Spector's Oddball Antics During Last Ever Recordings

The legendary producer headed in to London's famed Abbey Road studios with British band Starsailor in late 2002 after hearing their single Lullaby.

But a week into the sessions for the band's album Silence Is Easy, Spector went into meltdown - sprawling semi-conscious across the mixing desk, wearing a bizarre afro wig, and obsessing about the studio's built-in echo chamber.

The rockers were so in awe of the 60s legend they continued with the sessions, desperately hoping Spector would pull himself together and finish the record.

But after several more weeks, it was clear the producer was beyond help - so the band sacked him.

Frontman James Walsh tells WENN, "It was a kind of mixed experience. The first week was amazing, and the remainder of the time he was slumped across the mixing desk, in another world, with a big afro wig on. It was a tale of two experiences. It was his medication and his mental state.

"I guess that's the mark of respect we have for him - that when it started to deteriorate we really persevered because if it was anyone else we would have just stopped there and then and said 'This isn't working'. But we stuck it out for a good four or five weeks after we started having doubts because of the reputation that he had - and the expectation - for recording and stuff. But he struggled a bit with Pro-Tools and computer-based recording, definitely. It was all about the echo chambers at Abbey Road."

He adds: "It's something that we feel proud to have achieved and to have done, although like everyone else we watched the trial with interest. (The murder conviction) puts a totally different complexion on it. It's a fairly dubious honour in that way. But it is an amazing honour to be probably the only contemporary band that he's considered working with and has done something with. So it's great."

Spector was convicted of second-degree murder on Monday (13Apr09) for shooting Clarkson dead at his California mansion in February 2003.