Phil Spector Guilty of Murder!

Los Angeles (E! Online) – The boy genius has given way to the convicted murderer.

Phil Spector, the legendary record producer, eccentric and recluse with a reputation for building walls around people as much as his signature music, was found guilty of second-degree murder by Los Angeles jurors today in the 2003 shooting death of cult-movie star Lana Clarkson.

Emotions occasionally spiked at the courthouse: Spector's wife Rachelle sobbed; the jury forewoman broke down at a post-verdict press conference; prosecutors spoke of justice served. Spector, however, was described in reports as seeming unmoved.

The 69-year-old Grammy winner and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member, who was taken immediately into custody, faces up to life in prison when sentenced May 29.

This was Spector's second judgment day on the Clarkson case. In 2007, a jury deadlocked 10-2 in favor of convicting Spector.

At the second trial as at the first, prosecutors said Clarkson fell victim to a man who had a history of waving guns at, and acting violently toward, women, especially when he'd been drinking. Spector's defense argued she shot herself.

There was one new twist at the new trial, but it ended up being a nonfactor, unfortunately for Spector.

At this trial, jurors had the option of convicting Spector of a lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter. They not only didn't take the option, they also convicted the former hitmaker of using a gun while committing a crime.

The jury forewoman, whose name was not disclosed, told reporters deliberations were "painful." "We all have hearts," she said. "We all have people we love."

For L.A. prosecutors, the guilty verdicts were a welcome change. They previously failed to win convictions against celebrity murder defendants O.J. Simpson and Robert Blake.

Spector's fame dates back to 1958, when, at age 19, he wrote and sang his way to No. 1 on the chart with "To Know Him Is to Love Him."

As a young producer, Spector dominated the pre-Beatles 1960s with hit ("He's a Rebel") after hit ("Da Doo Ron Ron") after hit ("Be My Baby"). The songs were predominantly recorded by girl groups and were exclusively backed by the aural sensation known as the "Wall of Sound." Spector's magic touch continued through the 1960s, with "Unchained Melody," the Beatles Let It Be, John Lennon's "Imagine" and George Harrison "My Sweet Lord," among other standouts.

But over the past 30-40 years, Spector's fame gave way to a kind of infamy—the mad genius who, per lore, pulled gun on Lennon and the Ramones, or who, per Ronnie Spector, of the Spector creation the Ronettes, treated her more as a captive than wife during their troubled marriage.

Spector's alleged gun-waving ways caught up to him at trial, if not on night of Clarkson's death at his Alhambra, Calif., castle-style home. At Spector's first trial, five women testified about being at the other end of a gun drawn by Spector. Their testimony was allowed to be introduced in the new trial.

Spector and Clarkson, the queen of Roger Corman's Barbarian Queen movies, met Feb. 3, 2003, at L.A's House of Blues, where the 40-year-old Clarkson worked as a hostess and where Spector visited shortly after midnight.

About five hours later, after the pair was driven to Spector's home, Spector walked out of his mansion, and, per testimony at the first trial, told his driver: "I think I killed somebody."

LA jury convicts Phil Spector in murder of actress

LOS ANGELES – Two trials involving one legendary music producer. The first jury couldn't reach an unanimous decision, but the second found Phil Spector guilty of second-degree murder in the shooting death of actress Lana Clarkson.

Six years after Clarkson was found dead in the foyer of Spector's mansion, the diminutive 69-year-old now finds himself in a Los Angeles jail cell after he was convicted on Monday. His sentencing is scheduled for May 29 where he faces at least 18 years to life in prison barring a successful appeal.

Spector, wearing one of his signature suits with a long black coat, red tie and red handkerchief, had no obvious reaction. His 28-year-old wife, Rachelle, sobbed as the verdict was announced. Spector was led out of the courtroom by sheriff's deputies and remanded to jail immediately.

"He took it very stoically," defense attorney Doron Weinberg said later. "He wanted to know what is next."

The jury forewoman, who spoke later, also wept. She recounted the pressure of deciding the fate of another person.

"It just is a painful decision," she said. "For anybody in our shoes, you have no idea. It's tough to be on a jury."

The murder case was a flash from Hollywood's distant past, a reminder of the 1960s when Spector reigned as the hit maker supreme with such songs as the Righteous Brothers' "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" and the Ronettes' classic, "Be My Baby."

The 40-year-old Clarkson, star of the 1985 cult film "Barbarian Queen," died of a gunshot fired in her mouth as she sat in Spector's mansion in February 2003. She met Spector only hours earlier at her job as a nightclub hostess. In one of many ironies of the case, she had no idea of his fame. Prosecutors argued Spector had a history of threatening women with guns when they tried to leave his presence.

The defense claimed she was despondent over her fading career and killed herself.

Spector's chauffeur, the key witness, said he heard a gunshot, then saw Spector emerge holding a gun and heard him say: "I think I killed somebody."

The first jury deadlocked 10-2, favoring conviction in 2007. This time, jurors spent about 30 hours in deliberations before finding Spector guilty. They had the option of choosing involuntary manslaughter, but did not do so. The panel also found Spector personally used a firearm in committing a crime.

"It feels fantastic, this is the type of day prosecutors live for," said Deputy District Attorney Alan Jackson, who summed up Spector's motive for killing Clarkson in one word: "Rage."

Clarkson's mother and sister attended with their lawyer, who said they would not personally comment because they now face resolution of their civil damage suit against Spector.

"The family is pleased that the jury rejected distortions of Lana Clarkson's life," said attorney John Taylor.

