Lester Sill; ASCAP Director and Promoter for Blues Performers

Lester Sill, 76, a onetime record promoter for such blues artists as Hadda Brooks and B. B. King who went on to serve as a director of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP). In the early 1950s, Sill formed a partnership with the songwriting team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, establishing Spark Records, which launched the Coasters toward success. He also was manager and producer for guitar superstar Duane Eddy, and with Phil Spector founded Philles Records. More recently he had been involved with Screen Gems Music. Sill also was a former president and consultant for Jobets Music. In Los Angeles on Oct. 31 of what was described by ASCAP as a “long illness.”