confidenceâbut when Phillip was playing music, he had a tremendous aggression.â
Spencer thought he knew why: âIt was perhaps a desire to be independent from his mother. Phil was overly dependent on Bertha when we met, very coddled by her, smothered really. The relationshipthey had was extremely intense, because they were both very emotional people, and Philâs aggressive personality burst out of there, as a way of compensating for being dependent so much of the time.â
Spector, Lieb, and Spencer began taking gigs around Los Angeles and ran into bands making the same scene. One was called the Sleepwalkers, a group from Union High School. The rivalry between Fairfax and Union was fierce, and it carried over to the two bands. Spector took to talking himself up, and it was a technique that came easy to him. Without batting an eyelash, Spector told the Sleepwalkersâ drummer, Sammy Nelson, that he had produced several hit records that were on the charts. When Nelson told this to his skeptical bandmates, Bruce Johnston and Kim Fowleyâthe latter the son of actor Douglas Fowley (âDocâ on televisionâs âWyatt Earpâ) and the grandson of composer Rudolf Frimlâthey went to a record store to check the records, seeing if Spectorâs name was anywhere on them. It wasnât, but Spector had already thought of that: he knew heâd be safe because producerâs credits were never given. Still, the Union High bunch was not fooled.
âI guess they lied a lot over at Fairfax,â Fowley said.
Having sung with a black L.A. vocal group called the Jayhawks, Fowley was not overly impressed with Spectorâs unnamed band.
âThe Sleepwalkers were much more creative than whatever Spector was doing,â he insisted. âBoth of us played biker parties, bar mitzvahs at the Brentwood Temple, then weâd run across the street and do the Catholicsâ lonelyhearts club crap at the CYO. But when those guys played, weâd be out stripping cars in the parking lot and giving beer to kids our age and younger. We got wallflowers to let us use their houses; weâd give âem money, set âem up in a hotel with hookers, and weâd have our own house parties. Or sometimes weâd roll queers in Hollywood for beer money.â
Spectorâs group was arrow-straight, clean-nosed Fairfax boys. In time, it grew to include various configurations built around Phil and Marshall and the doo-wop and Everly Brothers songs the two would choose for their gigs. Spector was always looking for people who could sing with him. He joined a Fairfax High music club called the Barons, and out of its ranks he plucked what became a rotating carousel of strong-throated singers to take on gigs, which usually paid less money than what it cost in gas to get there in Marshallâs old Dodge. Among the singing partners were Spectorâs next-door neighbor,Steve Gold, as well as kids named Steve Price, Donnie Kartoon, Bart Silverman, and Harvey Goldstein. None but Phil played an instrument well, and Spector would play guitar and sometimes piano if Mike Spencer wasnât around, at which time Marshall would do a turn on guitar. One gig, by far the most profound for these nice Jewish boys, was at El Monte Legion Stadium, where they managed to place themselves in one of the shows hosted there by Johnny Otis himself. This was in the middle of black and Mexican ethnic L.A., a hotbed of purebred R&B, and while they played to a lukewarm response, Phil and Marshall had a giddy exhilaration simply standing on the hallowed ground of Johnny Otisâs stage.
In the spring of 1957, Spector could actually swagger up the steps of the Fairfax High auditorium stage and perform on his guitar âRock Island Line,â the British skiffle tune popularized by Lonnie Donegan, at a talent show. It surprised nobody that Spector won the contest. Not long after, Spector and Lieb went on a
Kate Kelly, Peggy Ramundo