The CHIEF and his legacy

LESTER SILL- "THE CHIEF"

After creating several successful record labels and publishing companies, Lester Sill became a consultant to one of the leading U.S. music publishing companies, Screen Gems-Columbia Music, in 1964. Sill was instrumental in shepherding the success of many writers including Carol King, David Gates, Cynthia Weil, Barry Mann, Gerry Goffin, Mac Davis, Howie Greenfield, Boyce and Hart and Jack Keller among others. He remained with Screen Gems-Columbia Music for 21 years, serving for 14 years as President and helped develop successful artists such as The Monkees and The Partridge Family.

In April 1985, Sill became the President and Chief Operating Officer of Motown Records music publishing division; Jobete Music Company, Inc. (now Sony / ATV), serving for seven years, and continued as a consultant until his passing in 1994.

Sill served on the Board of Directors of both ASCAP and The National Music Publishers Association (NMPA)

Early Career

After his discharge from the Army as a WWII combat engineer, Sill left Philadelphia for California where he met four year old Chuck Kaye playing in his mother's yard. The next person he met was his future wife Harriet. Sill and Harriet's brother opened a club on Western Avenue and 35th, called Cotton's Club -- the club was cited for after-hours drinking and was forced to close. Now working door-to-door sales positions, he took a job at Modern Records after meeting Lester Bahari in 1946. He became a salesman and distributor for Modern's Fresno to San Diego territory, supplying records in the R&B and Rock & Roll genre to record stores and jukebox vendors. On his own initiative, he began visiting radio stations and befriending disk-jockeys. The extra radio play in his region supplemented his sales.

Spark Records / Quintet Music Inc.
(Leiber and Stoller, The Coasters)

In 1950 Sill met Jerry Leiber in the L.A. record shop called Norty’s Music Center 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. Following the success of the duo's Big Mama Thornton hit, "Hound Dog" (later covered by Elvis Presley), Sill teamed with Leiber and Stoller to create Spark Records as well as their own publishing firm, Quintet Music, Inc. in 1953. Sill briefly dabbled in promotions and A&R with Federal Records producer Ralph Bass, in a firm named Brisk Enterprises.

Spark enjoyed immediate success with the Robins' R&B smash "Riot in Cell Block #9". The group's follow-up, "Smokey Joe's Café," proved an even bigger hit, and in 1955 Spark sold its catalog to Atlantic Records, which in turn named Sill its national sales manager.  The Robins’ evolved into The Coasters, with Sill serving as their manager. The Coasters would emerge as one of the most popular R&B acts of the late '50s, generating a series of wry Leiber and Stoller-penned hits including "Down in Mexico," "Yakety Yak," and "Charlie Brown".

Sill also enjoyed chart success teaming up with producer-songwriter Lee Hazlewood on 1958's "Rebel Rouser," the most notable of the 15 Top 40 instrumentals headlined by the renowned guitarist Duane Eddy and issued on the Dick Clark co-owned label Jamie Records .

Trey Records (Sill, Hazelwood)

In late 1959 Sill and Hazlewood formed Trey Records, a Hollywood-based imprint distributed by Atlantic. The label's signings included 18-year-old wunderkind Phil Spector, then fresh off the success of his group the Teddy Bears' chart-topping pop classic "To Know Him Is to Love Him”.

Gregmark Music

At the end of 1961, Sill and Hazlewood shut down Trey but quickly formed a new label, Gregmark, as a vehicle for the Paris Sisters, a vocal trio with a series singles under its belt.  While the Paris Sisters' Gregmark debut "Be My Boy" earned little notice, the follow-up, "I Love How You Love Me," cracked the U.S. Top Five.

Philles Records

In late 1961 Sill and Phil Spector inaugurated their own label, Philles (Phil and Les), immediately reaching the Top 20 with the company's debut release, the Crystals' "There's No Other (Like My Baby)." Its 1962 follow-up, "Uptown.” Philles Records eventually became one of the most remarkable success stories in the history of American Music.  By mid-1962, Philles was the most successful independent label in the U.S., scoring a series of Spector-produced classics including the Crystals' "He's a Rebel" and "Then He Kissed Me," Bob B. Soxx & the Blue Jeans' "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah" and the Ronettes' "Be My Baby."

Sill, and devoted wife Harriet, immersed their family into a music apparatus that has earned numerous Oscars, Grammy's and Emmy's. Following their father's lead, veteran publisher Chuck Kaye, Music Supervisors Joel, Greg, and Lonnie, who in various executive capacities, have enjoyed producing and publishing music for popular films, TV shows, soundtracks and albums for key entertainment industry leaders. In addition to the Gregmark Music catalog, Sill's legacy is also sustained in the emerging careers of his grandchildren. Jazz guitarist/composer Alex Sill and actor/ film producer Natasha Sill.

Natasha Sill is the cofounder of It's a Girl Thing Productions. In addition to on-screen roles, she is experienced and classically trained in all aspects of film production. A magna cum laude graduate of Chapman University and Dodge College of Film & Media (2016), she contributes her time and expertise to charities including Broadway Cares and the Starlight Foundation.

Jazz guitarist/composer Alex Sill is a member of Simon Phillips Protocol, and his writing is featured in Guitar Techniques magazine. A Lew Wasserman Scholarship Recipient, Sill is a California Institute of The Arts graduate (2015) with a focus in Jazz Studies.