Real Outlaws of Rock – Part 2

SID VICIOUS

Sid Vicious never had the chance to spend any time in prison, but only because he died first. Sid’s real name was John Ritchie, and he was one of those rock stars who lucked into a career, having been asked to play bass for the Sex Pistols, the infamous British punk rock band fronted by Johnny Rotten. Songs like God Save the Queen and Anarchy in the UK were known more for their shock value than for their musicianship or skillful songwriting. Certainly, Vicious could barely play his instrument on a good day; on a bad day he could hardly move due to his crippling heroin addiction.

After the Sex Pistols broke up following a disastrous US tour, Sid sat in with a few local punk bands around London, where he met an American groupie named Nancy Spungen and the two began a short, volatile, drug-fueled relationship.

The couple moved to New York City and rented a room at the Chelsea Hotel in Manhattan in late 1978. One morning after an all-night drug binge, Sid woke up in a stupor to find Nancy’s dead body lying in the bathroom, covered in blood. She had been stabbed once in the abdomen and apparently bled to death during the night. Vicious claimed that he couldn’t remember killing her, but there were no other suspects.  He pleaded not guilty to an open count of murder and was released on bail, but several days later he slit his wrists in a suicide attempt, so he ended up spending time at Bellevue Hospital. Following his release, he was charged with assault after nearly beating a guy to death with a chain at a Skafish concert. Vicious was re-arrested on December 9, 1978 and he spent 55 days at the Riker’s Island Correctional Facility in upstate New York.

Sid was eventually released after serving all 55 days, and somehow he managed to acquire a new girlfriend, Michele Robinson, who tried to clean him up. Sid’s mom threw a party for him to celebrate his release, but unfortunately for Vicious his mother was herself a heroin addict. She invited her dealer to the party and predictably, Sid Vicious overdosed that same night. In 1986, a truly awful movie about the couple called “Sid & Nancy” was released, starring Gary Oldman as the hapless Sid.

JIM GORDON

Jim Gordon is a name most rock music fans have probably never heard of, even though he played with some of the greatest musicians of his era. He began his career as a much sought-after session musician, and eventually he found a home playing drums for Delaney & Bonnie and Friends, a little known but highly influential white R&B band fronted by brilliant songwriter and arranger Delaney Bramlett. His wife, Bonnie Lynn O’Farrell, got her start as the only white singer in the Ike & Tina Turner Review (she wore a black wig and lots of tanning products to hide her true identity).

The band’s earthy, R&B based sound enthralled and inspired established stars like Eric Clapton and George Harrison, and the duo actually toured Denmark with the band, which also included former Traffic guitarist and session journeyman Dave Mason. The after gig parties were legendary, with plenty of Southern Comfort and coke to go around.

The band split acrimoniously when Delaney and Bonnie’s drunken, cocaine-fuelled brawls became too much even for a touring rock band to handle. Gordon, along with the rest of Delaney & Bonnie’s ‘friends’ went on to form the core of rock legend Joe Cocker’s “Mad Dogs & Englishmen” touring band with famed songwriter and arranger Leon Russell as musical director. A double album and documentary film followed.

At the end of that tour, Gordon hooked up with Eric Clapton and Duane Allman to form Derek & The Dominoes, one of the most famously ill-starred bands of all time, thanks mostly to the acknowledged rock classic, Layla, a song written about Clapton‘s unrequited love for his best friend George Harrison‘s wife, Patti. Clapton wrote the first half of the song, including the famous opening riff, but Gordon is credited with writing the anthemic piano interlude which comprises the second half of the song. Derek & The Dominoes were also short-lived, and following the break up Gordon drifted in and out of the music scene as session work dried up.

In the late 70’s, he began suffering from severe depression, schizophrenia and paranoia. His deteriorating condition couldn’t have been helped by years of drug and alcohol abuse. Friends said he tried to seek help, but doctors instead treated him for alcoholism. His situation worsened until he began hearing voices in his head and he became convinced that his mother was possessed by a demonic force.

In 1983, Gordon brutally bludgeoned and stabbed his elderly mother to death in her home. It wasn’t until after his conviction that he was properly diagnosed with acute paranoid schizophrenia. Gordon was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to sixteen years to life in prison with a possibility of parole. He is currently serving out his sentence at the State Medical Corrections Facility in Vacaville, California. Jim Gordon has already been denied parole on 2 occasions.

PHIL SPECTOR

Phil Spector was a certifiable genius. Legendary in the music industry for creating the so-called ‘Wall of Sound’, he was a musical whiz kid who wrote, produced, sang and played on several hit records before he was 30. Spector was arrogant, highly intelligent, flamboyant, and according to many artists who worked with him in the early days – had an incredibly keen sense of humor.

