Lester Sill (January 13, 1918 – October 31, 1994) was an American record label executive, best remembered as Phil Spector's mentor and founding partner in Philles Records.[2][3] Carol King credits Sill for his hospitality and guidance in her memoirs.[4] His three sons are music supervisors in film and television: Joel Sill,[5] Greg Sill,[6] and Lonnie Sill.[7] His stepson Chuck Kaye is a longtime music publishing executive.[6]
Lester Sill | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | January 13, 1918 Los Angeles, CA | ||||||||||
| Died | October 31, 1994 (aged 76) Los Angeles, CA | ||||||||||
| Occupation(s) | Music publisher, Record executive | ||||||||||
| Years active | 1946-1994 | ||||||||||
| Labels | Gregmark, Philles Records | ||||||||||
| Associated acts | Leiber & Stoller, T-Bone Walker, Paris Sisters, The Coasters, The Monkeys | ||||||||||
| Website | www | ||||||||||
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Contents
Early life
Sill was dental technician who became a combat engineer in the Army because his papers said he knew about, “dentures and bridges.” After seving in Casablanca, he was discharged from the Army and left Philadelphia, moving to California to stay with his mother at the beach. Upon arrival, he met four year old Chuck, and Chuck's mother, his future wife Harriet. He opened Cotton’s Club on Western Avenue and 35th, with Harriet’s brother, which ran afoul of the authorities for after hours drinking. Sill took some door to door sales positions which he did not enjoy, until he met Lester Bahari of Modern Records in 1946. He soon found himself working in the record store and was offered a distribution route covering Fresno to San Diego, selling R&B and rock and roll genre records to stores and refreshing jukebox inventory. On his route, he noticed that he was driving by several radio stations and began befriending disc-jockeys, Sunday radio spins helped with his Monday sales.[8]
Career
Sill shepherded the fledgling career of the songwriting team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller before signing producer Phil Spector to co-found Philles Records, a U.S. pop label of the early '60s. In 1950, Sill met Leiber in the L.A. record shop,[9] where the aspiring lyricist worked as a retail clerk and suggested he find a partner who could read and write music, spurring the beginning of Leiber's collaboration with Mike Stoller.[10]
Sill first entered show business as a nightclub owner, but in 1945 joined the sales and promotion staff of the Bihari brothers' Modern Records, later producing sessions for R&B acts including Charles Brown and Hadda Brooks.[11] Sill produced the 1951 Jimmy Witherspoon effort "Real Ugly Woman," the first recorded Leiber and Stoller collaboration.[10] Sill and Federal Records producer/talent scout Ralph Bass formed a PR agency, Brisk Enterprises,[12] and following the success of the duo's Big Mama Thornton hit "Hound Dog", he teamed with Leiber and Stoller in late 1953 to create Spark Records as well as their own publishing firm, Quintet Music, Inc. Spark enjoyed immediate success with The Robins' R&B smash "Riot in Cell Block #9". The group's follow-up, "Smokey Joe's Café," proved an even bigger hit, in fact too big for the small label to handle. So in 1955 Spark sold its catalog to Atlantic Records, which in turn named Sill its national sales manager while giving Leiber and Stoller an independent production deal. While the deal prompted the breakup of The Robins, members Carl Gardner and Bobby Nunn continued on as The Coasters, with Sill serving as their manager.[13]
Sill also enjoyed chart success teaming with producer-songwriter Lee Hazlewood on 1958's "Rebel Rouser", the most notable of the Top 40 instrumentals headlined by the renowned guitarist Duane Eddy and issued on the Dick Clark-owned Jamie label. In late 1959, Sill and Hazlewood formed Trey Records, a Hollywood-based imprint distributed by Atlantic. The label's signings included 18-year-old wunderkind Phil Spector, fresh off the success of his group The Teddy Bears', chart-topping pop classic, "To Know Him Is to Love Him". Sill allowed Spector to live in his Sherman Oaks home, sharing a room with Joel Sill[14]
Jamie Records / Dick Clark[15]
At the end of 1961, Sill and Hazlewood shut down Trey but quickly formed a new label, Gregmark, as a vehicle for The Paris Sisters, Sill insisted on a top-to-bottom overhaul of their approach, prompting Spector to relegate Albeth and Sherrell Paris to the background while turning the spotlight on youngest sibling Priscilla, insisting she dial back her powerful voice to a dusky whisper. While the Paris Sisters' Gregmark debut "Be My Boy" earned little notice, the follow-up, "I Love How You Love Me," cracked the U.S. Top Five, galvanized by Priscilla's intimate lead turn and Spector's atypically restrained production.[16] Spector then began work on a Paris Sisters LP, but as production costs began to skyrocket, Sill attempted to exert control of the project. Their skirmish ended disastrously when, according to Sill, one of his assistants accidentally discarded the master tapes.[17]
