Music producer Phil Spector dies in prison, aged 81

'Wall of Sound' creator was convicted of murdering actress Lana Clarkson in 2003

Songwriter, producer and member of The Teddy Bears, Phil Spector poses for a portrait circa 1957 in Los Angeles, California. Getty Images

Producer Phil Spector poses at the mixing board during a recording session at Gold Star Studios in 1966 in Los Angeles, California. Getty Images

Phil Spector in 1970. Getty Images

George Harrison listens to master tape of his first solo album in recording studio here Cot 30 with Pete Bennett, left, of Apple Records and producer Phil Spector in 1970. Getty Images

Tina Turner, Phil Spector, and Ahmet Ertegun at 4th Annual Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame Awards held at the Waldorf Hotel in New York City, New York in 1989. Getty Images

Phil Spector and Jon Bon Jovi circa 1990 in New York City. Getty Images

Phil Spector and Sheryl Crow circa 2000 in Washington, DC. Getty Images

Phil Spector circa 2003 in Hollywood. Getty Images

Music producer Phil Spector attends an evidentiary hearing in Alhambra Municipal Court February 17, 2004 in Alhambra, California. Getty Images

Music producer Phil Spector arrives with wife Rachelle Short at Los Angeles Superior Court during the jury selection phase of his murder trial, in Los Angeles, California, April 16, 2007. AFP

California Health Care Facility inmate Phil Spector poses November 19, 2019 in a photograph released by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation in Stockton, California. Reuters

Phil Spector, who revolutionised 1960s pop music but ended up in prison for murder, has died.

Spector was pronounced dead on Saturday and his "official cause of death will be determined by the medical examiner", said California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

He was convicted of murdering actress Lana Clarkson in 2003 at his castle-like mansion in Los Angeles. After a trial in 2009, he was sentenced to 19 years to life in prison.

Clarkson, star of Barbarian Queen  and other B-movies, was found shot to death in the foyer of Spector's mansion in the hills overlooking Alhambra, a modest suburban town on the edge of LA.

Until the actress’s death, which Spector maintained was an “accidental suicide”, few residents even knew the mansion belonged to the reclusive producer, who spent his remaining years in a prison hospital east of Stockton.

Decades before, Spector had been hailed as a visionary for channelling Wagnerian ambition into the three-minute song, creating the "Wall of Sound" that merged spirited vocal harmonies with lavish orchestral arrangements to produce such pop monuments as Da Doo Ron Ron, Be My Baby  and He's a Rebel.

He was the rare self-conscious artist in rock’s early years and cultivated an image of mystery and power with his dark shades and impassive expression.

Tom Wolfe declared him the “first tycoon of teen". Bruce Springsteen and Brian Wilson openly replicated his grandiose recording techniques and wide-eyed romanticism, and John Lennon called him “the greatest record producer ever”.

The secret to his sound was an overdubbed onslaught of instruments, vocals and sound effects that changed the way pop records were recorded.

He called the result “Little symphonies for the kids.”