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MUSICAL MURDERS
So, after years of lurid headlines, bizarre behaviour and a succession of even more bizarre frightwigs, Phil Spector has been found guilty of second degree murder after a previous 10/2 split jury in his first trial, led to a mistrial. He was sentenced to 16 years gaol, at his age and level of health a life sentence after his defence team tried to besmirch the victim Lana Clarkson’s character and used odd forensic arguments as their failed defence strategy.
For anyone who has read Tearing Down The Wall Of Sound by Mick Brown, this tragic episode would come as no surprise, indeed it was the logical outcome of a lifetime of negative relationships with women and sociopathic behaviour. His first wife Ronnie has spoken and written about her time as Mrs Spector before she escaped his violent manic megalomania severely damaged and suffering post-traumatic stress syndrome. Brown’s meticulously researched biography is no hatchet job but Spector’s behaviour has simply been so outrageous over the years that it has obscured his musical achievements ,the harrowing descriptions of his demons – the enduring torment of his troubled childhood, adult anxieties and grief, as well as a predilection for alcohol and guns – are both repellent and engrossing. It was Spector’s demons and not a lack of talent, the author illustrates, that ultimately overtook him, turning a once-vital figure into a reclusive relic of a bygone era, now behind bars.
But he’s not the first musical figure to be found guilty of murder.
Leadbelly
In 1915 he was convicted "of carrying a pistol" and sentenced to do time on a chain gang, from which he miraculously escaped. In January 1918 he was thrown into prison for the second time, this time after killing one of his relatives in a fight over a woman In 1925 he was pardoned and released, having served seven years, or virtually all of the minimum of his seven-to-35-year sentence, after writing a song appealing for his freedom. In 1930, Lead Belly was back in prison for attempted homicide — he had knifed a white man in a fight. It was there, three years later, that he was "discovered" by musicologist John Lomax.
R.L.Burnside
In 1959 the Mississippi bluesman was convicted for murder and sentenced to six months. "I didn't mean to kill nobody," Burnside later said. "I just meant to shoot the sonofabitch in the head. Him dying was between him and the Lord." and went on to a late life successful career.
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Spade Cooley.
The Western Swing musician, big band leader, actor, and television personality, in 1961 argued with his wife over their divorce and beat her to death. During the trial Cooley suffered a heart attack while he was delivered his prison sentence. After serving eight years of his sentence, he was given a temporary furlough in order to play a benefit concert, after which he suffered a fatal heart attack in the backstage area.
Little Willie John.
The R&B singer, famed for the hit song Fever, was convicted of manslaughter in 1966 following a fatal knifing. He died two years later in a Washington state prison.
Sid Vicious.
The former bass player with the Sex Pistols was arrested for murdering his girlfriend, Nancy Spungen, in 1978. He died of a heroin overdose early the following year before he could go to trial.
Jim Gordon.
The mentally troubled rock drummer multi-instrumentalist who had played with all the greats and also co-wrote Layla with Eric Clapton, after hearing voices battered his mother to death with a hammer in 1983. He was sentenced to 16 years to life for second-degree murder, and is serving his term in a California prison hospital.
Slick Rick.
In 1990 the English born rapper shot a bystander and his cousin whom he had hired as a bodyguard. Slick Rick was indicted on two counts of attempted murder and pled guilty to all charges which also included, assault, use of a firearm, and criminal possession of a weapon. He spent five years in prison, two for the second degree attempted murder charges he received for that shooting, and three while hassling with Immigrations Services over his residency in the US.
Varg Vikernes aka Count Grishnackh,
A Norwegian Black Metal musician currently imprisoned for the 1993 murder of a sometimes bandmate. The victim was stabbed 23 times, twice in the head, five times in the neck, and 16 times in his back. He was also found guilty of the arson of Christian churches and is about to be released from prison.
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