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The Day The Telstar Man Shot Himself and His Landlady

02/03/2011
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(Gibson) On this day in 1967, producer Joe Meek shot his landlady Violet Shenton and then shot himself at his flat in London, Meek produced The Tornadoes hit 'Telstar' the first No.1 in the U.S. by a British group. Gibson takes a look back:

Britain's answer to American producer-extraordinaire Phil Spector, Joe Meek was one of the most eccentric musical geniuses to ever dabble with rock and roll. And like Spector, his private life was almost as bizarre as his studio creations.

Joe Meek was always different. Growing up in the British countryside, he was raised by a mother who had preferred to have a daughter and chose to dress young Joe in dresses. A music and electronics buff from an early age, one of his first ventures was to set up outdoor speakers and play music for local farm workers. After learning radar in the R.A.F., he began a business, recording local bands and singers. With his homosexuality flowering, however, rural life was far too inhibiting and conservative, so he moved to London, where attitudes, if not the laws, were more liberal. more on this story

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