It had been a wonderful mother-and-daughter day, spent shopping for new shoes. And, with a car stuffed with bags of new purchases and a beaming smile on her face, Lana Clarkson bid farewell to her mother and drove off.
That was the last mum Donna saw of her 40-year-old daughter, her final words “I love you” ringing in her ears.
Hours later Lana lay dead, murdered by record producer Phil Spector, 20 years ago today. And while many remember Lana’s killing, Donna, now a grandmother of one, is comforted by her cherished memories of her daughter.
“That day is so vivid to me and such a blessing that I will always be grateful for,” the 78-year-old says. “Lana needed to buy flats for work because all she had were heels.”
Having paused her acting career due to injury, Lana was working as a hostess at the House of Blues club on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles.
“It was a way of her making money but also reminding people she was available for auditions again,” says Donna.
“That day she told me how she was getting busy again and wasn’t sure how long she’d carry on with her hostess job. But while she continued working there, she was on her feet all the time and needed to be comfortable.
“So we went to a store and I bought her some shoes. I remember putting them in her car and she had this huge smile on her face. She said ‘Oh Mom, thank you for my shoes. I love you’.
“And then she drove off to work and I never saw her again.”
The next day, in the early hours of Monday, February 3, 2003, Lana was shot dead at point blank by Spector at his hilltop Hollywood mansion.
The producer, famed for creating the ‘Wall of Sound’ and producing Beatles album Let It Be, was 20 feet from his driver, sat outside waiting to take Lana home. But justice was not straightforward.
The six-foot model had an 18-year Hollywood career, in shows and movies like Knight Rider and Fast Times at Ridgemont High. But Donna, who has two other children, had to endure a six-month trial to hear Spector’s lawyers portray Lana as a failing, depressed B movie actress who had committed suicide.
“Every day was like being hit in the gut, listening to the untrue things they were saying,” she says.
After two trials in 2009, Spector was convicted of second-degree murder and jailed for 19 years.
“If he had just told the truth 20 years ago,” says Donna, “we would not have been left with the memories of how he tried to malign her in death.”
Spector died behind bars aged 81 in 2021 after complications from Covid. Donna recalls: “I felt nothing. Nothing changes what he did. Lana was my baby, I miss and cry for her every day.” Lana had been working at the House of Blues club for three weeks when she met Spector.
She had refused him entry and Donna believes she may have agreed to go for a drink with him to make amends, feeling safe as she knew the driver was waiting outside.
Known as Pyrenees Castle, Spector’s mansion was filled with rock memorabili like a guitar from John Lennon and diamond cufflinks from Elvis Presley.
Lana’s body was found slumped in a chair, her purse over her shoulder.
In a nearby bureau was a holster which matched the murder weapon.
The truth Donna wanted was in fact uttered minutes after Lana was murdered. Spector’s driver Adriano De Souza rang 911 to say his boss had emerged from the house, gun in hand, and said: “I think I killed somebody.”
But at the police station, Spector claimed Lana fired the gun herself.
Donna recalls her daughter being “vibrant and happy” and says one of the first to leave flowers at her home was an LA charity where Lana volunteered, delivering food to housebound people.
“Lana would be all dressed up for an audition then on the way, she’d deliver food. People would be stunned at the sight of her looking so glamorous.
“She was so striking, being so tall and beautiful, Lana always stood out. She tried to deal with that through comedy to put people at ease. She was always so gracious. The night she died, she happily chatted to Spector’s driver – before Spector told her not to.”
At the time, Spector’s star was fading. An insecure control freak known for his gun obsession, Lana’s inability to recognise him would have confirmed his fear of irrelevance. “I think he lost his superpower, he liked to control everything – like when he was in the music business – so he tried to show power in some other way,” Donna said.
Susan Michelson, 74, a music executive, was Lana’s friend for over 20 years and thought her hostess job was a “great idea”. “There was no way to know what would happen. Spector wasn’t the big figure he once was, half-forgotten.
“When Lana died, people who had worked with him told me how he unnerved people, how he shot a gun through a recording studio’s ceiling because things were not going his way.
“I wish I had been able to warn her to stay away from him.”
Every year, on the anniversary of Lana’s death, Donna gathers her daughters’ friends at her resting spot: “We share our love and memories.
“I’m grateful she packed a lot in her life. We didn’t know it was going to be so short. She worked around the world as a model. Even now, it’s like she’s just away travelling and will be home soon.”
Donna recently took part in a Spector docuseries, which aired on Sky, to tell Lana’s side of the story.
“It was something I needed to do for Lana. I feel Lana’s warm positive presence around me. I know she’d want me to speak her name and the truth of who she was. I will not let her become the forgotten victim in Spector’s history.
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