Phil Spector, the record producer who gained enduring fame with a string of iconic hits in the early 1960s and was dubbed "the first tycoon of teen" by Tom Wolfe, has died at age 81 while serving a prison sentence for murder. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation confirmed the producer's death, but did not specify a cause. The producer was reportedly struck with COVID-19.

Known for the massive "wall of sound" that made his hits jump out of car stereos and transistor radios, Spector produced some of the most popular and acclaimed singles of the early rock and roll era. Among them: the Crystals' "He's a Rebel" and "Da Doo Ron Ron"; the Ronettes' "Be My Baby"; Darlene Love's "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)"; the Righteous Brothers' "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling" and "Unchained Melody"; and "River Deep - Mountain High" by Ike & Tina Turner.

It was no accident that Spector received the lion's share of credit for the hits he produced with a range of artists and a house band that gained legendary status as "the Wrecking Crew." The producer was an avid self-promoter who played up his authorial role in a manner that was then highly unusual for producers, helping to pave the way for future generations of "superproducers." That inclination, of course, served to slight the contributions of the artists who actually appeared on his records, many of whom became frustrated with Spector's tendency to view them as interchangeable bricks in his "wall of sound."

His legacy was further marred by more intimate forms of exploitation and abuse, tied to a streak of erratic paranoia that frightened not only the up-and-coming artists he worked with in his early years but also later collaborators like the Beatles and the Ramones. Many artists described Spector brandishing firearms, and in 2009 he was convicted of the 2003 murder of actor Lana Clarkson.

A 1989 inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Spector died as a figure who inspired conflicted feelings in former collaborators like Ronnie Spector (a Spector protegé who became, for a time, his wife) and Darlene Love, who sometimes wasn't even credited for her classic performances on songs like "He's a Rebel." On stage for a Christmas concert in St. Paul in 2016, with Spector behind bars, Love indicated that she'd found a way to celebrate the music she made with Spector while not dwelling on the producer himself, and his failings. "Hate," she said, "is really too hard to carry around with you."