Lester Sill

Lester Sill (January 13, 1918 – October 31, 1994) was a United States record label executive, music publisher and recording artist manager within the West Coast Rock & Roll, West Coast R&B and Surf genres. Sill rose to become the president of Screen Gems-Columbia Music, became a long term member on the board of directors at ASCAP, and president of Jobete Music (Motown Records publishing division).

Resisting prejudicial music-industry norms of the era, Sill represented and produced music for talented artists regardless of race, including, T-Bone Walker, Hadda Brooks, B.B. King, The Coasters, Ray Sharpe, Jimmy Witherspoon and The Pentagons. As an independent producer in the 1950s and 1960s, Sill formed record labels and publishing companies around composers like Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, Lee Hazlewood and Phil Spector, rostered artists included Duane Eddy, The Coasters, The Paris Sisters, and The Crystals.

Sill is best known as the producer/manager for Duane Eddy, the cofounder of Philles Records, and the music supervisor for The Monkees. Sill's productions often included musicians that went on to become the Wall of Sound, and The Wrecking Crew.