Music producer and convicted murderer Phil Spector dead at 81

Rock producer Phil Spector, who changed the sound of pop music in the 1960s and was convicted of the murder of a Hollywood actress, has died at the age 81.

Spector produced 20 top 40 hits between 1961 and 1965 and went on to work with The Beatles on Let It Be, as well as with artists such as Leonard Cohen, the Righteous Brothers and Ike and Tina Turner.

In a brief statement, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said Spector died of natural causes at an outside hospital, and his official cause of death would be determined by the medical examiner in the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office.

He had been been serving a 19 years-to-life sentence for the murder of actress Lana Clarkson.

Clarkson, 40, was killed by a shot to…