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'''Lester Sill''' (January 13, 1918 – October 31, 1994) was an [[United States|American]] [[record label]] executive who rose to become the president of Screen Gems-Columbia Music, a director at ASCAP and consulting president for Jobete Music (the publishing arm of Motown Records).<ref name="Dec 25, 1976 Billboard p. 27">{{cite book | title=A Day In The Live of Lester Sill | publisher=Nielsen Business Media, Inc. | issn=0006-2510 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xCQEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT27 | language=de | access-date=2021-06-09 | page=27}}</ref> As an independent producer in the 1950s and 1960s, he was a moving force behind Hadda Brooks and B. B. King.<ref name="Los Angeles Times 1994">{{cite web | title=Lester Sill; ASCAP Director and Promoter for Blues Performers | website=Los Angeles Times | date=1994-11-07 | url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-11-07-mn-59691-story.html | access-date=2021-07-16}}</ref> He formed independent labels around composers like Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, Lee Hazlewood and Phil Spector. Rostered artists included Duane Eddy, The Coasters, The Paris Sisters, and The Crystals.<ref name="AllMusic Lester">{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/lester-sill-mn0000273082/biography|title=Lester Sill's biography|publisher=AllMusic|author=Jason Ankeny|accessdate=February 16, 2016}}</ref><ref name="Lester Sill Dies at 76 Billboard">{{cite book | title=Billboard | publisher=Nielsen Business Media, Inc. | issn=0006-2510 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aAgEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA10 | language=de | access-date=2021-07-16 | pages= 10-28}}</ref>
Sill's partnership with Lee Hazlewood launched the career of Duane Eddy and many of the studio musicians supporting the act went on to be core members of The Wrecking Crew.<ref name="Paulson 2012"/><ref name="Feldman 2021"/> Sill hired Phil Spector as an apprentice to Leiber and Stoller and eventually partnered with Spector in the Philles label, the name being a combination of both men's informal first names. In return for his support and generosity (Spector lived in Sill's home for several years),<ref name="Ribowsky 2000 p. 57 Spector in Sill's home"/> Sill was never repaid for his investment in Philles Records and The Wall of Sound.<ref name="AllMusic Lester"/> Sill's partnership in Jamie Records with Lee Hazlewood launched the career of Duane Eddy and many of the studio musicians supporting the act went on to be core members of The Wrecking Crew.<ref name="Paulson 2012"/><ref name="Feldman 2021"/> Following this, as a record executive, Sill worked under Don Kirshner where his responsibilities included acts like The Monkeys, The Partridge Family and Carol King.<ref name="King 2012 p. ">{{cite book | last=King | first=C. | title=A Natural Woman: A Memoir | publisher=Grand Central Publishing | year=2012 | isbn=978-1-4555-1259-1 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T6O9Onmu9_cC | language=fr | access-date=2019-11-07 | page=}}</ref><ref name="Lester Sill Dies at 76 Billboard"/>