Now lead singer James Walsh has recounted working with the eccentric producer and a deterioration he claims to have witnessed in the preceding months. Describing their initial reaction to the incident he told The Sun today: "When we heard about Lana we couldn't believe it. I was really shocked".
Spector's eccentricity was obvious - among his quirks, according to Walsh: "He always had his initials on his lapel in case he forgot who he was". He would constantly be wearing Ray Bans indoors, wore an ever changing range of wigs, and wore platform shoes to appear taller. And he also used to take lots of photos of himself to adjust his wig rather than use a mirror.
Speaking about the initial recordings "He seemed confident. I remember he didn't really give us an option - he just told us when we were recording". The first London sessions went well and the band recorded their album Silence Is Easy. "He was still buzzing at that point" says James.
However when they reconvened two months later there was a marked difference "He spent a lot of time slumped in his chair not really communicating or getting his ideas across. It was sad to see, compared with the enthusiastic funny little man we met previously", "His health had obviously deteriorated".
Spector was on medication for depression, schizophrenia and things like that, and had a ritual; "He had a little alarm clock on the mixing desk and it would go off every so often and he would disappear into the toilet to take his medication".
Walsh described an early visit to Phil's chateau spotting a guitar against the wall inscribed "To Phil, Love Yoko. John would have wanted you to have this", the inscription was dated 1980 [The year Lennon was assassinated]. "It was everything you would expect", "It made all the hairs on the back of your neck stand up".
11:41 AM | 16/04/2009
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