The Crystals are an American vocal group based in New York, considered one of the defining acts of the girl group era of the first half of the 1960s. Their 1961–1964 chart hits, including “Uptown”, “He’s Sure the Boy I Love”, “He’s a Rebel”, “Da Doo Ron Ron (When He Walked Me Home)” and “Then He Kissed Me”, featured three successive female lead singers, and were all produced by Phil Spector.
In 1961, Barbara Alston, Mary Thomas, Dolores “Dee Dee” Kenniebrew, Myrna Girard and Patricia “Patsy” Wright formed The Crystals through the help of Benny Wells, Barbara’s uncle. Soon, the quintet signed with Phil Spector’s label Philles Records. Their first hit was November 1961’s “There’s No Other Like My Baby”. Brill Building songwriters Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil’s “Uptown” gave the girls their second radio hit. The subject matter of the next single, 1962’s “He Hit Me (It Felt Like a Kiss)” (written by Carole King and Gerry Goffin and sung by Alston), resulted in limited airplay with the track only “bubbling under” the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #123.
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 writer Gene Pitney’s “He’s a Rebel” before Vikki Carr could release her version on Liberty Records. The Crystals were unavailable, but Love and the Blossoms were also based in L.A., so Spector recorded and released their version under The Crystals’ banner. Ironically, Liberty Records president Al Bennett had previously hired Spector as a staff producer and promotion director.
The song (“He’s a Rebel”) had originally been offered to The Shirelles, who turned it down because of the anti-establishment lyrics. It marked a shift in girl group thematic material, where the singer loves a “bad boy”, a theme that would be amplified by later groups (especially The Shangri-Las’ “Leader of the Pack”). “He’s a Rebel” is perhaps the Crystals’ best-remembered song, and one of the most enduring of the girl group genre. It was also their only US #1 hit.
The ‘real’ Crystals definitely began recording again under their own name in 1963. However, Thomas had departed to get married, only to join another mildly successful group, The Butterflys, along with another original Crystal, Myrna Girard. This reduced the group to a quartet with Barbara Alston on lead. Alston, known for her shyness and stage fright, was never comfortable with being out front, stepped down from the lead spot giving it to Dolores “LaLa” Brooks. According to Brooks, she had been doing Alston’s leads in their live shows for a while.
Despite the steady flow of hit singles, tensions between Spector and the Crystals mounted. Already unhappy with having been replaced by Love and the Blossoms on two singles, The Crystals were even more upset when Spector began focusing much of his time on his other girl group The Ronettes. Not only did the Ronettes become Philles Records’ priority act, The Ronettes actually replaced the Crystals on 4 album tracks on the 1963 compilation LP The Crystals Sing Their Greatest Hits. As well, there were disputes about royalties, with The Crystals feeling that Spector was withholding royalty money that was owed to them.
After “Let’s Dance The Screw”, the group’s next release was the classic “Da Doo Ron Ron”. The song was a top 10 hit in both the US and the UK, as was the follow-up single “Then He Kissed Me”, with lead vocals also sung by Brooks.
Two failed Crystals singles followed before the band left Spector’s Philles Records for United Artists Records in 1964. “Little Boy”, which reached #92, was a Wall Of Sound production that was layered multiple times, which meant that the vocals were hard to distinguish from the music. “All Grown Up,”, their final Philles single, (of which two versions exist) only reached #98.
1964 also saw the departure of Wright, who was replaced by Frances Collins, a dancer whom they had met while touring; toward the end of that year Alston departed leaving the group a trio. As a trio, they recorded two singles for United Artists, “My Place” and “You Can’t Tie a Good Girl Down”. One more single was released by Barbara, Dee Dee and Mary on the tiny Michelle Records in 1967 (“Ring-a-Ting-a-Ling”) and they disbanded in 1967. They reunited in 1971 and still perform today. Kenniebrew is the only original Crystal who remained active throughout their touring from the seventies to the present. Dee Dee carries on The Crystals legacy by performing with Patricia Pritchett-Lewis, a member since 2005, and Melissa Antoinette Grant (a.k.a. MelSoulTree), a member since 2002.
Amy Winehouse cited “He Hit Me (It Felt Like a Kiss)” as an influence when writing her album Back to Black.
Source: Wikipedia.org
