Ronnie Spector remembered her ex-husband and Ronettes producer, Phil Spector, after his death on Saturday at the age of 81.
“It’s a sad day for music and a sad day for me,” Ronnie wrote on Instagram on Sunday. “When I was working with Phil Spector, watching him create in the recording studio, I knew I was working with the best. He was in complete control, driving everyone. So much to love in those days. Meeting him and falling in love was like a fairy tale. “
She continued, “The magical music that we were able to make together was inspired by our love. I loved him madly and gave him my heart and soul. “
Phil and Ronnie Spector were married in 1968. However, as Ronnie wrote in his memoirs Be My Baby: How I Survived Mascara, Miniskirts and Madness, or My Life as Fabulous Ronette, Phil was an abusive husband, subject to eccentric behavior; as Ronnie wrote in his memoirs, Phil had a coffin in the basement of his mansion, a threat that he would kill her if she left him. In 1972, she escaped Phil’s mansion barefoot with the help of her mother, she wrote in her memoirs.
“[Phil] it took the corner out of me and it was devastating because I had no idea that I would never record, ”said Ronnie Spector Rolling Stone in 2016. “I had no idea that I would never play again, that it was my life. I was shocked by this because here is a person who wrote his records and produced them. … And then, you will never sing again. (…) I never knew ‘What goes, comes back’, until he went to prison. Then I knew what it meant. Because I was stuck in the mansion and I couldn’t even get out. For seven years, I haven’t been anywhere. “
Despite being in what she claims to be a physically and psychologically abusive marriage, Ronnie shared a tone of forgiveness in her remembrance of Phil after his death.
“As I said many times while he was alive, he was a brilliant producer, but a terrible husband,” wrote Ronnie. “Unfortunately, Phil was unable to live and work outside the recording studio. Darkness settled in, many lives were damaged. “
Ronnie added: “I still smile whenever I hear the song we did together, and I always will. The music will be forever. “