Recording Producers

There's a joke about the entertainment industry that's a favorite of Michael Greene, the outspoken president of the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences. "It seems that whenever we get into a dispute over something," he says, sitting in his plush-casual office at the academy's Santa Monica headquarters, "someone calls for a firing squad and everybody forms a circle, shooting each other down." Lately, Greene feels like he's in the middle of that circle.

That Phil Ramone was a musical force in the recording studio is undeniable, and the evidence lies in the range of his accomplishments. For example, within one three-year period in the early 1960s, Ramone mixed Lesley Gore's smash hit "It's My Party," recorded Marilyn Monroe seducing President John F. Kennedy in song on his birthday and engineered essential double-quartet recordings by jazz innovators Ornette Coleman and Eric Dolphy. Ramone, who died Saturday in his late 70s or early 80s, depending on sources, would have been only around 30 at the time.

Mammoth Records, a division of Walt Disney Co., is about to sign a joint-venture label deal with the Dust Brothers, the production whizzes who have churned out hits for such rap and rock acts as Beck, Tone Loc and Hansen.

Phil Ramone, the veteran record producer whose work with A-list artists including Barbra Streisand, Bob Dylan and Paul Simon made him one of the most respected figures in the music industry, died Saturday at New York Presbyterian Hospital, Billboard reported. He was 79. Ramone was hospitalized last month following an aortic aneurysm. Born in South Africa, Ramone studied classical violin at New York's Juilliard School before moving behind the board. His extensive credits include Dylan's "Blood on the Tracks," Billy Joel's "52nd Street" and Paul Simon's "Still Crazy After All These Years," for which he shared the Grammy Award for album of the year.

Record producer David Anderle has sold his home in the Hollywood Hills West area for $3.7 million. The Spanish-style villa, built in 1925, was once used as a speak-easy. Features include decorative tile work, beamed ceilings, a wine cellar and an artist's studio. The three-bedroom, 31/2-bathroom house contains 3,813 square feet of living space and sits on a third of an acre. The former A&M Records executive produced songs for Rita Coolidge, Kris Kristofferson and the Circle Jerks, among others.

The murder trial of record producer Phil Spector has been moved to Sept. 11. Spector's trial was to begin April 24, but his attorney, Bruce Cutler, and prosecutors are involved in other trials during that period. Spector is accused of shooting actress Lana Clarkson at his Alhambra home in 2003. He is free on $1-million bail.

Denny Cordell, 51, record producer who worked with such artists as Chet Baker, Tom Petty and Melissa Etheridge. A native of Argentina educated in England, Cordell became influential in the evolution of contemporary popular music. He managed Baker in the mid-1960s and then went to work for Island Records in 1965. He left to produce the Moody Blues' first album, "Go Now: The Moody Blues 1."

Phil Ramone, the veteran record producer whose work with A-list artists including Barbra Streisand, Bob Dylan and Paul Simon made him one of the most respected figures in the music industry, died Saturday at New York Presbyterian Hospital, Billboard reported. He was 79. Ramone was hospitalized last month following an aortic aneurysm. Born in South Africa, Ramone studied classical violin at New York's Juilliard School before moving behind the board. His extensive credits include Dylan's "Blood on the Tracks," Billy Joel's "52nd Street" and Paul Simon's "Still Crazy After All These Years," for which he shared the Grammy Award for album of the year.

Wes Farrell, 56, songwriter and record producer whose career stretched from rock 'n' roll to religious music. A native of New York City who attended the University of Miami, Farrell started writing music in the late 1950s as rock 'n' roll grew. His hits included "Come a Little Bit Closer" and the Beatles' "Boys." Moving into publishing, he was the first to sign Neil Diamond, for such recordings as "Daddy Don't Walk So Fast" and "Spanish Eyes."

Ozzie cadena, a producer for the famed Savoy Records who played a key role in recording a long list of jazz luminaries and later led an effort to commemorate the role of Hermosa Beach in the history of West Coast jazz, has died. He was 83. Cadena, who suffered a stroke last year, died of pneumonia Wednesday at Little Company of Mary Hospital in Torrance, said his daughter, Lori Cadena.

Are you planning to watch HBO's "Phil Spector"? Then step into my cubicle. We need to talk. I'm just a reporter, so my opinions about film aesthetics don't add up to much, but as one of the only journalists to cover both of Spector's murder trials, I can tell you that this movie, which premieres Sunday, is a bomb factually. And in an era when millions depend on "The Daily Show" for their news and best picture nominees for their history lessons, that scares me. Most viewers will know very little about the Spector case, and when the program is over, their understanding will be deeply flawed.

