Phil Spector has been the subject of profiles and biographies ever since Tom Wolfe´s essay, "The First Tycoon of Teen" was published in 1964. Subsequent volumes have included Richard Williams´ 1972 "Out of His Head: The Sound of Phil Spector," and Mark Riboswky´s 1989 "He´s a Rebel: The Truth About Phil Spector - Rock and Roll´s Legendary Madman." Each provided a view of Spector that was shaped by the author´s background and the times in which the biography was written. Of the four, Brown´s is the most journalistic, though given the story he had to tell, it still turned out sensationalistic. Wolfe began the Spector profiling with a hyperkinetic magazine article (reprinted in the anthology "The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby") that read like a souped-up press release. Spector´s troubled childhood, particularly his father´s suicide, was omitted, and the whole psychological foundation of his behavior was left unexplained. Wolfe´s portrait found Spector reaching the crest of fame that would sustain his legacy. Williams, writing in the early ´70s, profiled Spector after he´d produced the grand failure of "River Deep, Mountain High," and resuscitated his legend with "Let it Be," and solo albums by George Harrison and John Lennon. Like Wolfe, Williams didn´t expose the intimate detail of Spector´s childhood, nor report on Spector´s outrageous behaviors, resulting in more of a caricature than a portrait. The book became quite scarce (trading at $100 or more) until it was reprinted in 2003. Williams´ portrait stood until 1989, when Ribowsky wrote an explosively detailed biography. Ribowsky explored the details of Spector´s childhood, including the family dynamics and the lifelong impact of Ben Spector´s suicide. Ribowsky laid bare many of the incidents for which Spector became infamous, including details of his marriage to Ronnie Spector, his troubled adoptions, and his tumultuous encounters with artists and business associates. The Spector that emerged was significantly more complex than earlier profiles, alternately brilliant, obstinate, generous, petty, charming and bitter. The book was dishy, but filled with new detail. Fast forward nearly fifteen years, and British journalist Mick Brown scored a rare in-person interview with Spector. Just weeks after conducting the interview, Lana Clarkson was shot dead in the foyer of Spector´s Alhambra, California home, and the interview became the lead-in to a much larger effort. Brown published his interview, and then decided to research and write a full Spector biography. Though the book was grounded in lucky timing, Brown´s journalistic skill keeps this from feeling opportunistic, even as he refracted the story of Spector´s life through the prism of Clarkson´s death. Readers can´t help but read this as a chronicle that foreshadows Clarkson´s shooting. It´s hard to discern whether Brown gave the violent aspects of Spector´s story an unusually heavy emphasis or if the endless news cycles on Spector´s trial have simply sensitized readers, but either way, Spector´s brutishly insecure behaviors and reoccurring gun-play stand out as highlighted threads holding the rest of the story together. Brown´s talent as a journalist allows this to remain an historical biography, just one that heavily portends its concluding event. The writing style is fluid, and the research deeper than any that´s gone before, providing enlightening details of Spector´s work in the studio and in business. The megalomania that formed the basis of Spector´s grandest productions had been described in earlier biographies, but Brown´s more clearly explains its genesis and operation. His narrative effectively sews together accounts from numerous interviews, weaving together Spector´s remembrances with those of others. More importantly, he´s let disagreements between parties stand, providing multiple angles on situations that shade the parties´ veracity and leave the reader to decide who´s right. Spector emerges from the analysis more as the on-going, lifelong product of childhood traumas than as someone intentionally inflicting drama on everyone around him.