After a brilliant career marred by drug use, gun enthusiasm and bad wigs, Spector murdered actress Lana Clarkson at his Los Angeles mansion in 2003. (In 2013, HBO made a film about the trial starring Al Pacino as Spector and directed by David Mamet.)
Spector, 74, was a genius. He also was scary. Here’s a list of “5 Artists reportedly held at gunpoint by Phil Spector” courtesy Mental Floss.
Among them: John Lennon, as Mental Floss reported.
One night, for a prank, Spector fired the gun in the control room, inches from the former Beatle’s ear. An enraged Lennon yelled, “Phil, if you’re going to kill me, kill me. But don’t f**k with my ears. I need ‘em.” Another time, Spector pulled his gun and chased Lennon through the hallways of the studio, screaming threats.
Spector also faced allegations of a decades-long history of violence against women.
“This case is about a man who has had a history of playing Russian roulette with the lives of women,” a prosecutor said at his 2009 trial. “Five women got the empty chamber. Lana got the sixth bullet.”
This was, unfortunately, not surprising. He did record a song called “He Hit Me (And It Felt Like a Kiss).”