He's a Rebel

April 1, 1989
Guitarist and songwriter Spector burst onto the California rock scene in 1958 with ``To Know Him Is to Love Him,'' which rose to the top of the pop music charts. As he continued to compose, he also established a career as a record producer with such groups as the Paris Sisters, the Crystals, the Ronettes, the Righteous Brothers and the Beatles (as that group was breaking up). Known to be temperamental and egotistical, with a personality that alienated many, he demanded total artistic control and developed a style that was dubbed the ``Wall of Sound.'' While he is undoubtedly a seminal figure in rock history, this biography is so slavishly adulatory as to be risible. Ribowsky, a Manhattan freelance writer, not only calls Spector a genius and a leviathan, but also asserts that he ``invented modern rock'' and labels him the successor to Wagner and an American Mozart. Photos not seen by PW.