While Spector directed the overall sound of his recordings, he took a relatively hands-off approach to working with the Musicians themselves (usually a core group that became known as the Wrecking Crew, including session players such as Hal Blaine, Larry Knechtel, Steve Douglas, Carol Kaye, Roy Caton, Glen Campbell, and Leon Russell), delegating arrangement duties to Jack Nitzsche and having Sonny Bono oversee the performances, viewing these two as his "lieutenants". Spector frequently used songs from songwriters employed at the Brill Building (Trio Music) and at 1650 Broadway (Aldon Music), such as the teams of Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, and Gerry Goffin and Carole King. He often worked with the songwriters, receiving co-credit and publishing royalties for compositions.

Harvey Phillip Spector was born on December 26, 1939 to a first-generation immigrant Jewish family in the Bronx, New York City. His father, Ben, was an ironworker from Russia (now Ukraine) with the surname Spekter, which he later anglicized to Spector. Spector's father committed suicide on April 20, 1949. In 1953, his mother moved the family to Los Angeles where she found work as a seamstress.

Spector is one of a handful of producers to have number one records in three consecutive decades (1950s, 1960s and 1970s). Others in this group include Quincy Jones (1960s, 1970s and 1980s), George Martin (1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s), Michael Omartian (1970s, 1980s and 1990s), and Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis (1980s, 1990s, and 2000s).

At their next session, they recorded another song Spector had written—this one inspired by the epitaph on Spector's father's tombstone. Released on Era's subsidiary label, Dore Records, "To Know Him Is to Love Him" reached number one on Billboard Hot 100 singles chart on December 1, 1958, selling over a million copies by year's end. It was the seventh number-one single on the newly formed chart. Following the success of their debut, the group signed with Imperial Records. Their next single, "I Don't Need You Anymore", reached number 91. They released several more recordings, including an album, The Teddy Bears Sing!, but failed to reach the top 100 in US sales. The group disbanded in 1959.

Spector's first marriage was to Annette Merar, lead vocalist of the Spectors Three, a 1960s pop trio formed and produced by Spector.

In late 1961, Spector formed a new record company with Lester Sill, who by this time had ended his Business partnership with Hazlewood. Philles Records combined the names of its two founders. Through Hill and Range Publishers, Spector found three groups he wanted to produce: the Ducanes, the Creations, and the Crystals. The first two signed with other companies, but Spector managed to secure the Crystals for his new label. Their first single, "There's No Other (Like My Baby)" was a success, hitting number 20. Their next release, "Uptown", made it to number 13.

Spector continued to work freelance with other artists. In 1962, he produced "Second Hand Love" by Connie Francis, which reached #7. In the early 1960s, he briefly worked with Atlantic Records' R&B artists Ruth Brown and LaVern Baker. Ahmet Ertegün of Atlantic paired Spector with Future Broadway star Jean DuShon for "Talk to Me", the B-side of which was "Tired of Trying", written by DuShon.

On September 28, 1963, the Ronettes appeared at the Cow Palace, near San Francisco. Also on the bill were the Righteous Brothers. Spector, who was conducting the band for all the acts, was so impressed with Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield that he bought their contract from Moonglow Records and signed them to Philles. In early 1965, "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" became the label's second number 1 single. Three more major hits with the duo followed: "Just Once in My Life" (number 9), "Unchained Melody" (number 4, originally the B-side of "Hung on You") and "Ebb Tide" (number 5). Despite having hits, he lost interest in producing the Righteous Brothers and sold their contract and all their master recordings to Verve Records. However, the sound of the Righteous Brothers' singles was so distinctive that the act chose to replicate it after leaving Spector, notching a second number 1 hit in 1966 with the Bill Medley–produced "(You're My) Soul and Inspiration".

Spector's final signing to Philles was the husband-and-wife team of Ike and Tina Turner in 1966. Spector considered their recording of River Deep – Mountain High his best work, but it failed to go any higher than number 88 in the United States. The single, which actually featured Tina but not Ike, was more successful in Britain, reaching number 3. Spector subsequently lost enthusiasm for his label and the recording industry. Already something of a recluse, he withdrew temporarily from the public eye, marrying Veronica "Ronnie" Bennett, lead singer of the Ronettes, in 1968. In 1967, Spector emerged briefly for a cameo as himself in an episode of I Dream of Jeannie and as a drug dealer in the film Easy Rider (1969).