At the same time Sill's partnership with the tempestuous Hazlewood collapsed, and despite their differences, in late 1961 Sill and Spector inaugurated their own label, Philles, immediately reaching the Top 20 with the company's debut release, The Crystals' "There's No Other (Like My Baby)." Its 1962 follow-up, "Uptown," was Spector's first true tour de force, capturing the Wall of Sound in full gallop.[2]
By mid-1962 Philles was the most successful independent label in the U.S., scoring a series of Spector-produced classics including the Crystals' "He's a Rebel" and "Then He Kissed Me," Bob B. Soxx & the Blue Jeans' "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah" and The Ronettes' "Be My Baby." But as Spector's fame and renown grew, so did his notorious ego, and as he exerted more and more of his mercurial will over Philles' business dealings, his relationship with Sill disintegrated. Spector eventually forced his mentor out of the company altogether, buying out Sill for a paltry $60,000 and decisively terminating their partnership with the never-released Crystals recording "(Let's Dance) The Screw".[18]
After over a year in seclusion, in 1964 Sill resurfaced as a consultant to Screen Gems-Columbia Music president Don Kirshner. Although the position was temporary, he ended up staying with the company for over two decades, eventually taking over Kirshner's position. In 1985, Sill was named president and CEO of Jobete Music, the publishing arm of Berry Gordy, Jr.'s Motown empire. He remained with Jobete until his death in Los Angeles on October 31, 1994.[2]
References
- ↑ Pacent, Nina (2019-05-22). "From Carl Jung to Lady Gaga, Jazz Guitarist Alex Sill's Music Speaks His Mind". BMI.com. Archived from the original on 2019-06-19. Retrieved 2019-11-07.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Jason Ankeny. "Lester Sill's biography". AllMusic. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
- ↑ "LESTER SILL". BlackCat Rockabilly Europe. 2018-12-19. Archived from the original on 2018-12-19. Retrieved 2019-11-07.
- ↑ King, C. (2012). A Natural Woman: A Memoir (in français). Grand Central Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4555-1259-1. Retrieved 2019-11-07.
- ↑ Yang, Rachel; Yang, Rachel (2018-12-13). "Guild of Music Supervisors Awards to Honor Joel Sill; King Princess to Perform (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Archived from the original on 2019-11-07. Retrieved 2019-11-07.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Greg Sill, 'Justified' Music Supervisor, Dies at 63 – Variety". Variety. Archived from the original on 2019-11-04. Retrieved 2019-11-04.
- ↑ "Lonnie Sill's credits". AllMusic. Retrieved November 7, 2019.
- ↑ Smith, J (1986). "Off the record interview with Lester Sill, 1986-03-13: A Finding Aid to the Collection in the Library of Congress". Washington, DC: Library of Congress Manuscript Division. Retrieved 04 November 2019.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ↑ Palmer, Robert (1978). Baby, That Was Rock' N Roll. United States: A Harvest / HBJ book. ISBN 0156101556.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Simpson, P. (2003). The Rough Guide to Cult Pop. Music rough guide. Rough Guides. p. 135. ISBN 978-1-84353-229-3. Retrieved 2019-11-07.
- ↑ Talevski, N. (2010). Rock Obituaries: Knocking On Heaven's Door. Music Sales. p. 592. ISBN 978-0-85712-117-2. Retrieved 2019-11-07.
- ↑ Sippel, Johnny (23 August 1952). "Block Booking Promoters Hype Coast 1-Nitht Outlook". BillBoard. United States: Nielsen Business Media, Inc. p. 19. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
- ↑ "Jerry Leiber and Michael Stoller". history-of-rock.com. 2019-11-07. Archived from the original on 2019-11-07. Retrieved 2019-11-07.
- ↑ Ribowsky, M. (2000). He's a Rebel: Phil Spector, Rock and Roll's Legendary Producer. G - Reference, Information and Interdisciplinary Subjects Series. Cooper Square Press. p. 53-62. ISBN 978-0-8154-1044-7. Retrieved 2019-11-07.
- ↑ Jackson, J. (1999). American Bandstand: Dick Clark and the Making of a Rock 'n' Roll Empire. Oxford University Press. p. 128. ISBN 978-0-19-028490-9. Retrieved 2019-12-12.
- ↑ Warner, J. (2006). American Singing Groups: A History from 1940s to Today. Hal Leonard Corporation. p. 428. ISBN 978-0-634-09978-6. Retrieved 2019-11-07.
- ↑ Brown, M. (2012). Tearing Down The Wall of Sound: The Rise And Fall of Phil Spector. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 94. ISBN 978-1-4088-1950-0. Retrieved 2019-11-07.
- ↑ "Phil Spector and The Screw". snopes.com. Retrieved 2019-11-07.