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Draft:Lester Sill

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| notable_works =
| spouse = Harriet
| children = {{plainlist|}}
* Chuck Kaye (stepson)<ref name="Greg Sill Variety"/>
* Joel Sill<ref name="Yang Yang 2018"/>
* Greg Sill,<ref name="Greg Sill Variety"/>
* Lonnie Sill <ref name="Lester Sill Dies at 76 Billboard"/><ref name="AllMusic Lonnie"/>
{{endplainlist}}
| awards = Prime Minister's Medal
| module =
'''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 (Motown Records publishing division).<ref name="Dec 25, 1976 Billboard p. 27"/> He is best known as the producer and music supervisor for The Monkees,<ref name="AllMusic Lester Credits"/> selling more records than the Beatles and Rolling Stones combined in 1967,.<ref name="Greene Greene 2012 - Monkees Sales"/> <s> and the cofounder of Philles records with Phil Spector in 1961?.<ref name="AllMusic Lester"/></s>
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"/> 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"/> Sill managed produced the talent that went on to become The Wall of Sound, <ref name="AllMusic Lester"/> and The Wrecking Crew.<ref name="Paulson 2012"/><ref name="Feldman 2021"/>
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 later partnered with Spector in the Philles label, the name being a combination of both men's informal first names. <s>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.</s><ref name="AllMusic Lester"/> Following this, as a record executive, Sill worked under Don Kirshner where his responsibilities included acts like The Monkees, The Partridge Family and Carol King.<ref name="King 2012 p. "/><ref name="Lester Sill Dies at 76 Billboard"/>
Sill also enjoyed chart success with producer-songwriter [[Lee Hazlewood]] on 1958's "[[Rebel-'Rouser|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 Records|Jamie]] label. In late 1959, Sill and Hazlewood formed Trey Records, a Hollywood-based imprint distributed by Atlantic.
Trey Records signings included 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<ref name="Ribowsky 2000 p. 54">{{cite book | last=Ribowsky | first=M. | title=He's a Rebel: Phil Spector, Rock and Roll's Legendary Producer | publisher=Cooper Square Press | series=G - Reference, Information and Interdisciplinary Subjects Series | year=2000 | isbn=978-0-8154-1044-7 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jsQRwiwtlN0C&pg=PA54 | access-date=2019-11-07 | page=53-62}}</ref> Spector worked as an apprentice to Leiber and Stoller, a studio musician and studio technician.{{reference needed}}<ref name="nyt Spector Dead"/>
* '''Jamie Records / Dick Clark'''<ref name="Jackson 1999 p. 128">{{cite book | last=Jackson | first=J. | title=American Bandstand: Dick Clark and the Making of a Rock 'n' Roll Empire | publisher=Oxford University Press | year=1999 | isbn=978-0-19-028490-9 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=29jhBwAAQBAJ&pg=PT128 | access-date=2019-12-12 | page=128}}</ref>
<ref name="Greene Greene 2012 - Monkees Sales">{{cite web | last=Greene | first=Andy | last2=Greene | first2=Andy | title=The Top 25 Teen Idol Breakout Moments | website=Rolling Stone | date=2012-05-11 | url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/teen-idol-breakouts-158080/the-monkees-1967-167335/ | archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20211029225612/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/teen-idol-breakouts-158080/the-monkees-1967-167335/ | archive-date=2021-10-29 | url-status=live | access-date=2021-12-05}}</ref>
 
<ref name="nyt Spector Dead">{{cite web | title=Phil Spector, Famed Music Producer and Convicted Murderer, Dies at 81 | website=The New York Times | date=2021-01-17 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/17/arts/music/phil-spector-dead.html | access-date=2021-12-08 | archive-date=2021-12-03| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211203222225/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/17/arts/music/phil-spector-dead.html}}</ref>
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