Welcome to the Phil Spector Story quiz
Test your knowledge
of… Phil Spector
The background to all of these questions and answers
can be found in…
Phil Spector Story podcast
Questions – Phil Spector Story quiz
1. Phil Spector’s first hit, as an artist, producer and writer, was with the Teddy Bears. The song’s title was inspired by the inscription on his father’s headstone. What was the song?
2. Which major record label, famous for its rhythm and blues acts, did Phil Spector start his career with, when he worked for Lee Hazlewood?
3. One of his earliest productions was the single Twist and Shout. Which rhythm and blues vocal group recorded it?
4. Phil Spector set up his own label with Lester Sill in 1961. A contraction of both of their names, what was the record label?
5. Who released the label’s debut single, There’s No Other (Like My Baby)? Subsequently, one of the biggest names on the label.
6. Joining Phil Spector for the first time on He’s a Rebel, who was the arranger responsible for most of this era’s arrangements?
7. Released as a “Crystals” single, who actually recorded He’s a Rebel?
8. What name did the session musicians who worked with Phil Spector go by?
9. Phil Spector’s music with the Crystal, the Ronettes and others at this time, was known as what?
10. When Phil Spector parted company with Lester Sill, he made a single to celebrate the split. What vitriolic title did the song have?
11. Scoring a top-5 hit on both sides of the Atlantic in 1963, what was the Ronettes’ first hit single?
12. What was the name of the Ronettes lead singer who subsequently married Phil Spector?
13. Although not actually brothers, what were the names of the duo who performed as the Righteous Brothers?
14. Which Ike and Tina Turner single marked the beginning of the end for this Phil Spector golden age, when it only managed to reach #88 on the American charts in 1966? (Although, it did score a #3 in the UK.)
15. What was the first single Phil Spector produced for John Lennon? It gave Lennon his third hit on both sides of the Atlantic in 1970.
16. The same name as one of their previous singles, what was the working title for the Beatles album produced by Phil Spector and subsequently released as Let It Be?
17. What was the name of the Ramones album produced by Phil Spector in 1980?
18. What was the name of the Leonard Cohen album produced by Phil Spector in 1977?
19. Phil Spector was found guilty of the murder of which actress?
20. Goffin and King wrote He Hit Me (And It Felt Like a Kiss), after their babysitter told them about her abusive partner. Who was the babysitter who inspired Phil Spector’s most controversial single?
