Phil Spector pulled a gun on me during talks at a restaurant, reveals David Puttnam | Irish Independent
Flor Lynch
Phil Spector pulled a gun on me during talks at a restaurant, reveals David Puttnam
Oscar winner recalls incident with music producer for RTÉ radio series ‘For the Record’
'For The Record' host Pat O'Mahony
David Puttnam and, inset, Phil Spector
'For The Record' host Pat O'Mahony
David Puttnam and, inset, Phil Spector
Record producer Phil Spector pulled a gun on David Puttnam when an argument broke out over lunch in a restaurant.
The retired film producer, responsible for acclaimed films such as Chariots of Fire, Midnight Express and The Mission, is the first guest in a new RTÉ radio programme, For the Record, in which people talk about their music collections at home.
Speaking with the Sunday Independent, host Pat O’Mahony said: “Puttnam was trying to get the rights to use a Phil Spector song in a movie, so he arranged to meet him for lunch in a restaurant — but the discussion became an argument, and Phil pulled a gun on Puttnam.
“The funny thing was Spector’s bodyguard just leaned across, took the gun from his hand and said: ‘Phil, I told you not to do that,’ as if scolding a child.
David just laughed about it afterwards and said: ‘I don’t even know if it was loaded.’ And after all that, he never got to use the track he wanted.”
It wasn’t the first time Spector pulled a gun on a celebrity. He produced a gun in another argument with Cher over a record — though she later said she did not believe he would use it against her.
In 2009, Spector, who has since died, was jailed for a minimum of 19 years for murdering actress Lana Clarkson. The 40-year-old died of a gunshot wound while she was in Spector’s mansion in 2003. He had worked with some of the biggest names in music including John Lennon, Ike and Tina Turner and The Righteous Brothers.
Osca-winning film director David Puttnam
O’Mahony explained how Puttnam — who has lived in west Cork for many years — told how his love for classical music came about.
“Puttnam was in a record shop in Times Square in New York in the late 1960s and had been buying LPs. He got talking to the guy behind the counter who asked him if he liked classical music. David told him no — so the guy said to him: ‘Here are four classical albums. Take them, don’t pay for them — and next time you’re in town, drop in and tell me what you liked.’
“So next time he’s in town he goes back, pays for the albums he liked — and the guy in the shop gives him another four, and again says: ‘Pay me next time.’ That’s how his love of classical began. You’ve got to love that Sixties’ attitude.”
Of the guests that O’Mahony has had on the show, he says chef Neven Maguire is the one who surprised him most.
“When I found out Neven Maguire was into 1990s dance music, that was a surprise — as was the fact that Aidan Gillen has a proper working jukebox at home.”
He said Puttnam’s record collection is “very eclectic, and he has a huge vinyl collection — though he has given away or sold a huge amount of his record collection and replaced them with CDs.
“But he has hung on to a lot of old classical music that he thinks will never be re-released on CD. He has a lot of movie soundtracks, some from his own films and others too. We were looking at playing something from the 1990s, and I spotted the Ace of Spades album by Motorhead, and I said: ‘Crikey, I didn’t expect that.’ And he said: ‘Oh, that’s my son’s, he’s a composer.’ Then I spotted another rock album, and said: ‘You have Bush there’ — and David says: ‘My son was in Bush.’”
'For The Record' host Pat O'Mahony
Former Sunday Game host Michael Lyster (71) also features in the new season of the programme, though most of his collection is still in his attic.
“Michael used to be the music correspondent for his local paper, The Tuam Herald, back in the 1970s. When Marianne Faithfull died, someone sent me an article from the paper that Michael had written about a gig she did in Tuam. I was fascinated by this, so I called him and we had a chat. So from that I knew he had a record collection, and when I got the go-ahead for the new series, he was on my list,” O’Mahony said.
Michael likes rock. He’s a Led Zeppelin and David Bowie fan
Lyster has retired from broadcasting, but began his career in RTÉ with 2FM in 1980. Like every other presenter in the station, he was given albums and singles by record companies in the hope of airplay.
O’Mahony said: “What he has done over the years is buy CDs of the stuff he wants to listen to. Now there’s a lot of records up in his attic that he says he has never listened to, as he got them as promo copies — and I’m intrigued to see the collection.”
The programme is recorded in the guest’s homes, and while the host researches each guest’s collection in advance, he doesn’t know what they’re going to play on the day. “This isn’t like Desert Island Discs where somebody comes into a studio with their choices and the presenter is reading from a list of questions,” he said. “I’ve done a recce of their collection in advance, either by video or over phone — so I know their overall vibe, but I don’t know what they’re going to pull out on the day.
“Michael likes rock. He’s a Led Zeppelin and David Bowie fan but he still buys new music, both Irish and international.
“There was an obscure band called Fools Gold that he played a track from, because one of the guys from that band went on to write Like A Virgin for Madonna, True Colors for Cyndi Lauper and Eternal Flame for The Bangles — and never had to play live again, as he lived off the royalties the hits made for him.”
The new season of ‘For the Record’ is on RTÉ Gold at 6pm every Sunday