Phil Spector, Famed Music Producer And Murderer, Dies At 81

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LOS ANGELES (CBSLA/AP) — Authorities say Phil Spector, the revolutionary music producer who transformed rock music with his "Wall of Sound" method and who later was convicted of murder, has died. He was 81.

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said Spector was pronounced dead Saturday around 6:35 p.m. of natural causes. According to officials, a medical examiner is expected to determine the exact cause of death, though TMZ and other publications attributed his death as due to complications from COVID-19.

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

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 Los Angeles.

"Lana Clarkson. Lana Clarkson was a warm, compassionate, kind, loving woman who would be 58 years old now. Her energy, brightness and love of life have sustained her family since her murder 18 years ago in 2003," said Donna Clarkson, the mother of Lana, in a statement provided to CBS Los Angeles.

Until the actress' 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.

KCAL 9