Rock music impresario Phil Spector in custody

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LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- Music industry mogul Phil Spector was detained Monday following an early morning homicide in the town of Alhambra outside Los Angeles.

 

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said Alhambra, California, police received a 911 call at 5 a.m. (8 a.m. ET). Officers responded to the house near the intersection of Grandview and Valley. At the scene police found one woman dead and took Spector into custody.

 

The sheriff's department said it considers Spector a suspect in the case.

 

Spector worked with such artists as the Beatles, The Righteous Brothers and Ike and Tina Turner. His work produced some of rock's best loved music.

 

Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989, Spector created the "Wall of Sound" effect that involved overdubbing scores of musicians to create a massive roar, which changed the way pop records were produced.

 

Among his session players known as the "Wrecking Crew" were guitarist Glen Campbell, pianist Leon Russell, drummer Hal Blaine and the late Sonny Bono, who learned the producer's trade under Spector.

 

Spector produced a string of '60s hits, including the Crystals' "Da Doo Ron Ron" and "Then He Kissed Me," the Ronettes' "Be My Baby" and "Walking in the Rain," and Darlene Love's "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" and "(Today I Met) the Boy I'm Gonna Marry."

 

Spector married Ronnie Bennett, a member of the Ronettes. They divorced in 1974. He has five children.

 

Spector's father, Benjamin, committed suicide in 1949. Spector later visited the grave and used the inscription "To Know Him Was to Love Him" as the basis for a hit song.

 

Spector's last major album was "End of the Century," a 1980 collaboration with the Ramones. During the session, the late bassist Dee Dee Ramone said Spector pulled a gun on the band.