Ronnie Spector reacts to Phil Spector’s death: ‘He was a brilliant producer, but a lousy husband’
The former Ronettes frontwoman and the famed music producer were married from 1968 until 1974
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Ronnie Spector is speaking out after her ex-husband Phil Spector passed away on Saturday at age 81.
The former Ronettes frontwoman and the famed music producer were married from 1968 until 1974. The 77-year-old has previously said the union was an abusive one.
"It’s a sad day for music and a sad day for me," the singer wrote on Facebook. "When I was working with Phil Spector, watching him create in the recording studio, I knew I was working with the very best. He was in complete control, directing everyone. So much to love about those days."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Meeting him and falling in love was like a fairytale," she continued. "The magical music we were able to make together, was inspired by our love. I loved him madly, and gave my heart and soul to him."
PHIL SPECTOR, WHO WAS CONVICTED OF MURDERING ACTRESS IN 2009, DEAD AT 81
Ronnie Spector of the vocal trio the Ronettes with Phil Spector while recording in Los Angeles, California at Gold Star Studios in 1963. (Getty)
"As I sad many times while he was alive, he was a brilliant producer, but a lousy husband," the "Baby, I Love You" star shared. "Unfortunately, Phil was not able to live and function outside of the recording studio. Darkness set in, many lives were damaged."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"I still smile whenever I hear the music we made together, and always will," she concluded her post. "The music will be forever."
Back in 2018, Ronnie told People magazine that the producer kept her sequestered in their California mansion where she endured years of psychological torment before she was able to escape.
"I thought, I wasn’t going to sing again and that I was going to die there," she recalled to the outlet.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}RONNIE SPECTOR SAYS EX-HUSBAND PHIL SPECTOR ONCE ADOPTED TWINS WITHOUT ASKING HER
The Ronettes, a popular girl group from New York City, were signed by Phil Spector. (Getty)
After their divorce, Ronnie headed back to New York to focus on her music career.
In 2009, Spector was sentenced to 19 years to life for his second-degree murder conviction in the 2003 shooting of actress Lana Clarkson.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The 40-year-old was found in the foyer of Spector’s castle-like mansion with a gunshot wound to the mouth. The defense claimed the "Barbarian Queen" star was depressed over a breakup and used a 38-caliber pistol to take her life.
The first trial, which ended in September 2007, failed to reach a verdict after deliberating for 15 days. Spector’s retrial began in October 2008.
PHIL SPECTOR CHARGED WITH MURDER
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Lana Clarkson at the Radisson Hotel at LAX in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Albert L. Ortega/WireImage/Getty Images)
California state prison officials said Spector died of natural causes at a hospital.
"His official cause of death will be determined by the medical examiner in the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office," a statement from the facility read.
Until Clarkson’s death, which Spector maintained was an "accidental suicide," few residents even knew the mansion belonged to the reclusive producer, who spent his remaining years in a prison hospital east of Stockton.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Decades before his conviction, Spector had been hailed as a visionary for channeling Wagnerian ambition into the three-minute song, creating the "Wall of Sound" that merged spirited vocal harmonies with lavish orchestral arrangements to produce such pop monuments as "Da Doo Ron Ron," "Be My Baby" and "He’s a Rebel."
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In this May 29, 2009 file photo, music producer Phil Spector sits in a courtroom for his sentencing in Los Angeles. Spector, the eccentric and revolutionary music producer who transformed rock music with his "Wall of Sound" method and who was later convicted of murder, died Saturday, Jan. 16, 2021, at age 81. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, Pool, File)
By his mid-20s his "little symphonies" had resulted in nearly two dozen hit singles and made him a millionaire. "You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling," the operatic Righteous Brothers ballad which topped the charts in 1965, has been tabulated as the song most played on radio and television — counting the many cover versions — in the 20th century.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}In a 2005 court deposition, he testified that he had been on medication for manic depression for eight years.
"No sleep, depression, mood changes, mood swings, hard to live with, hard to concentrate, just hard — a hard time getting through life," he said. "I’ve been called a genius and I think a genius is not there all the time and has borderline insanity."
Fox News’ Tyler McCarthy and The Associated Press contributed to this report.