Music mogul Phil Spector said movie queen shooting was suicide

Music mogul Phil Spector said movie queen shooting was suicide
1 hour, 7 minutes ago

LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Legendary 1960's pop guru Phil Spector claims a B-Movie actress he is accused of murdering killed herself, saying she "kissed the gun" and pulled the trigger, according to an interview.


Spector, 62 broke his silence about the February 3 death of Lana Clarkson (news) -- who was found shot in the face in Spector's Los Angeles mansion after going home with the music producer -- in Esquire magazine.

"She kissed the gun," Spector said in an interview that will hit the news stands next week. "I have no idea why -- never knew her, never even saw her before that night.

"It's 'Anatomy of a Frame-Up.' I have no idea who she was or what her agenda was," Spector told the magazine.

"They have a gun. Don't know where or how she got the gun, never saw her before that night. There's no case. She killed herself."

Aspiring starlet Clarkson, 40, was found shot to death in the entrance hall of Spector's one million dollar hilltop mansion in the early hours of the morning after meeting him at a Hollywood nightspot earlier that evening.

The reclusive Spector, known for his 1960s Wall of Sound recording technique, was arrested hours after the shooting and released on one million dollars bail.

Police, who laid initial charges against Spector, say he is the only suspect in the case, although no formal charges have yet been brought by prosecutors.

The statuesque blond, who earned a cult following after starring in a string of 1980s and 90s B-movies, was drunk and wanted to see Spector's hilltop castle, the former pop Svengali said.

She grabbed a bottle of tequila from the bar of the "House of Blues" bar where she worked as a hostess and drove home with Spector in his Mercedes Benz car, he said, adding that he was sober.

"She was loud -- she was loud and drunk even before we left the House of Blues," he said.

The Los Angeles coroner's office has not officially ruled on the cause of death, but in March a coroner's office official privately dismissed the theory that Clarkson committed suicide.

"If we had come to a conclusion as monumental as suicide, we would have a duty to say so publicly," Sheriff's Captain Frank Merriman was quoted as saying by the Los Angeles Times. "We believe a crime occurred."

Police refused to comment on Spector's comments in the Esquire interview. He is currently scheduled to appear in court to face charges on August 5.

Spector, who was the Svengali behind groups such as "The Ronettes" is widely regarded as a genius for his layered "Wall of Sound" technique that revolutionized pop music in the 1960s.

But in later years, Spector developed a reputation for reckless, gun-toting behavior, violence and heavy drinking.

He once allegedly fired a gun into a studio during a session with former Beatle John Lennon (news), according to industry sources, while Lennon once said Spector put a pistol to singer Stevie Wonder (news)'s head, according to reports.