Product Code Database
The Crystals are an American vocal group that originated in New York City. Considered one of the defining acts of the girl group era in the first half of the 1960s, their 1961–1964 chart hits – including "There's No Other (Like My Baby)", "Uptown", "He's Sure the Boy I Love", "He's a Rebel", "Da Doo Ron Ron" and "Then He Kissed Me"– featured three different female lead singers and were all record producer by Phil Spector. The latter three songs were originally ranked number 263, number 114, and number 493, respectively, on Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. However, two songs were omitted from the magazine's 2010 update, leaving only "He's a Rebel" at number 267. In the 2021 update, "Da Doo Ron Ron" was added back to the list at number 366.
Their first hit, the gospel music-influenced "There's No Other (Like My Baby)", debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 in November 1961. Originally the B-side to "Oh Yeah, Maybe Baby" (featuring Wright on lead), the stirring pop music ballad was co-written by Spector and Leroy Bates and featured Barbara Alston on vocals. The recording was made late on the evening of the high school prom at the William H. Maxwell Career and Technical High School, the school attended by Alston, Thomas, and Giraud; they were still wearing their prom dresses, as they had come to the studio straight from the event. The single reached number 20 in January 1962, marking an auspicious debut for Spector's Philles label.
Brill Building songwriters Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil's "Uptown" gave the girls their second radio hit. Having an ethnic flavor with flamenco guitar and castanets, the more uptempo "Uptown" featured Alston once again emoting convincingly over a boy, though this time with class issues woven into the story. After the success of "Uptown", a pregnant Giraud was replaced by Dolores "LaLa" Brooks.
The controversial subject matter of the next single, 1962's "He Hit Me (And 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 number 123. Alston later disowned the track, stating it was "absolutely, positively, the one record that none of us liked".
The song 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").
The ghost release of this single came as a total surprise to the Crystals who were an experienced and much traveled girl harmony group in their own right, but they were nevertheless required to perform and promote the new single on television and on tour as if it were their own. The single reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in November 1962.
"He's a Rebel" was the Crystals' only US number-one hit and also made the UK top 20. "He's a Rebel" kept Pitney's own "Only Love Can Break a Heart" off the top spot on 3 November 1962. Pitney never reached the Hot 100's summit. The Crystals follow-up single, "He's Sure the Boy I Love", was also recorded by Love and the Blossoms. It reached number 11 on the Billboard chart and featured a spoken intro by Love.
After "(Let's Dance) The Screw", the group's next release was "Da Doo Ron Ron". The song was a top 10 hit in both the US and the United Kingdom, as was the follow-up single "Then He Kissed Me", with lead vocals also sung by Brooks. Both these songs were actually recorded by Brooks, the Blossoms and other session singers (including a young Cher). Brooks also flew out to Los Angeles to record tracks for the seasonal album, A Christmas Gift for You from Philles Records. Covers of "The Twist", "The Wah-Watusi" (lead vocals by Nedra Talley), "Mashed Potato Time", and "Hot Pastrami" were credited to the Crystals on their 1963 Philles LP The Crystals Sing Their Greatest Hits, Volume 1 but were actually recorded by The Ronettes.
At the start of 1964, the Crystals flew to the UK for their first European live shows. "Then He Kissed Me" soared to number 2 in the UK, and the Crystals also headlined the TV programs Ready Steady Go!, and Tonight at the London Palladium.
Two failed Crystals singles followed before the band left Spector's Philles Records for United Artists Records in 1964. "Little Boy", which reached number 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 number 98.
1964 also saw the departure of Wright. She was replaced by Frances Collins (aka Fatima Johnson, mother of the rapper Prodigy), a dancer whom they had met while touring. Toward the end of that year Alston also departed and was not replaced, leaving the group a trio. As a trio, they recorded two singles for United Artists, "My Place"/"You Can't Tie a Good Girl Down" (September 1965) and "Are You Trying To Get Rid Of Me Baby"/"I Got A Man" (February 1966). One more single was released by Alston, Brooks and Thomas on the tiny Michelle Records in 1967, "Ring-A-Ting-A-Ling"/"Should I Keep On Waiting", and they disbanded later that year.
They reunited in 1971 and performed until at least 2018. Kenniebrew is the only Crystal who remained active throughout their touring from the 1970s to then, performing with Patricia Pritchett-Lewis, a member since 2005, and Melissa "MelSoulTree" Grant, a member since 2002. That trio of Crystals self-released a CD in 2010 entitled Live in Asia, recorded in Singapore.
After living in Europe for two decades, Brooks returned to the US in 2001 and, as of 2022, performs under her own name across the world, and as the Crystals in the UK and Canada, where she holds the trademark rights to the name.
