Phil Spector Convicted of 2nd Degree Murder!
That was the headline screaming from television, internet, radio, and newspapers. The record producer, who produced my wife Nedra’s records, with the Ronettes, among others, must serve at least 18 years of a mandatory life sentence for killing Lana Clarkson in 2003.
When the verdict was announced, I was sitting in my library at home, just returning from a 700 Club television shoot in Los Angeles, where Spector’s trial had taken place. I was road weary and jet lagged. My thirteen month old granddaughter was playing at my feet, one of my grandson’s was texting a friend, my other granddaughter had just returned from her church earlier in the day, and my youngest daughter was assisting her mother Nedra cook in the kitchen. A tranquil setting to be sure.
As I put the drink and the book in my hand on the table next to me, I was struck by the quirk of fate that lay at my fingertips. The table is a French dial telephone given as a gift to Nedra by Phil Spector, oh so many years ago, when the Ronettes record of Be My Baby, was announced as a million selling gold record. It was be one of three.
As I reflect back on our respective journey’s, my heart is full of thankfulness to the God that saved me from myself and the life style that could very well have put me in the same hell as Phil Spector is facing now. In New York City I was doing drugs, wearing a Nazi jacket, and at one point carrying a gun, when a loving sovereign God reached down His hand and said, “I’ll take you!” As a drowning man I took that proffered hand.
Subsequently, with that same guidance and grace, I chose the right Ronette in Nedra, she chose the Lord too and me, and forty-two years later, Jesus makes us three.
Phil Spector’s work with the Ronettes back then led to his divorcing his wife at the time and marrying Nedra’s cousin Veronica (Ronnie); they divorced in 1974.
The Long and Winding Road, a Beatles song that Phil produced, has taken him to the tragic place he is in now. My road led me to the place I belong; and with Kris Kristofferson, I can ask, “Why Me, Lord?”
To Phil: You gained the world, don’t lose your soul. With some other murderers and criminals depicted in the Scriptures, (and me) there is still time to call upon the name of the Lord and be saved from the immediate hell you are facing. Nedra and I are praying for you Phillip.