MUSIC LEGEND PHIL SPECTOR ARRESTED IN SLAYING.

Byline: Marshall Allen Staff Writer

ALHAMBRA - Legendary rock 'n' roll record producer Phil Spector, who helped shape the sound of pop music for more than two decades, was arrested Monday on suspicion of shooting a woman to death in his hilltop castle.

Spector, 62, was taken into custody after police responded to a 5:02 a.m. call of shots fired at his 26-room mansion, known as the Pyrenes Castle, in the 1700 block of Grandview Drive.

Alhambra police pronounced the woman dead when they arrived at the scene, and detained Spector for questioning. The investigation was then turned over to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

Spector was released Monday night after posting $1 million bond.

The dead woman was identified by Sheriff's Department officials as Lana Clarkson, 40, of Los Angeles.

She was found in the foyer of the mansion, said sheriff's Lt. Daniel Rosenberg. He said deputies had found the weapon used in the killing but released no details.

Police arrived after someone in the home called to report shots had been fired, Rosenberg said.

``Someone else was there at the time of the shooting,'' he said, declining to elaborate. A black Mercedes-Benz sedan with its driver's-side door open was parked outside the home's gate.

Spector was the only person detained in the shooting, said sheriff's Deputy Faye Bugarin.

Defense attorney Robert Shapiro, who has represented Spector for about seven years in several civil cases, said he didn't know anything about the case as he went to speak with his client at the Alhambra Police Department on Monday afternoon.

Shapiro spent about four hours with Spector before the producer was taken in handcuffs for a medical examination at about 5:30 p.m.

Shapiro, who was part of the O.J. Simpson defense team, later told The Associated Press in a telephone interview, ``I don't know answers to any of this.'' But he also indicated he planned no further comment to the news media.

``My feeling today is it's of no benefit to my client or any client to make public statements,'' he said.

Spector's bail was set at $1 million, said Chickie Leventhal of Chickie's Bail Bonds.

Shapiro was Spector's second visitor. His first was Michelle Blaine, who said she was one of Spector's associate producers. Blaine was crying when she left the police station.

``He didn't do anything,'' Blaine said.

A friend of Spector's, attorney Marvin Mitchelson, said the producer lived alone and didn't have a girlfriend. He said he and Spector had been trying to put together a movie about Spector's life.

``His mental state had been great - very rational, very together,'' the attorney said.

Spector, who was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989, bought the 26-room castlelike home in 1998 for $1.1 million. Neighbors on Grandview Drive said they sometimes saw Spector driving through his gate in his white Rolls-Royce, but never spoke to him.

The home was completed in 1926 and is located at the top of the street, which was sectioned off with yellow police tape and swarming with media personnel Monday.

Before the castle had been a secluded place that no one knew about, said neighbor Tom Mestaz, but now the killing has put the slaying has put the place on the map.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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(color) Rock and Roll Hall of Fame producer is credited as being a music visionary.