Band founder Marty Balin admits he and his pals refused to sign with any label until they'd met Spector, but the eventual encounter was not what they thought it would be.

Balin tells BlogTalkRadio, "On the opening night of this club I owned, called The Matrix in San Francisco, we were the opening band and everyone showed up to see what Jefferson Airplane was. I think the name had a lot of magic to it.

"That first night every record company in the world was sitting in the audience. The band wanted to sign but I said, 'No, we're not gonna sign until we hear from Phil Spector!'

"The second night we played Phil's sister is sitting in the audience and she said, 'Phil wants you to come to L.A.' We went to L.A. and met Phil and we didn't get along with him at all. We walked out on him. He was too weird for us!"

Spector had a reputation for being a gun-loving oddball. He is currently behind bars after being found guilty of the murder of actress Lana Clarkson at his home in 2003.