Lester Sill

Lester Sill (January 13, 1918 – October 31, 1994) was an American record label executive, best remembered as Phil Spector's partner in Philles Records (the name came from the first parts of their names, Phil and Les), and also as the head of both Colpix Records and the later Colgems Records. His three sons are music supervisors in the film and TV businesses: Joel Sill, Greg Sill and Lonnie Sill. His stepson Chuck Kaye is a longtime music publishing executive.

Sill was an omnipresent force in the development of West Coast R&B and rock & roll, shepherding the fledgling career of the influential songwriting team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller before teaming with the legendary producer Phil Spector to found Philles Records, the premier U.S. pop label of the early '60s. Born January 13, 1918, in Los Angeles, Sill first entered show business as a nightclub owner, but in 1945 joined the sales and promotion staff of the Bihari brothers' Modern Records, later producing sessions for R&B acts including Charles Brown and Hadda Brooks. In 1950 Sill met Leiber in the L.A. record shop where the aspiring lyricist worked as a retail clerk and suggested he find a partner who could read and write music, spurring the beginning of Leiber's collaboration with Mike Stoller. Sill also produced the 1951 Jimmy Witherspoon effort "Real Ugly Woman," the first recorded Leiber and Stoller collaboration. That same year Sill and Federal Records producer/talent scout Ralph Bass formed a PR agency, Brisk Enterprises, and following the success of the duo's Big Mama Thornton hit "Hound Dog", he teamed with Leiber and Stoller in late 1953 to create Spark Records as well as their own publishing firm, Quintet Music, Inc.

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