Originally Posted by
Philles/Motown Gary
After acting as a freelance writer/producer at various record labels, it was in 1961 that Phil Spector formed a business partnership with Lester Sill by setting up his own record label, Philles Records [[PHIL + LESter = Philles). [NOTE: Although the spelling suggests a pronunciation like the female name 'Phyllis', everyone I've ever known pronounces it Phillies, like the baseball team, which also explains why many often misspell Philles Records by adding the letter 'i' to the es.]
I have been wondering for years just how you're supposed to pronounce this!
Originally Posted by
Philles/Motown Gary
Phil also should have been signing new groups in order to keep up with the times and the latest trends, but he didn't. Philles slowly went down the tubes -- partly because of that, and partly because the British Invasion knocked the Philles girl groups off the charts. It's sad that Philles died out, while Motown grew up hand in hand with The Beatles and the other British groups.
O.K. This is something I always wondered about too. The more I would read about Philles, the more I kept thinking, "why did Phil let his groups wither on the vine?" I got the feeling, Phil would lose interest in groups, singers, like The Crystals and Bob B. Soxx and just gave up on trying to keep the momentum going with their careers. When The Ronettes came along, it was as if he put practically all of his eggs into that one basket, save for The Righteous Brothers. It seems Philles became essentially a two-group record label.
Had Phil Spector not been so autonomous, he may have been able to delegate some of the production work to others. Perhaps that would have helped to keep the other groups going and that may have made Philles a bit stronger entity. Just some thoughts I've had.
I've only read the first post you made here and already you're giving me plenty to sink my teeth into!
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