His second marriage was to Veronica Bennett, later known as Ronnie Spector. Bennett was the lead singer of the girl group the Ronettes (another group Spector managed and produced). Their marriage lasted from 1968 to 1974. They adopted three children, Donté Phillip Spector (born March 23, 1969), Louis Phillip Spector, and Gary Phillip Spector (twins, born May 12, 1966). In later years, Bennett stated that Spector had kept her imprisoned in their California mansion and subjected her to Verbal abuse. She escaped from Spector barefoot with the help of her mother in 1972.

Spector is often called the first auteur among musical artists for acting not only as a Producer, but also the creative Director, writing or choosing the material, supervising the arrangements, conducting the vocalists and session Musicians, and masterminding all phases of the recording process. He helped pave the way for art rock, and helped inspire the emergence of aesthetically oriented genres such as dream pop, shoegaze, and noise. Among his famous girl groups were the Ronettes and the Crystals; later he worked with artists including Ike and Tina Turner, John Lennon and the Ramones with similar acclaim. He produced the Beatles' album Let It Be (1970), and Concert for Bangladesh (1971) by former Beatle George Harrison. Later artists spanning many decades and genres have since cited Spector's work as a major influence.

Lennon retained Spector for the 1971 Christmas single "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" and the poorly reviewed 1972 album, Some Time In New York City (number 48). Similar to the unusual pattern of success that Spector's A Christmas Gift for You from Philles Records experienced, "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" also stalled in sales upon its initial release, only later to become a fixture on radio station playlists around Christmas. In 1973, Spector participated in the recording sessions for what would be Lennon's Rock 'n' Roll album (number 6).

Bruce Springsteen emulated the Wall of Sound technique in his recording of "Born to Run". In 1973, British band Wizzard, led by Roy Wood, had three Spector-influenced hits with "See My Baby Jive", "Angel Fingers" and "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday", the latter becoming a perennial Christmas hit. Other contemporaries influenced by Spector include George Morton, Sonny & Cher, the Rolling Stones, the Four Tops, Mark Wirtz, the Lovin' Spoonful, and the Beatles. Swedish pop group ABBA cited Spector as an influence, and used similar Wall of Sound techniques in their early songs, including "Ring Ring", "Waterloo", and "Dancing Queen". "You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth", from Meat Loaf's 1977 Bat Out of Hell album is another Example of the Wall of Sound technique. Jim Steinman and Todd Rundgren were inspired by Phil Spector's methods. The Knack recorded a tribute to Spector's Wall of Sound style with "The Feeling I Get" from their 1980 ...But the Little Girls Understand album.

The 1974 accident took place shortly after he had established the Warner-Spector label with Warner Bros. Records, which undertook new Spector-produced recordings with Cher ("A Woman's Story"/"Baby, I Love You" [1974]; "A Love Like Yours (Don't Come Knockin' Every Day)"/"(Just Enough to Keep Me) Hangin' On" [1975], with Harry Nilsson), Darlene Love ("Lord, If You're a Woman"/"Stumble and Fall" [1977]), Danny Potter, and Jerri Bo Keno ("Here It Comes (And Here I Go)"/"I Don't Know Why" [1975]) in addition to several reissues. A similar relationship with Britain's Polydor Records led to the formation of the Phil Spector International label in 1975. When the Cher and Keno singles (the latter's recordings were only issued in Germany) foundered on the charts, Spector released Dion DiMucci's Born to Be with You to little commercial fanfare in 1975; largely produced and recorded by Spector in 1974, it was subsequently disowned by the singer before enjoying a resurgence among the indie rock cognoscenti of the late 1990s and early 2000s. The majority of Spector's classic Philles recordings had been out of print in the U.S. since the original label's demise, although Spector had released several Philles Records compilations in Britain. Finally, he released an American compilation of his Philles recordings in 1977, which put most of the better-known Spector hits back into circulation after many years.

Spector also produced the much-publicized Ramones album End of the Century in 1979. As with his work with Leonard Cohen, End of the Century received criticism from Ramones fans who were angered over its radio-friendly sound. However, it contains some of the best known and most successful Ramones singles, such as "Rock 'n' Roll High School", "Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio?" and their cover of a previously released Spector song for the Ronettes, "Baby, I Love You." Guitarist Johnny Ramone later commented on working with Spector on the recording of the album, "It really worked when he got to a slower song like 'Danny Says'—the production really worked tremendously. For the harder stuff, it didn't work as well."

