With the past editions of the on-going ‘Would-be Spector’ feature I have been able to point to various one-off singles by obscure artists produced by the various people who decided to give Spector a run for his money.
Sonny, Cher and Harold in Gold Star working on the second Sonny & Cher album. We can only wonder how much Battiste brought to the Sonny & Cher hit records but it probably safe to assume, that it was quite a lot. But what he may have lacked in both a singing voice as well as music skills, he more than made up for with adaptability, shrewdness and teaming up with the right people, – in the latter case, it was the skilled arranger Harold Battiste who worked wonders for Sonny’s productions, just like Jack Nietszche did for Spector. His phenomenal success with Sonny & Cher as well as both Cher and Sonny as solo artists surely must have surprised everyone at Gold Star since Sonny was probably the one around with the least musical chops. Sonny Bono is without a doubt the one person from Spector’s early to mid-60s inner circle who benefitted the most from working long hours with the Tycoon of Teen.
I’d like to focus on yet another ’would-be Spector’ who used his first-hand knowledge of the Wall of Sound to emulate Phil Spector.
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