Biography
There are two artists with this name:
Read More...
1). The Crystals were one of the most successful girl groups of the early 1960s, best remembered for the hit singles "He's A Rebel", "Da Doo Ron Ron" and "Then He Kissed Me".
2). The Crystals was also the name of a doo-wop group organised by the enigmatic Sun Ra in the mid-50s, as collected on the compilation Interplanetary Melodies on Norton Records.
3). If you are here for the Italian Progressive Rock band Crystals, they are not "The Crystals". Refer to the Crystals band page for more information.
-------
In the late 1950s, Barbara Alston, Mary Thomas, Delores "Dee Dee" Kennibrew, Merna Girard and Patricia "Patsy" Wright formed The Crystals in high school under the leadership of Alston's uncle, Benny Wells. Soon, the quintet signed with Phil Spector's label Philles Records. Spector then chose Alston to be the group's lead singer, which made her very uncomfortable since she had a fear of singing in front of audiences.
Their first hit was 1961's "There's No Other Like My Baby". This song's B-side "Oh Yeah, Maybe Baby" (featuring Wright on lead) and the following single "Uptown" were topical and socially-aware pieces about growing up in the ghetto. After the success of "Uptown", a pregnant Girard was replaced by Dolores "LaLa" Brooks. The next single was 1962's "He Hit Me (And It Felt Like a Kiss)", still widely remembered though only rarely played on the radio due to the touchy subject matter of spousal abuse. Sales were sluggish.
Soon after "He Hit Me" flopped, Phil Spector began recording singer Darlene Love and her backing group The Blossoms under the name "The Crystals". Legend has it that the real Crystals were not able to travel from New York to Los Angeles fast enough to suit the LA-based Spector, who wanted to quickly record and release "He's a Rebel" (written by Gene Pitney) before anyone else had a chance to cover it and have a hit with it. The Crystals were unavailable, but Love and the Blossoms were also based in LA, so Spector recorded them and put the record out under The Crystals' banner.
"He's A Rebel" is perhaps the Crystals' most well-remembered and beloved songs, and one of the most enduring of the girl group genre. It was also their only US #1 hit. The follow-up Crystals single, "He's Sure the Boy I Love", in actuality also featured Love and The Blossoms.
The next single credited to The Crystals is one of the rarest -- and also possibly the strangest -- in rock music history. Reports vary as to the actual motivation behind the recording, but most agree that Phil Spector was looking for a way to annoy former business partner Lester Sill. What he came up with was a nearly six-minute song called "Let's Dance The Screw - Part I", which would be unplayable on 1963 radio. The record featured simple instrumentation (very much unlike Spector's famous Wall of Sound production style), repetitive lyrics, and Spector himself intoning the lyric "Dance The Screw" numerous times in a deadpan monotone. (The B-side, Part II, was more of the same.) The Crystals sang the song's repetitive verses, though it is unclear if these singers were the 'real' Crystals or The Blossoms.
The single was never commercially released, and only a few copies are known to exist (all marked D.J. COPY - NOT FOR SALE). The record was apparently only created to be a bizarre sort of joke at Sill's expense, as a single copy was specially delivered to him in early 1963.
Though it's unclear as to the level of their participation in "Let's Dance The Screw", the 'real' Crystals definitely began recording again under their own name in 1963. However, Thomas had departed to get married which reduced them to a quartet, and Alston stepped down from the lead spot giving it to Brooks.
After "Let's Dance The Screw", the group's next release was the classic "Da Doo Ron Ron." According to Darlene Love, the track was originally recorded by The Blossoms, with Love on lead vocal. Prior to release, Spector erased Love's lead vocal and replaced it with a vocal by LaLa Brooks, although he kept the Blossoms' backing vocals in place. The song was a top 10 hit in both the US and the UK, as was the follow-up single "Then He Kissed Me" — the first Crystals single since "He Hit Me" to feature all members of the Crystals as a definite group.
Both "Da Doo Ron Ron" and "Then He Kissed Me" were penned by Spector with Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich.
Despite the steady flow of hit singles, tensions between Spector and the Crystals mounted. Already unhappy with having been replaced by Love and company on two singles, The Crystals were even more upset when in 1964, Spector began focusing much of his time on rival girl group The Ronettes. Two failed Crystals singles followed, before the band left Spector's Philles Records for Imperial Records later in 1964. 1964 also saw the departure of Wright who was replaced by Frances Collins; toward the end of that year Alston departed leaving the group a trio. They disbanded in 1966. They reunited in 1971 and toured widely in varying incarnations on the oldies circuit; they still occasionally perform today. Kennibrew is the only original Crystal who remained active throughout their touring from the seventies to the present.
User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License and may also be available under the GNU FDL.