His influence has been claimed by contemporary performers such as the Beatles, the Beach Boys, and the Velvet Underground alongside latter-day record producers such as Brian Eno and Tony Visconti. Alternative rock performers Cocteau Twins, My Bloody Valentine, and the Jesus and Mary Chain have all cited Spector as an influence. Shoegazing, a British musical movement in the late 1980s to mid-1990s, was heavily influenced by the Wall of Sound. Jason Pierce of Spiritualized has cited Spector as a major influence on his Let It Come Down album. Bobby Gillespie of Primal Scream and the Jesus and Mary Chain has enthused about Spector, with the song "Just Like Honey" opening with an homage of the famous "Be My Baby" drum intro.

In the 1980s, Spector had twin children with then-girlfriend Janis Zavala: Nicole Audrey Spector and Phillip Spector, Jr. (born October 18, 1982). Phillip Jr. died of leukemia on December 25, 1991.

The recording of "Unchained Melody", credited on some releases as a Spector production although Medley has consistently said he produced it originally as an album track, had a second wave of popularity 25 years after its initial release, when it was featured prominently in the 1990 hit movie Ghost. A re-release of the single re-charted on the Billboard Hot 100, and went to number one on the Adult Contemporary charts. This also put Spector back on the U.S. Top 40 charts for the first time since his last appearance in 1971 with John Lennon's "Imagine", though he did have UK top 40 hits in the interim with the Ramones.

On February 3, 2003 Actress Lana Clarkson died in Spector's mansion (the Pyrenees Castle) in Alhambra, California. Her body was found slumped in a chair with a single gunshot wound to her mouth with broken teeth scattered over the carpet. Spector told Esquire magazine in July 2003 that Clarkson's death was an "accidental suicide" and that she "kissed the gun". The emergency call from Spector's home, made by Spector's driver, Adriano de Souza, quotes Spector as saying, "I think I've killed someone". De Souza added that he saw Spector come out the back door of the house with a gun in his hand.

On September 1, 2006, Spector, while on bail and awaiting trial, married his third wife Rachelle Short, who was 26 at the time. Spector filed for divorce in April 2016, claiming irreconcilable differences.

Spector remained free on $1 million bail while awaiting trial, which began on March 19, 2007. Presiding Judge Larry Paul Fidler allowed the proceedings in Los Angeles Superior Court to be televised. On September 26, 2007, Judge Fidler declared a mistrial because of a hung jury (ten to two for conviction).

The retrial of Spector for murder in the second degree began on October 20, 2008, with Judge Fidler again presiding; this time it was not televised. Spector was once again represented by attorney Jennifer Lee Barringer. The case went to the jury on March 26, 2009, and 19 days later, on April 13, the jury returned a guilty verdict. Additionally, Spector was found guilty of using a firearm in the commission of a crime, which added four years to the sentence. He was immediately taken into custody and, on May 29, 2009, was sentenced to 19 years to life in the California state prison system.

Department of Corrections photos from 2013 (released in September 2014) show evidence of a progressive deterioration in Spector's health, according to observers. He has been an inmate at the California Health Care Facility (a prison hospital) in Stockton since October 2013. In September 2014, it was reported that Spector had lost his ability to speak due to laryngeal papillomatosis.

Many have tried to emulate Spector's methods, and Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys—a fellow adherent of mono recording—considered Spector his main competition as a studio Artist. In the 1960s, Wilson thought of Spector as "…the single most influential Producer. He's timeless. He makes a milestone whenever he goes into the studio." Wilson's fascination with Spector's work has persisted for decades, with many different references to Spector and his work scattered around Wilson's songs with the Beach Boys and even his solo career. Of Spector-related productions, Wilson has been involved with covers of "Be My Baby", "Chapel of Love", "Just Once in My Life", "There's No Other (Like My Baby)", "Then He Kissed Me", "Talk to Me", "Why Don't They Let Us Fall in Love", "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'", "Da Doo Ron Ron", "I Can Hear Music", and "This Could Be the Night".