![]() Spector didn’t seem to mind courting controversy while courting the charts. ![]() Yet its melody and message are as heavy and memorable as any of Spector’s heartbroken hits. Released in 1962, but not successfully charted until ’63, this neo-doo wop cut, produced and co-written by Spector with lead vocals by the divine Darlene Love, showed off a lighter touch in terms of its theatricality and rhythm. “Why Do Lovers (Break Each Other’s Heart)” – Bob B. Though sung by what seemed like a tight choir of street angels, the Spector-produced co-write with Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich put the sensual, savvy voice of Ronnie Bennett (soon to be Ronnie Spector) up front, beyond the song’s complex layers of orchestration, thus creating Phil’s and his Philles Records label’s first true “star” beyond the man himself. Though Spector merely co-wrote this Latin-tinged track, putting music to the words of Jerry Leiber (who co-produced the song with his usual writing partner, Mike Stoller), the song introduced Phil’s epic, street-operatic ideal. Its processional pace and hymnal melody, combined with its unsteadying sweet-and-sour vocal harmonies, acted as the shape of things to come. Spector’s self-formed “band” was nothing more than him and a few friends finding an early excuse to test his mettle as a producer and a writer. “To Know Him is To Love Him” – The Teddy Bears (1958) ![]()
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