He pioneered the ‘Girl Groups’ phenomenon, scoring 25 top-40 hits between 1960 and 1965, and he revolutionized popular music after perfecting his ‘Wall of Sound’ technique at Gold Star Recording Studios in Los Angeles, California. This method of recording involved cramming the tiny studio full of L.A.’s best session musicians, all playing together at full volume. He would often employ three or more guitarists, multiple bass players, keyboardists and percussionists, all duplicating the same notes, adding a rich, multi-layered texture to the overall sound. Then he would crank up the volume on all the faders and pile tons and tons of reverb (echo) into the mix, masterfully balancing the swirling cacophony of noise until the song took shape. The end result was grandiose, expansive and over-blown – but the formula sold millions of records. For a while, at least.

The hits stopped coming eventually, and after the critical failure of River Deep – Mountain High by Ike & Tina Turner in 1966, Spector retired in disgust from the music business, where he remained for several years, living in seclusion with his new wife, Ronnie. Phil had married Veronica (Ronnie) Bennett, the beautiful lead singer for the all Black girl group The Ronettes, one of the bands he was producing at the time. Unfortunately, due to his intense, violent jealous streak, he kept his wife as a virtual prisoner in their Hollywood mansion for several years. He even went to the trouble of installing an alarm system to keep her inside the grounds of the estate, in addition to armed guards. She finally managed to escape one day while he was out of the country. Ronnie’s life was threatened more than once during the subsequent divorce proceedings.

Spector’s psychotic behavior became more and more outrageous and unpredictable over the ensuing years and he was known for pulling out his guns in the studio and threatening people with them, refusing to speak to his clients, and wearing gaudy, flashy clothes and bizarre wigs – from bowl cuts to gigantic blond afros. And he started carrying loaded weapons everywhere, even while in the company of a team of brutal thugs posing as his personal bodyguards.

His career was revived in the late 60’s when John Lennon of all people (who’d met Spector at a party) asked Phil to produce his first solo record, Instant Karma. Lennon was so pleased with the results he asked Spector to take a stab at salvaging the tapes for what later became Let It Be, the Beatles January 1969 fiasco which later produced a lackluster album and a depressing movie of the same name. Still, he produced George Harrison’s brilliant All Things Must Pass in 1970 and The Concert for Bangladesh the following year (which he won a Grammy for) along with several more Lennon solo projects (including the iconic Imagine), and his reputation as a brilliant producer was restored for a while. He was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in 1989. The drunken acceptance speech he gave on that occasion shocked many who witnessed it. Spector appeared onstage with three bodyguards, all with their hands on their guns. He proceeded to make a long, rambling, nearly incoherent acceptance speech at the podium, and then he fell off the stage.

The work continued to roll right in, though, and he went on to produce records by artists as diverse as Leonard Cohen and The Ramones, with mixed and often controversial results. But Harvey Philip Spector was a tortured soul and he was far too rich, famous and powerful to lead any semblance of a normal life. He went back into seclusion – back to his new sanctuary in Alhambra, California; a converted monastery on the top of a hill in a neighborhood surrounded by less than desirable real estate. It was so secluded and over-grown that many of his working-class neighbors had no idea anyone even lived there. Spector’s nights were spent trawling the streets of Hollywood in his limo looking for women to bring home, and spending time in the exclusive Foundation Room on the top floor of the House of Blues on Sunset Boulevard. Here he would entertain friends and blow enormous amounts of cash getting progressively wasted on bourbon highballs, Percodan and coke. He was also a very generous tipper, according to the staff.

One of the hostesses on the night of February 2, 2003 was a struggling B-movie actress named Lana Clarkson. Phil coaxed her into coming back home with him in his sleek, black, chauffeur-driven Mercedes-Benz 430S limousine. At some point around the crack of dawn, a gunshot rang out and a frantic 911 call was made by Spector‘s driver. His boss, still in shock, stumbled outside and muttered, “I think I just killed somebody.”

Police found Clarkson’s body lying in a huge pool of blood, shot in the face at close range. Spector maintained his innocence, claiming that she had shot herself by accident. He also immediately contacted famous attorney Robert Shapiro (the guy who got O.J. Simpson off) and asked for his help.

Other women eventually came forward to testify that Spector had held them at gun point when they tried to leave his house. It didn’t look good for the greatest record producer of all time, but his first trial ended in a hung jury. Phil wasn’t so lucky the next time around, though, because he was convicted of second-degree murder on April 13, 2009. He was immediately hauled off to jail in handcuffs and was later sentenced to 19 years in prison with a possibility of parole.

Phil Spector is currently being held at the California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison (SATF) in Corcoran, California, where other famous inmates include convicted mass murderer Charles Manson. Undaunted, Spector actually finished production of his first full CD release in 30 years while behind bars. 70-year old Spector produced the disc for his new, 20-something wife, Rachelle. A sad end to a brilliant career.