Top Tracks
Total plays on Last.fm over the last 6 months- Santa Claus Is Coming To Town - (3:24) - 21,934 plays
- Download This Track
Amazon MP30.99 USD
7digital
iTunes0.99 USD- Ringtone
- Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer - (2:30) - 18,827 plays
- Download This Track
Amazon MP30.99 USD
7digital
iTunes0.99 USD- Ringtone
-
- Download This Track
Amazon MP30.89 USD
7digital0.99 USD
Juno1.49 USD
iTunes0.99 USD- Ringtone
Then He Kissed Me - (2:36) - 22,119 playsLyricsWell, he walked up to me
And he asked me if I wanted to dance
He looked kinda nice
And so I said, "I might take a chance"
When he danced, he held me tight
- Parade Of The Wooden Soldiers - (2:54) - 14,094 plays
- Download This Track
Amazon MP30.99 USD
7digital
iTunes0.99 USD- Ringtone
-
- Download This Track
Amazon MP30.89 USD
7digital0.99 USD
Juno1.49 USD
iTunes0.69 USD- Ringtone
He's A Rebel - (2:26) - 15,387 playsLyricsSee the way he walks down the street
Watch the way he shuffles his feet
My, he holds his head up high
When he goes walking by, he's my guy
When he holds my hand, I'm so proud
- Da Doo Ron Ron - (2:07) - 14,313 plays
- Download This Track
Amazon MP30.89 USD
7digital0.99 USD
Juno1.49 USD
iTunes0.69 USD- Ringtone
- Da Doo Ron Ron (When He Walked Me Home) - (2:18) - 4,942 plays
- Download This Track
Amazon MP30.89 USD
7digital0.99 USD
Juno1.49 USD
iTunes0.99 USD- Ringtone
- He's Sure The Boy I Love - (2:45) - 5,230 plays
- Download This Track
Amazon MP30.89 USD
7digital0.99 USD
Juno1.49 USD
iTunes0.69 USD- Ringtone
- Uptown - (2:21) - 4,177 plays
- Download This Track
Amazon MP30.89 USD
7digital0.99 USD
Juno1.49 USD
iTunes0.69 USD- Ringtone
- There's No Other Like My Baby - (3:25) - 3,611 plays
- Download This Track
Amazon MP30.89 USD
7digital0.99 USD
Juno1.49 USD
iTunes0.69 USD- Ringtone
- He Hit Me (It Felt Like A Kiss) - (2:32) - 3,179 plays
- Download This Track
Amazon MP30.99 USD
7digital0.99 USD
Juno1.49 USD
iTunes0.99 USD- Ringtone
- Heartbreaker - (2:33) - 1,805 plays
- Download This Track
Amazon MP30.99 USD
7digital0.99 USD
Juno1.49 USD
iTunes0.99 USD- Ringtone
- All Grown Up - (2:48) - 1,622 plays
- Download This Track
Amazon MP30.99 USD
7digital0.99 USD
iTunes0.99 USD- Ringtone
- Little Boy - (2:58) - 1,507 plays
- Download This Track
Amazon MP30.99 USD
7digital0.99 USD
Juno1.49 USD
iTunes0.99 USD- Ringtone
- I Wonder - (2:48) - 1,340 plays
- Download This Track
Amazon MP30.89 USD
7digital0.99 USD
Juno1.49 USD
iTunes0.69 USD- Ringtone
- Girls Can Tell - (2:35) - 1,273 plays
- Download This Track
Amazon MP30.99 USD
7digital
iTunes0.99 USD- Ringtone
- I Love You Eddie - (1:57) - 1,265 plays
- Download This Track
Amazon MP30.99 USD
7digital0.99 USD
Juno1.49 USD
iTunes0.99 USD- Ringtone
- No One Ever Tells You - (2:17) - 1,193 plays
- Download This Track
Amazon MP30.99 USD
7digital0.99 USD
Juno1.49 USD
iTunes0.99 USD- Ringtone
- And Then He Kissed Me - (2:34) - 1,081 plays
- Download This Track
Amazon MP30.89 USD
7digital0.99 USD
iTunes0.69 USD- Ringtone
- Please Hurt Me - (2:14) - 1,043 plays
- Download This Track
Amazon MP30.99 USD
7digital0.99 USD
Juno1.49 USD
iTunes0.99 USD- Ringtone
From Radio.com
-
Dave Grohl… how does it feel to win 5 grammys?
February 13, 2012 -
Jennifer Lopez Stripping Down To Nothing
February 13, 2012 -
Be A Member Of Linkin Park For 15 Seconds
February 13, 2012 -
Nashville Hotline: Taylor Swift Gets Sweet Revenge At 2012 Grammy’s
February 13, 2012 -
VIDEO: St. John’s Top 5 Whitney Houston Video Throwback
February 13, 2012 -
DOWNLOAD: The Cranberries At Alice’s Little Red Dress Party
February 13, 2012 -
Brad Paisley At Sleep Train Amphitheatre
February 13, 2012 -
Photos: Rihanna & Katy Perry at Pre-Grammy Brunch
February 13, 2012 -
Don Omar En Proyecto De Marc y JLO
February 13, 2012 -
The Complete 2012 GRAMMY Awards Winner List
February 13, 2012

Bob B. Soxx & The Blue Jeans
Darlene Love
The Ronettes
Curtis Lee
The Treasures
The Shangri-Las
The Chiffons
Veronica
The Shirelles
Phil Spector and Artists