Record producer Terry Lewis and his wife, Indira, have sold their ocean-view house in Malibu for $3.735 million. The one-acre estate includes a Spanish-style house, a sports court, a swimming pool with a spa, and gardens. The 6,710-square-foot open-plan home, built in 2001, features a media room, five bedrooms and 51/2 bathrooms. Lewis is part of a songwriting and production team with Jimmy Jam. The Grammy-winning Jam and Lewis have produced hits for singers including Janet Jackson, Boyz II Men and Mariah Carey.

Record producer David Anderle has sold his home in the Hollywood Hills West area for $3.7 million. The Spanish-style villa, built in 1925, was once used as a speak-easy. Features include decorative tile work, beamed ceilings, a wine cellar and an artist's studio. The three-bedroom, 31/2-bathroom house contains 3,813 square feet of living space and sits on a third of an acre. The former A&M Records executive produced songs for Rita Coolidge, Kris Kristofferson and the Circle Jerks, among others.

Record producer Ralph Sall has listed his Sunset Strip-area house at $2.95 million. The remodeled Spanish-style house, built in 1926, features iron work, interior archways, French doors, balconies and an updated kitchen. The close to 3,300 square feet of living space includes five bedrooms and 41/2 bathrooms in the main house and an attached guesthouse. Extensive decks and patios, a loggia and a saltwater swimming pool complete the grounds. Sall is president of Bulletproof Entertainment.

Record producer David Anderle has listed his longtime Hollywood Hills home for sale at $4.75 million. Built in the 1920s, the Spanish-style villa was once a speak-easy. Details include decorative tile work and beamed ceilings. The three-bedroom, four-bathroom house contains 3,813 square feet of living space and sits on a third of an acre. The former A&M Records executive produced songs for Rita Coolidge, Kris Kristofferson and the Circle Jerks, among others. He worked with Brian Wilson to help him form Brother Records.

This year, the Producers Guild of America could just rename its annual award show after Scott Rudin. For Rudin's two nominations Tuesday morning, for "The Social Network" and "True Grit," landed the producer in the record books for being the first person nominated by the guild twice in one year. Not only that, his achievement also coincides with the guild's previously planned presentation to Rudin of the esteemed David O. Selznick award. "I find the whole thing rather humbling," said an obviously delighted Rudin, who did have two pictures in the running in 2008, with "No Country for Old Men" and " There Will Be Blood," but since he was an executive producer on "Blood," he was not given the same level of credit.

Clarence Paul, 67, composer and Motown Records producer for such artists as Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder. Known throughout the industry as "C.P.," Paul composed several popular songs, including Wonder's "Fingertips" and Gaye's "Hitchhike." Paul also wrote "A Place in the Sun," "Hey, Love" and "Until You Come Back to Me." Paul traveled with Wonder as his guardian in the early years and sang a duet with him on "Blowing in the Wind." On Saturday in Los Angeles of diabetes and heart problems.

Miles Goodman, composer of music for films and innovative producer of recordings by major artists such as composer Stephen Sondheim, has died. He was 47. Goodman collapsed Friday at his Brentwood home and was pronounced dead at St. John's Hospital and Medical Center in Santa Monica of a heart attack. Last year Goodman co-produced the highly praised jazz album "Color and Light: Jazz Sketches of Sondheim" featuring jazz artists--and the reclusive composer himself--interpreting Sondheim music.

Whatever the theme song to Phil Spector's troubled life and times might be, "To Know Him Is to Love Him" probably isn't it. That, as Spector fans know, is the title of the legendary record producer's first hit, recorded by the Teddy Bears in 1958 with words taken from the epitaph on his father's tombstone. Spector went on to produce hits almost without number, including "Be My Baby," "He's a Rebel," "Da Doo Ron Ron" and "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling. " Today, however, the man Sean Lennon called "the genius geniuses come to" is in prison serving 19 years to life after the jury in a second trial convicted him of the Alhambra murder of actress Lana Clarkson.

The doors to the Forum in Inglewood opened Tuesday to a massive mobile hospital, the largest and longest-running free clinic ever attempted in the 25-year history of Remote Area Medical Foundation, a Tennessee-based nonprofit more accustomed to serving rural America. Each day since, more than 750 patients have been served, many waiting for hours and some sleeping overnight in their cars for a chance at a free exam. In the first three days of the clinic's eight-day run, the foundation provided 1,640 fillings, performed 706 tooth extractions and 141 mammograms and doled out more than 550 eyeglasses.