Barbara Alston died at a hospital in Charlotte, North Carolina, on February 16, 2018, at age 74.
Crystal was the name of one of the girl group-inspired street urchin characters in the musical Little Shop of Horrors, along with The Chiffons and The Ronettes. Amy Winehouse cited "He Hit Me (And It Felt Like a Kiss)" as an influence when writing her album Back to Black. The American singer Lana Del Rey used the same phrase in the song "Ultraviolence" in the album of the same name.
Colors =
id:lines value:black legend:Studio_album
id:bars value:gray(0.95)
BackgroundColors = bars:bars
Legend = orientation:horizontal position:bottom
ScaleMajor = increment:2 start:1960 ScaleMinor = increment:1 start:1960
LineData =
at:01/07/1962 color:black layer:back
at:01/02/1963 color:black layer:back
at:01/09/1963 color:black layer:back
BarData =
bar:DeeDee text:"Dolores ''Dee Dee'' Kenniebrew"
bar:Alston text:"Barbara Alston"
bar:Patsy text:"Myra Patricia ''Patsy'' Wright (Burch)"
bar:Thomas text:"Mary Thomas"
bar:Giraud text:"Myrna Giraud"
bar:LaLa text:"Dolores ''LaLa'' Brooks"
bar:Collins text:"Frances Collins"
PlotData=
width:11 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4)
bar:DeeDee from:01/01/1960 till:01/03/1966 color:red
bar:DeeDee from:01/03/1967 till:01/05/1967 color:red
bar:Alston from:01/01/1960 till:01/08/1962 color:orange
bar:Alston from:01/03/1963 till:01/12/1964 color:orange
bar:Alston from:01/03/1967 till:01/05/1967 color:orange
bar:Patsy from:01/01/1960 till:01/08/1962 color:yellow
bar:Patsy from:01/03/1963 till:01/07/1964 color:yellow
bar:Thomas from:01/01/1960 till:01/07/1962 color:green
bar:Thomas from:01/03/1967 till:01/05/1967 color:green
bar:Giraud from:01/01/1960 till:01/05/1962 color:blue
bar:LaLa from:01/05/1962 till:01/08/1962 color:purple
bar:LaLa from:01/03/1963 till:01/03/1966 color:purple
bar:Collins from:01/07/1964 till:01/03/1966 color:magenta
| 1961 | "There's No Other (Like My Baby)" b/w "Oh Yeah, Maybe Baby" | A-side: Barbara Alston B-side: Patsy Wright | Philles Records 100 | 20 | 5 | — | Twist Uptown |
| 1962 | "Uptown" b/w "What a Nice Way to Turn Seventeen" | Barbara Alston | Philles 102 | 13 | 18 | — | |
| "He Hit Me (and It Felt like a Kiss)" b/w "No One Ever Tells You" (from Twist Uptown) | Philles 105 | — | — | — | He's a Rebel | ||
| "He's a Rebel" b/w "I Love You Eddie" | A-side: Darlene Love B-side: Barbara Alston | Philles 106 | 1 | 2 | 19 | ||
| "He's Sure the Boy I Love" b/w "Walkin' Along (La La La)" (Non-album instrumental) | Darlene Love | Philles 109 | 11 | 18 | — | ||
| 1963 | "(Let's Dance) The Screw - Part 1" b/w "(Let's Dance) The Screw - Part 2" | Group vocals | Philles 111 | — | — | — | Non-Album Tracks |
| "Da Doo Ron Ron (When He Walked Me Home)" b/w "Git' It" (Non-album instrumental) | Dolores "LaLa" Brooks | Philles 112 | 3 | 5 | 5 | The Crystals Sing the Greatest Hits, Volume 1 | |
| "Then He Kissed Me" b/w "Brother Julius" (Non-album instrumental) | Philles 115 | 6 | 8 | 2 | Today's Hits (Various Philles artists) | ||
| 1964 | "I Wonder" b/w "Little Boy" (UK single) | London 9852 | — | — | 36 | Non-album tracks | |
| "Little Boy" b/w "Harry (From West Virginia) and Milt" (Instrumental) | Philles 119 | 92 | — | — | |||
| "All Grown Up" b/w "Irving (Jaggered Sixteenths)" (Instrumental) | Philles 122 | 98 | — | — | |||
| 1965 | "You Can't Tie a Good Girl Down" b/w "My Place" | United Artists 927 | — | — | — | ||
| 1966 | "Are You Trying to Get Rid of Me" b/w "I Got a Man" | United Artists 994 | — | — | — | ||
| 1967 | "Ring-A-Ting-A-Ling" b/w "Should I Keep on Waiting" | A-side: Barbara Alston B-side: Dee Dee Kennibrew | Michelle 4113 | — | — | — | |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory. | |||||||
|
|
