About The Crystals
Hometown
Brooklyn, NY, United States
Formed
1960
Genre
Pop
This Brooklyn female vocal group had R&B roots, but the Crystals were really a pop ensemble whose best songs perfectly expressed the romantic innocence of the early '60s. Barbara Alston, Lala Brooks, Dee Dee Kennibrew, Mary Thomas, and Patricia Wright were the original lineup; the remarkable producer Phil Spector heard them rehearsing and eventually signed them to his Philles label, where they had several classic songs. "There's No Other like My Baby" got things started in 1961; "Uptown" cracked the R&B and pop Top 20, and then came "He's a Rebel," arguably their finest song and one of the era's landmarks. Darlene Love was lead vocalist, and both it and the successful follow-up "He's Sure the Boy I Love" featured Love and the Blossoms but were credited to the Crystals. The actual Crystals returned in 1963 and had two more huge hits, "Da Doo Ron Ron (When He Walked Me Home)" and "Then He Kissed Me" in 1963, each one making the Top Ten on both the R&B and pop lists. But the party ended in 1964, as their final two singles for Philles both flopped and relations between them and Spector degenerated. Various editions of the Crystals have been plentiful on the oldies circuit, but at last account, only Kennibrew was still involved out of the originals. ~ Ron Wynn
Members of The Crystals include, or have included, Darlene Love, Nanni Civitenga, Giorgio Fico Piazza, and Barbara Alston.
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