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Draft:Lester Sill

290 bytes removed, 18:20, 10 December 2021
== Career ==
Sill first entered show business as a nightclub owner, but in 1945, he joined the sales and promotion staff of the [[Bihari brothers]]' [[Modern Records]], first as a regonal sale manager and then producing sessions for R&B acts including [[Charles Brown (musician)|Charles Brown]] and [[Hadda Brooks]].<ref name="Talevski 2010 p. 592">{{cite book | last=Talevski | first=N. | title=Rock Obituaries: Knocking On Heaven's Door | publisher=Music Sales | year=2010 | isbn=978-0-85712-117-2 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DykffzkFALoC&pg=PA592 | access-date=2019-11-07 | page=592}}</ref> Sill shepherded the fledgling career of the songwriting team of [[Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller]]. In 1950, Sill met Leiber at Modern Records,<ref name="Palmer 1978">{{cite book |last= Palmer |first= Robert |date= 1978 |title= Baby, That Was Rock' N Roll |location= United States |publisher= A Harvest / HBJ book |page= <!-- or pages= --> |isbn= 0156101556 |author-link=}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Simpson 2003 p. 135">{{cite book | last=Simpson | first=P. | title=The Rough Guide to Cult Pop | publisher=Rough Guides | series=Music rough guide | year=2003 | isbn=978-1-84353-229-3 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F7hpXcrqA-8C&pg=PA135 | access-date=2019-11-07 | page=135}}</ref> Sill produced the 1951 [[Jimmy Witherspoon]] effort "Real Ugly Woman," the first recorded Leiber and Stoller collaboration.<ref name="Simpson 2003 p. 135"/>
Sill shepherded the fledgling career of the songwriting team of [[Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller]]. In 1950, Sill met Leiber at Modern Records,<ref name="Palmer 1978">{{cite book |last= Palmer |first= Robert |date= 1978 |title= Baby, That Was Rock' N Roll |location= United States |publisher= A Harvest / HBJ book |page= <!-- or pages= --> |isbn= 0156101556 |author-link=}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Simpson 2003 p. 135">{{cite book | last=Simpson | first=P. | title=The Rough Guide to Cult Pop | publisher=Rough Guides | series=Music rough guide | year=2003 | isbn=978-1-84353-229-3 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F7hpXcrqA-8C&pg=PA135 | access-date=2019-11-07 | page=135}}</ref>
 
Sill produced the 1951 [[Jimmy Witherspoon]] effort "Real Ugly Woman," the first recorded Leiber and Stoller collaboration.<ref name="Simpson 2003 p. 135"/>
*'''Spark Records'''
Sill and Federal Records producer/talent scout [[Ralph Bass]] formed a PR agency, Brisk Enterprises,<ref name="Brisk Enterprises">{{cite magazine | last= Sippel| first= Johnny| date= 23 August 1952| title= Block Booking Promoters Hype Coast 1-Nitht Outlook| url= https://books.google.com/books?id=PB8EAAAAMBAJ| page= 19| magazine= BillBoard| location= United States| publisher= Nielsen Business Media, Inc.| access-date = 4 November 2019}}</ref> and following the success of the duo's [[Big Mama Thornton]] hit "[[Hound Dog (song)|Hound Dog]]", Sill partnered with Leiber and Stoller to create [[Spark Records]], and the publishing firm, Quintet Music, Inc. in 1953. Spark enjoyed immediate success with [[The Robins]]' R&B smash "[[Riot in Cell Block Number 9|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 (doowop musician)|Bobby Nunn]] continued on as [[The Coasters]], with Sill serving as their manager.<ref name="history-of-rock.com 2019">{{cite web | title=Jerry Leiber and Michael Stoller | website=history-of-rock.com | date=2019-11-07 | url=https://www.history-of-rock.com/leiber.htm | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191107184205/https://www.history-of-rock.com/leiber.htm | archive-date=2019-11-07 | url-status=dead | access-date=2019-11-07}}</ref>
* '''Trey Records '''
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.<ref name="nyt Spector Dead"/>
* '''Gregmark'''