was an omnipresent force in the development of West Coast R&B and rock & roll, shepherding the fledgling career of the influential songwriting team of
to found Philles Records, the premier U.S. pop label of the early '60s. Born January 13, 1918, in Los Angeles,
first entered show business as a nightclub owner, but in 1945 joined the sales and promotion staff of
. In 1950
in the L.A. record shop where the aspiring lyricist worked as a retail clerk and suggested he find a partner who could read and write music, spurring the beginning of
.
collaboration. That same year
in late 1953 to create Spark Records as well as their own publishing firm, Quintet Music, Inc.
Spark enjoyed immediate success with
the Robins' R&B smash "Riot in Cell Block #9". The group's follow-up, "Smokey Joe's Café," proved an even bigger hit, in fact too big for the small label to handle. So in 1955 Spark sold its catalog to Atlantic Records, which in turn named
Sill its national sales manager while giving
Lieber and
Stoller an independent production deal; while the deal prompted the breakup of
the Robins, members
Carl Gardner and
Bobby Nunn continued on as
the Coasters, with
Sill serving as their manager.
The Coasters would emerge as one of the most popular R&B acts of the late '60s, generating a series of wry
Lieber and
Stoller-penned hits including "Down in Mexico," "Yakety Yak," and "Charlie Brown";
Sill also enjoyed chart success teaming with producer-songwriter
Lee Hazlewood on 1958's "Rebel Rouser," the most notable of the 15 Top 40 instrumentals headlined by the renowned guitarist
Duane Eddy and issued on the
Dick Clark-owned Jamie label. In late 1959
Sill and
Hazlewood formed Trey Records, a Hollywood-based imprint distributed by Atlantic. The label's signings included 18-year-old wunderkind
Phil Spector, then fresh off the success of his group
the Teddy Bears' chart-topping pop classic "To Know Him Is to Love Him."
Spector produced several Trey sides. None were hits, but
Kell Osborne's 1960 release "The Bells of St. Mary's" bears all the dramatic hallmarks that would later define his trademark Wall of Sound aesthetic.
At the end of 1961,
Sill and
Hazlewood shut down Trey but quickly formed a new label, Gregmark, as a vehicle for
the Paris Sisters, an
Andrews Sisters-inspired sibling vocal trio with a series of little-heard Decca singles under its belt.
Sill insisted on a top-to-bottom overhaul of their approach, prompting
Spector to relegate
Albeth and
Sherrell Paris to the background while turning the spotlight on youngest sib
Priscilla, insisting she dial back her powerful voice to a dusky whisper. While
the Paris Sisters' Gregmark debut "Be My Boy" earned little notice, the follow-up, "I Love How You Love Me," cracked the U.S. Top Five, galvanized by
Priscilla's intimate lead turn and
Spector's atypically restrained production.
Spector then began work on a
Paris Sisters LP, but as production costs began to skyrocket,
Sill attempted to exert control of the project. Their skirmish ended disastrously when, according to
Sill, one of his assistants accidentally discarded the master tapes, although rumors persist of a far more nefarious outcome. At the same time
Sill's partnership with the tempestuous
Hazlewood collapsed, and despite their differences, in late 1961
Sill and
Spector inaugurated their own label, Philles, immediately reaching the Top 20 with the company's debut release,
the Crystals' "There's No Other (Like My Baby)." Its 1962 follow-up, "Uptown," was
Spector's first true
tour de force, capturing the Wall of Sound in full gallop.
By mid-1962 Philles was the most successful independent label in the U.S., scoring a series of
Spector-produced classics including
the Crystals' "He's a Rebel" and "Then He Kissed Me,"
Bob B. Soxx & the Blue Jeans' "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah" and
the Ronettes' "Be My Baby." But as
Spector's fame and renown grew, so did his notorious ego, and as he exerted more and more of his mercurial will over Philles' business dealings, his relationship with
Sill disintegrated.
Spector eventually forced his mentor out of the company altogether, buying out
Sill for a paltry 60,000 dollars (reportedly never even paid) and decisively terminating their partnership with the never-released
Crystals recording "(Let's Dance) The Screw." After over a year in seclusion, in 1964
Sill resurfaced as a consultant to Screen Gems-Columbia Music president
Don Kirshner. Although the position was temporary, he ended up staying with the company for over two decades, eventually taking over
Kirshner's position. In 1985
Sill was named president and CEO of Jobete Music, the publishing arm of
Berry Gordy, Jr.'s Motown empire. He remained with Jobete until his death in Los Angeles on October 31, 1994.
–
Jason Ankeny, Rovi