Prosecutors, haunted by the acquittals of stars such as O.J. Simpson, Robert Blake and Michael Jackson, at first seemed invested in making Spector the first showbiz star to be convicted in a major criminal case. But after the first trial ended in a deadlock, public interest faded. The second six-month trial was played out in a sparsely populated courtroom with few members of the media present.

9IJANEWS REPORT

Husband of late reality TV star sentenced

LONDON – The husband of reality television star Jade Goody, who died of cancer last month, has been jailed for 12 weeks for attacking a cab driver.

Jack Tweed, 21, was sentenced Tuesday at Harlow Magistrates' Court northeast of London. He had denied the assault charge.

Tweed's wife died March 22 after a highly publicized battle with cervical cancer. The couple married in a media extravaganza two months before her death.

Goody's last months were marked by an outpouring of public sympathy, but Tweed has been dogged by legal problems.

In September, he was given an 18-month jail sentence for beating a teenager with a golf club. He was granted early release on that charge.

Defense lawyer Tania Panagiotopoulou says Tweed has matured since Goody's illness and had pleaded for a lesser sentence.

Chimamanda out with new book

The award winning author, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is out with a new book. Titled The Thing Around Your Neck, the book is a collection of 12 short stories written by Adichie. Chimamanda has won awards for her books – Purple Hibiscus and Half of a Yellow Sun. This new book will be her third published work.Adichie is expected to be in Nigeria in July to promote the book.

Rumours that I don’t wear underwear might be true

On a given day in Accra, the capital city of Ghana, you might catch him on the road: barefooted, clad in skirt and with a mass of dreadlocks on his head. He could be walking about alone or with fellow musicians playing his two koshkas (pendulum shakers) or his atenteben (bamboo flute). His fans, young and old, would draw after him listening, dancing and singing along. On such days, Wanlov Owusu-Bonsu, popularly called Wanlov The Kubolor (pronounced“coo-bor-law”) is happiest amongst the people he says inspire him to be the truest version of himself.

He started performing publicly in high school at Adisadel College in Cape Coast in 1995, but went professional in 2004 while living in Killeen, Texas. He released his CD, Green Card in 2007 after a seven year stay in the US. Green Card has several nominations already.

“I did a little music class here and there while I was a child,” Kubolor says “but I never took it seriously enough to learn notation and so on.” He doesn’t regret being unserious with learning formal music. He says it would have impeded his creativity and confined him to rote learning. He claims he knows enough to enable him play the flute, piano, and many percussive instruments.

He was born of a Ghanaian father and a Romanian mother. The mixed breed is responsible for his skin colour – too light to be African and too dark to be European. The search for identity between two worlds inspired him to write My Skin and Human Being. Human Being won the 2006 WCS International Song Contest and is also serving as the soundtrack to the anti-child trafficking campaign led by UNICEF in collaboration with the Ministry of Women and Children in Ghana.

Of his trademark appearance, Kubolor says it is nothing mystique.

“I wear dreadlocks because I like the hairstyle and convenience. All I have to do is wash my hair and oil it. I got tired of braiding my hair. I never liked going to the barber ever since I can remember. However, I am not a Rastafarian. Dreadlock is a hairstyle indigenous beings have been wearing thousands of years before the Rastafarian religion. Also, I don’t wear shoes because it feels good without it. Different textures and sensations against my sole make me feel more alive than when I used to wear shoes,”

Wanlov, however, wears shoes in winter. Wearing skirt, (or wrap, as he calls it), is part of his person.

“There are even rumours that I don’t wear underwear.”

But are those rumours true ? He laughs before he responds. “Rumours and rumours of no underwear might very well be true, but would you expect anything less radical from a Kubolor?”

He was raised in a home where both parents were avid collectors of music and other forms of eclectic art and it has influenced Kubolor so much that he has a unique perspective on life; a fact evident in his music.

Wanlov sings in Pidgin English and adds here that one of his influences is the legendary Afrobeat king, Fela Anikulapo Kuti. His kind of music blends medley of songs from different parts of the world with a strong background of Hiplife and Indigenous Ghanaian sounds.

“The messages in my song range from everyday things like traffic; personal issues like My Skin that addresses the things I went through in life for being a mixed race being, to fantastic fictional stories like Supa Chompia, a little child who has magical powers and goes around the world solving real problems.”

His other influences include Gyedu-Blay Ambolley, Reggie Rockstone and his parents.

He has been roundly described as one of the most refreshing and original artiste of the times because of the way he uses the music of his generation and yet lives out his true roots. Kubolor is so respectful of nature and this is greatly felt in his music. He delivers it in his melodic accent which has come to be his style and it is organic in its core. He has generated a diverse fan base and he manages to reach them not only sonic, wise, but culturally and visually too. He manages to hold this combination together by his own special and highly appealing brand of consciousness. He insists he will follow this path and will not modify his style to fit the mould of pre-existing genres. Kubolor hopes to inspire others to create a personal evolutionary path for positive change.

He might be succeeding already because Green Card, was nominated at the 2008 Ghana Music Awards for Discovery Of The Year, Record Of The Year, Video Of The Year, and Hiphop Song Of The Year.

Even though the Ghanian music industry is developed, Kubolor admits that the Nigerian music industry is far ahead. One, Nigerian musicians are better patronised by their local audience and two, they use their indigenous languages and are still accepted. Most Ghanian musicians, he says, still think they need to sound American or Jamaican to be accepted.

He strongly believes that pidgin music is more original and should be explored. As much as he loves music, he says he wants to explore visual art as well.

“I got into art at one point. I did several drawings of body parts of women on the wall in my room. By the time I returned from Texas, my mother had painted over the wall.”

That set his art career back, though he believes one day he will pick up visual art once more.

“That will be in two years time, when I am 30.”